Bluesfest: Day One

Once again Bluesfest has landed in the capital, and once again I've taken a couple of weeks off to catch the wide variety of music on offer. I walked down Lisgar to see the MBNA Stage first. I overheard part of Otis Taylor's set, and he sounded great, so I'll have to check him out when he plays again. My real destination was Anathallo's performance. I saw them at Zaphod's and they put on a wonderful performance.

They were down to seven members for this gig; here's less than half.



Here's a little more than half.



Next up was Malajube. I saw them perform at Club SAW with Hot Springs some time ago. I though the Springs were awesome; this time around I have to say Malajube put on a very fierce set.



Could be because of the extra member. I see Thomas Tom Thompson has changed his shirt - now Salem, Mass., gets the nod instead of Singapore.



I was planning to go and see Calexico, but after surveying the huge crowd by the Black Sheep Stage, I realized that anyone who wants to get close to the action is going to have to show up early. I made a quick about-face and still managed to land near the front of the crowd for when Broken Social Scene arrived on stage. There was some onstage grumbling - in musical form - from the band, who had the crowd yell "Calexico!" three times.



There's so many of these folks, one photo won't do ... that's Julie Penner of The Hylozoists and Fembots on trumpet.



Amy Millan of Stars was their female vocalist du jour.



And a big old wide angle group shot ... still missing a few folks, I think.



I'm not one of Broken Social Scene's many admirers, but I'll admit they put on a fine set this time, about 90 minutes long. The only downer was a bunch of meatheads who decided they had to wade up to the front of the close-packed crowd half way into the set. Then it was time to wander home past the Black Sheep Stage. Calexico was still playing, but I really had to get home to the loo.