Festival finale
Morning...
Noon...
Evening.
The plastic wristbands have been snipped off, the sunburns are being soothed and the festival t-shirts and cds are being assessed for staying power. Where does the festival time go?
Started off the day with a couple of nicely done jazz numbers from Mary Coughlan before wandering off to catch up on the latest from the Wailin Jennies - absolutely mobbed at their stage, and double-mobbed at the same stage when Greg Brown arrived in his railway cap to thrill all the women way down to their toes with his deep deep voice. Wandered aimlessly for a while buying trinkets at the craft tent and seeking shade from the blistering sun. Bopped along to Balfa Toujours for a few numbers, then caught a few home truths from Iris DeMent, and on to the supper hour, beating the worst of the food queues and fending off the swarm of entrepreneurial youngsters who offer to return re-usable plates for you (pocketing your toonie deposit). Salif Keita and his 9 musical companions were followed by the neo-folk-activist harmonies of Chumbawamba, and we packed up our tarp after the Blind Boys from Alabama shook a few birds from the trees, not waiting for Sarah Harmer or the singalong finale.
Noon...
Evening.
The plastic wristbands have been snipped off, the sunburns are being soothed and the festival t-shirts and cds are being assessed for staying power. Where does the festival time go?
Started off the day with a couple of nicely done jazz numbers from Mary Coughlan before wandering off to catch up on the latest from the Wailin Jennies - absolutely mobbed at their stage, and double-mobbed at the same stage when Greg Brown arrived in his railway cap to thrill all the women way down to their toes with his deep deep voice. Wandered aimlessly for a while buying trinkets at the craft tent and seeking shade from the blistering sun. Bopped along to Balfa Toujours for a few numbers, then caught a few home truths from Iris DeMent, and on to the supper hour, beating the worst of the food queues and fending off the swarm of entrepreneurial youngsters who offer to return re-usable plates for you (pocketing your toonie deposit). Salif Keita and his 9 musical companions were followed by the neo-folk-activist harmonies of Chumbawamba, and we packed up our tarp after the Blind Boys from Alabama shook a few birds from the trees, not waiting for Sarah Harmer or the singalong finale.
posted by Rhona McAdam at 9:07 a.m.
2 Comments:
Thanks for the review of the Edmonton Festival. We used to be regulars there (after we quit Winnipeg), and now we have discovered Salmon Arm. This weekend, while you were in Edmonton, we were in Regina, enjoying Bedouin Soundclash, T.O.F.U., Ani Difranco, Steve Earle and Utah Phillips. Regina's festival actually took on a bit of a political overtone with many of the above names speaking out against the war(s) in the middle east. And a Persian/Iranian band "Niyaz" pointing out that though they were American residents, it was the Canadian Cultural Assoc. that funded their entire tour in order to show people the other side of Iran.
Interesting times we live in.
Carla
Hi Carla - I'd love to take in Salmon Arm sometime. Yeah, we had a pep talk from Steve Earle at the Courtenay festival last month (he's never short of an opinion, I'll say that much). The most politicised band I heard last weekend was Chumbawamba, who between numbers were endearingly thankful for the kindness with which they'd been treated in Edmonton.
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