This year's format change for Ottawa Folk Festival involved a divide between free and paid events and a slight change to the site layout. Thankfully some of the sound bleed and bad sound mixes of 2011 were gone as well as the stupid split audience for the CUPE stage. M and I had paid tickets for Friday 7th and went to free events Sunday 9th. The one downside of the paid/free divide is that people who want to mix between the 2 halves frequently have to go through security every time...
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| Kathleen Edwards |
Nonetheless, Friday's lineup was excellent and had clearly enticed lots of people to brave the weather forecast; to my eyes a much bigger audience than last year. We arrived to see the end of Alberta Cross's set (no complaints there) and finally managed to hear Kathleen Edwards. I've read a fair bit about Ms Edwards recently but had so far only managed to hear one song, 'Change The Sheets', but thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the set from this popular songstress. Sadly Timber Timbre's solo performance on the Tartan Homes stage wasn't as good as his 2011 show at First Baptist Church - between the on/off drizzle and competing with Old Man Luedecke on the next-door Ravenlaw stage, his songs seemed a bit lost and the entrancing atmosphere of 2011 just wasn't there. The set from Old Man Luedecke was much jollier and set the scene for Lindsey Buckingham.
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| Lindsey Buckingham |
The large crowd were intently silent for much of Buckingham's set - albeit interspersed with loud cheers especially when Buckingham played some Fleetwood Mac favourites (though solo works such as 'Come and Go Insane' were equally well applauded). Crowd favourite went to a delicate rendition of 'Never Going Back Again'. Closely following was 'So Afraid' which Buckingham partially played - twice - with a power cut at the same point in the song both times. It happens, I suppose, and didn't seem to irk either Buckingham or the audience too much.
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| Belle Starr |
Today's free side of the Hog's Back site had much more of a festival vibe and there was much to enjoy amongst the smaller events. We arrived in time for a guitar masterclass with Michael Jerome Browne, which was an interesting demo and history lesson of various styles of country/blues guitar. Following this we caught part of Julia Dales' set (still impressive) before the start of 'Wild Things' on the Legacy stage. Yukon Blonde, Black Dogs and Belle Starr played a jam-ish set; all interesting but by far the best were country-folk trio Belle Starr, including a captivating rendition of 'Jolene'. Interesting to see Stephanie Cadman in a different guise after her late night show at 2011's Ottawa Chamberfest.
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| Jill Hennessy |
The last show we saw was Jill Hennessy, who had returned (near) to one of her childhood homes to promote new works as well as album 'Ghost In My Head'. Familiar with the name but not the music, her warm set, with lots of stories (like the stories!) helped stave off the early evening cold. Best song of the set was 'Erin' by quite some margin.
All in all an excellent 2 days at the festival; an improvement on 2011, with lots of new bands to investigate :)
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