Bluesfest: Day Eleven (and Epilogue)

Since Sunday was the last day of the festival, I decided that I would make the most of it, so I showed up around 2:30. The HiLoTrons were on the main stage at 3pm, so I decided to check them out. I had never seen them live, but they were pretty fun on stage & the music was awesome. I had to decline the offer to be a dancer on stage, since I prefer watching bands from the front.


After that, it was over to the River stage for some real blues with Watermelon Slim. He played for a pretty long time (over an hour at least) and he really has a knack for drawing you into his show. Good storytelling bluesman type stuff, with some pretty wicked slide guitar work.


After that, there was a bit of a lull between bands I wanted to see, so B and I left the festival for a while to partake in some Indian pizzas and a 7-11 slushie (now known as Kwik-E-Mart Squishees, and perhaps a likely topic for future blogging) and made it back to the festival during Sam Roberts' set. We didn't get too close up (since it was pretty maniacal up there anyway) but it was nice just to sit on the lawn (for what would be the final time) and take it all in.


Then it was over to the Black Sheep stage for the final act - Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings. B and I bought their CD earlier in the week, and I had some pretty high expectations for their show, which they surpassed in a huge way. They started with just the Dap-Kings, to get the crowd warmed up a little bit, and then Sharon Jones (often described as a female James Brown) came out a few songs in. This woman can really sing. And I love how she can shout "Band!" and they all respond "Yeah!" in unison. And the way they all have synchronized side-to-side shifting motions. And the fact that they play incredible music. I've been listening to their CD all morning, it's just that awesome.

And then it was over, and I headed home.

The last week and a half has been absolutely incredible. I got to see more great bands and hear more great music than I have in a really long time. And I think this year's festival blew the last one away. Of course, the highlight of the whole thing by far was getting the chance to play last Friday, which was such an experience. It was fun getting to meet a lot of random people who would approach us (well, ok, usually Jeff) and tell us how much they enjoyed our show (even as recently as yesterday) which is so incredibly gratifying. And it was wonderful getting to hang out on the other days with people I seldom get the chance to see under normal life-type circumstances, who love music as much as I do. And having been there every day for eleven straight days, you can't say I didn't make the most of my wristband. (The only person I know who was there more than I was is B, who worked on Van Morrison night. She's such a trooper.) I think the saddest part is that if the festival continued tonight, I'd totally be there.

So, as a final recap, here are my personal highlights of Bluesfest '07 (in no particular order, and excluding our show, which is obviously tops for different reasons):

• The White Stripes
• Randy Newman
• Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
• Gogol Bordello
• Bela Fleck & The Flecktones
• Final Fantasty
• Jim Bryson
• Mini-Donuts
• Delicious poutine
• Blue Rodeo

And now, the ceremonial cutting of the wristband. It's too bad, I had gotten used to it getting caught on everything.


'Til next time, Bluesfest.