Thursday, April 23, 2009

Here they come

The lineup for this year's Bluesfest is out, and as often the case, it's a combination of cool, ho-hum, and what the @#$! were they thinking? This year Neko Case and Drive-By Truckers are the big score for me. Hopefully I'll be able to snap a better photograph than the one below this time.


Neko Case, Ottawa Bluesfest, July 8, 2005

I'm certainly going to check out British prog titans Van der Graaf Generator, odd pop Californians The Dodos, Okkervil River, Mali diva Omou Sangare; blues offspring Cedric Burnside and Lightning Malcom, Aussie guitar champs The Church; The Zombies are allegedly still cool, and I figure I'll have to see the latest iteration of The Yardbirds as well. It's never a bad thing to catch Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings; Papa Mali put on a killer performance last time around too, and Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women and Crystal Castles should be fun. Hollerado are back, which is also cool. There are also several local bands I'll be glad to check out again. As for main stage headliners ... well, I want to hear Jeff Beck.
They don't seem to have switched the layout around much this year, so I'm hoping they're working the schedules so sound-bleed isn't as much of an issue - I don't want to think about how might affect Iron and Wine's performance ...
There doesn't seem to be too many acts I haven't heard of on this year's list, but can anyone suggest a performer I might want to check out?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shows around town at bars are ussually good because there is not as high a turnout. Plus it does not cost $35 and you don't waste all your time trying to get a beer and go pee. Plus I like to be within 30 ft of the stage. I would like to see an anti blues fest run at the same time that features good music and mabe even a little blues. I can't believe this is the best they can do.

A.C. said...

Well, there's always GaGafest ... and I have to say I find I have't had much trouble getting right up close to the stages for most of Bluesfest's non-main stage performances.