The Gipsy Kings, who I took a few photos of from the distance. They had a huge crowd for their timeslot. Ming Wu noted over at his blog that they probably should have been booked for 9 p.m. instead.
Gipsy Kings at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 7, 2010
Jonas & The Massive Attraction hail from Montreal. They lack that big swaggering rock'n'roll that was au courant when The Cult were big. It's a tad cheesy but give Jonas credit for knowing his job as a frontman. Corey Diabo is no slouch as a guitarist either. I would like to point out that I officially hate Virgin Radio's stupid ball(s). I swear it has it in for me ...
Jonas & The Massive Attraction at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 7, 2010
I figured I'd got the drift of Jonas and Co. after a half hours, so I went over to see what MonkeyJunk were sounding like. They're definitely a band for the original Bluesfest crowd. They'll be playing Bluesfest again July 16, and The Rainbow on July 10. They're also playing a heap of other Bluesfests this summer.
MonkeyJunk at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 7, 2010
I wandered about a bit, first to take a gander at the Black Sheep Tent (don't count on much reporting from there, they're pretty clear about the no-cameras allowed rule ... Edit, according to Jeremy they're pretty lax about it during non-comedy shows. I will have to inquire further). It's a pity, since the Black Sheep Stage was the nicest one, for my money. Anyway, I also snapped some even more distant photos of Furthur, the project of Bob Weir and Phil Lesh. I didn't stick around since they weren't really my kind of thing.
Furthur at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 7, 2010
Finally I camped out at the Subway Stage for a few minutes. I wanted a good seat for reggae legends Steel Pulse. They've been going at it in one form or another since forming in Birmingham back in 1975. Their set wasn't quite up to the level of Toots and The Maytals last year, but was still mighty groovy. I think the amount of low end might have loosened a tooth or two.
David "Dread" Hinds. I'm not sure where he got his nickname from.
Steel Pulse at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 7, 2010
Hinds rocks the dreads, along with Selwyn "Bumbo" Brown and a vocalist who I think is Juris Prosper.
Steel Pulse at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 7, 2010
Guitarist Donovan McKitty gets some spacey sounds out of his Carvin.
Steel Pulse at Ottawa Bluesfest, July 7, 2010
A great set; Selwyn and bassist Amlak Tafari were nice enough to come out and shake hands with the crowd members afterward.
2 comments:
Regarding the Black Sheep tent, I think that they may be enforcing the no-cameras policy just for the comedy shows, even though the signage indicates otherwise. I was there today for two sets and I was very conspicuously taking lots of pictures from right in front of the stage with no complaints. I may be wrong about the policy but that was my experience tonight.
Thanks for the heads-up Jeremy. That would make more sense. It would also make more sense if I wrote "no cameras allowed" rather than "no cameras aloud." Post edited to reflect horrible spelling, etc.
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