The final day of CityFolk awarded concert-goers a perfect ending to the three-day festival, with loud tunes, plenty of drinks and ear-deafening clapping.
Many came to see Sacha, the opening act of the night, with young families excited for a night of country and folk music to take away their worries.
Although most started sitting on the ground as they waited for the show to begin, Sacha immediately had folks dancing along to her fun country-pop music.
The budding talent in the country music world let her powerhouse voice carry throughout the crowd as she sang her well-known songs, including Cheers.
A crowd-pleaser was her cover of Taylor Swift’s You Belong With Me, during which she had the audience pumping their fists in the air along with her.
Compared to the other acts of CityFolk, Sacha may be new to the stage, but her engagement and interaction with her audience showed she’s got a bright career ahead.
Next came the highly anticipated Reklaws, who arguably stole the show.
Their high-energy, well-written lyrics had the entire crowd pushing against each other to get closer to the stage where the sibling duo, Stuart and Jenna Walker, rocked their guitars.
Their setlist flowed perfectly from the toe-tapping Not Gonna Not to the sway-inducing Where I’m From to the fast-paced Wish You Were Beer that had the packed-in crowd jumping up and down.
Stuart had the crowd enthralled when he said how much the band was looking forward to singing on stage in Ottawa again. “This is special. We waited two years for this,” he said.
The Reklaws finished their set with their new hit, What The Truck, which they co-wrote and performed with Sacha.
Finally, crowd-pleaser Dean Brody followed his band on stage as numerous high-pitched screams erupted from the audience.
He immediately started to sing his catchy tune It’s Friday, carrying over the fun-loving country energy from The Reklaws.
Brody flipped between upbeat songs like Whiskey in a Teacup which had the audience belting out the lyrics, and his newer, softer tunes such as I’d Go To Jail which he wrote for his daughter. The latter will begin playing on the radio in the next couple of weeks.
Although the crowd had settled down after all the dancing that took place during The Reklaws’ set, Brody kept the crowd engaged by dancing around the stage, showing off his acoustic guitar and pulling out his cowboy hat, which he tipped to the front row.
The singer gave everything he had on the stage, leaving the crowd whistling and hollering for more songs.
After finishing his set with his hit song Canadian Summer, he thanked the audience, his band quickly left the stage and the technicians cut almost all the lights.
After a two minute chant of “Encore!” from the crowd, Brody came running back onstage. This time, he was with The Reklaws who joined him to perform their new co-written song Can’t Help Myself.
The fast-paced song left many with a smile and sore hands from clapping along. It was a perfect ending to the night and had many from the audience ordering one last pint before saying goodbye to CityFolk for another year.
Featured image by Spencer Colby.
