Forecast of death

The Dead Weather must have been one of the most hotly anticipated bands to perform at Bluesfest. They only formed in January of this year and officially released their debut, Horehound, a mere five days before this gig. Jack White, of the much-admired White Stripes, is the main draw. He started writing songs with Allison Mosshart of The Kills and hey presto, six months later here they are in Ottawa in front of a big crowd - and not one that came for the evenings headliners, either, as far as I could tell. They actually reminded me a lot more of The Kills than The White Stripes, which goes to show how key the vocals are for twigging memories.

No, this isn't White - it's one of his nattily dressed road crew doing a pre-show drum setup.



White may get the press, but Allison is the real centre of attention.



Clapping action, plus Dean Fertita of Queens Of The Stone Age and Waxwings, too!



Mosshart certainly knows how to handle a microphone.



And let us not forget Jack Lawrence of The Greenhornes and Raconteurs, White's other, other band.



More Dean! Like everyone else in this band, it's nothing but white Gretschs



More Allison!



Rhythm section action! I promise a decent White picture is coming ...



Allison takes a stand!



Lawrence sings!



Dean sings!



It wasn't easy getting a picture of White at his kit ...



Singalong action!



Allison breaks out the guitar.



Jack steps out from behind the drums for a tune or two.



And so on!



I enjoyed, but had a hankering for some Dave Alvin, so about 25 minutes into their set I wandered over to the Subway Stage.

• Show reminder: Alex Cuba and Lindi Ortega play Zaphod Beeblebrox; Pamela Brennan and Andrew Vincent perform at the Elmdale House.