Flying in

Bluesfest's Day 2 was basically a one-band evening. I caught As The Poets Affirm's final song at the Rogers stage and snapped a few photos.



That done, I went back toward the main stage to see if I could hear any Jimmy Vaughan. Although the audience was considerably diminished from the same time the night before it was still too much of a crowd for my liking. I decided to head over to the River stage. It's a nice little spot. Fairfield, a Toronto band, were about halfway through their set when I arrived.



I didn't find them too compelling. The only really interesting moment came when they finished things off with a cover of Fleetwood Mac's Dreams. I imagine that they'd be of interest to fans of Dave Matthews and The Wallflowers.
The real attraction of the night was up next: Radio Birdman! The band has an outsize fan club in Ottawa thanks to the proselytizing of Birdman Sound owner John Westhaver, and a good chunk of Ottawa's rockerati were in the crowd for the band's show. Even after the band's surprise reunion, this was still an "I'd never thought I'd see them live!" experience akin to Simply Saucer last month. Like that show, the Aussie vets showed they still have it with storming versions of tunes like Steve and Danno and Burn My Eye (there was also a cover of The Who's Circles).



They ended with an encore of More Fun, Descent Into the Maelstrom, The Kinks' Till the End of the Day and Yeah Hup. A really super show.
I toddled off to the main stage to listen to some of Bob Dylan, but after two songs realized I wasn't going to get much out of the show. So far away from the stage the sound was just too weak - it sounded much better on the walk back to my bicycle. As in previous years, with a couple of exceptions I'm going to be sticking to the side stages.