PrettyInScarlett

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... 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 son...

After last year's inaugural event (which I wasn't able to attend), the organisers behind Feverfest clearly have expansion in mind. This year's event, last Friday and Saturday (22nd and 23rd June) was co-hosted by Irene's Pub and Clocktower (Glebe) with indoor and outdoor stages. M and I spent an excellent Saturday afternoon relaxing in the shade at Clocktower. This year, I was enticed to go because The PepTides were playing but enjoyed most of the bands I saw. The lunch slot had been awarded t0 Loon Choir whom I hadn't encountered before, but were pretty good. We were not as impressed by Zoo Legacy ; their vocal sound in particular seemed either retro (if you like them) or dated (if you don't). During these sets more people were arriving, but the indoor stage was still pretty quiet when Ty Hall played his set. Just going on his unplugged set, I heard interesting lyrics in a singer-songwriter style, but having listened to some songs on his website , his re...