Before Darkfall

I figure that by now I can skip the introductions for most of Ottawa's bands, and that goes double for Fiftymen, who corralled a large crowd for their Bluesfest appearance. Fortunately the sun had retreated a mite and a cool wind had kicked up, so things were a little more pleasant.













Well, I guess I should mention the special guests; not that Dave Draves needs much of an intro in this town, either. Come to think of it Allan Wigney is in the paper all the time so it's probably completely unnecessary, but here we go!

Sun scribe Allan Wigney played some harp.



Dave helped out on keyboards throughout.



Little did I suspect I'd be seeing them just a couple of weeks later, when they popped up at the Birdman Sound 15th anniversary party as the mystery guests. No Dave, Al or violinist/banjo player Keith this time around. The band played their rock set in honour of the longstanding vinyl institution's rock fixation.

First birthday boy Dave Aardvark did the introductions.



The set list even had "Rock Set" written on it. As you can see (if you click for the big version and squint a bit) they covered Soundgarden, AC/DC, The Replacements and Neil Young's Powderfinger (but doesn't everybody?).











Jake - the hats change, the facial expression remains the same.





That was indeed rocking.