Bluesfest put the spotlight on Lumineers and CHEO, but it was actually the depth of Ottawa-Gatineau talent on the bill that stole the show at LeBreton Flats Park on July 12.
Homegrown acts Summersets, Les Rats de Swompe and Mehdi Cayenne gave career-high performances on various stages in the early evening, while Leif Vollebekk, who grew up in the nation’s capital, enthralled the folks waiting for the headliner.
By the time Lumineers strolled on the RBC Main Stage, the plaza in front of the Canadian War Museum was thick with people, including entire families with chairs, blankets and children. It was a far cry from the mosh-pit shenanigans at Limp Bizkit the other night, although probably around the same number of attendees.
The Colorado-based Lumineers haven’t been to Ottawa in many years, and it took a few songs to hit stride. They rushed through their breakthrough hit, Ho Hey, and a few similar ditties before pulling out Dead Sea, a no-brainer of a tune that never fails to click on an emotional level.
From there, they could do no wrong. Lumineers’ pig-tailed singer Wesley Shulz captivated all who crossed his path, especially during a crowd walkabout during BRIGHTSIDE. He sang while making his way through the throngs of people, under increasingly poor air quality due to wildfires in Northern Quebec.
The lingering smoke was the only reminder of the troubled state of the world during Lumineers’ feel-good Bluesfest performance. Dopamine hit after dopamine hit came from recognizing songs like Ophelia, Gloria and Cleopatra, and singing along to them.
Following a weekend of nu-metal and bro-country on the Bluesfest main stage, the catchy melodies and soothing vocals of the Sunday-night artists felt like a gentle breeze on the sultry summer night. The vibe was as mellow as a family-friendly folk festival.
Setting the tone for the evening was the evocative music of summersets, the made-in-Ottawa duo of singer-songwriters Kalle Mattson and Andrew Sawka, who were joined by a rhythm section for the opening set on the main stage.
“Are you ready for emotional folk-rock music sung by white guys with acoustic guitars?” Mattson inquired of the crowd, giving a preview of what to expect the rest of the evening. While he was on the mark with the prediction, his sense of humour was refreshing, evidence that Mattson didn’t take himself too seriously despite his lofty position as a professor of songwriting at Carleton University.
“You may know us by our other duo project,” Mattson also teased, implying that he and Sawka were responsible for Angine de Poitrine, the anonymous and wildly popular prog-rock duo from Quebec. “This is what we look like without the masks and polka dots.”
Instead, think plaid shirts and jeans for these guys, whose new music was inspired by their small-town upbringing in Northern Ontario. They played several of the narrative songs to be included on their forthcoming second album, Pine Trees in a Perfect Row, produced by another Ottawan, Jim Bryson. A handful of backing musicians added a muscular shape to the delicate tunes, reflecting the folky influence of Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, John Prine and Simon and Garfunkel.
For Mattson, the musical partnership with Sawka, an old friend from The Sault that he’s known for 15 years, represents a new chapter in his career as a recording artist. He likes that it has a different name — Summersets, not Kalle Mattson — because “It felt like a good time to not not have my entire identity tied to my career.”
Nestled in the sunset slot after Summersets was Vollebekk, an Ottawan who became a Montrealer more than a decade ago. He assembled a pickup band for the night that included the talents of Cindy Cashdollar, a 70-year-old steel-guitar and dobro legend from Woodstock, NY who’s played with everyone from Levon Helm and Van Morrison to Ryan Adams and Bob Dylan. She was one of the musicians who played on his latest album, Revelation.
Vollebekk’s star appears to be on the rise, too. The 41-year-old recently returned from a landmark trip to the U.K., where he performed a sold-out concert of his own material in London, accompanied by the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
In bringing the songs from the Barbican Hall to Bluesfest, Vollebekk took a similar approach, digging in and letting the melodies fly. The results were incredible; Vollebekk’s ultra-emotional vocal style (not unlike the voice of the late Jeff Buckley), plus the enhancement of a player at the level of Cashdollar, created the conditions for a beautiful musical homecoming.
Elsewhere the site was a mini-showcase of francophone music. Gatineau folk-rockers Les Rats d’Swompe mashed folk traditions with rock energy on the LeBreton Stage, while singer-songwriter Joly charmed the Barney Danson Theatre crowd and Mehdi Cayenne dazzled the Hard Rock Stage crew with his funky pop fusion and uplifting spirit. “You might not understand the lyrics, but i think you get the vibe,” Cayenne said at one point, addressing the folks dancing in front of the stage.
Finally, a shout-out to the fearlessness of childhood-cancer survivor, Kayden Dussault, 13, who didn’t miss a beat when he appeared on the RBC Main Stage to hype the CHEO fundraising efforts. He was a natural in the role, cleverly coming up with a call-and-response riff on CHEO: “When I say CHEE, you say O,” he yelled, a huge grin showing how pleased he was that it worked.
Between his confidence and showmanship, I have the feeling we will be seeing young Kayden again.
