Backstreet Boys bring RBC Bluesfest to a larger than life finale!

(cover photo Aerial shot of Ottawa Bluesfest 2019 ~ Bluesfest Press Images PHOTO/Scott Penner)

It always amazes me how fast time flies from opening night of RBC Bluesfest to the long walk home after the last show on the last night. What a year, the 25^th for RBC Bluesfest and the 7^th for Sound Check Entertainment. Sure, they were met with some weather challenges and some unforeseeable artist cancellations but for the most part RBC Bluesfest 2019 was one of the smoothest runnings of the festival I have ever attended. Mother Nature tried, and failed, on more than one occasion to disrupt the festivities but each time the sun managed to push through and clear things up with enough time to get most of the acts in.

Having a birthday in mid-July often means that I’m celebrating it at RBC Bluesfest, this year was no different.  Although I would’ve loved to catch Kyle Ivan’s set, I didn’t end up getting out to the venue early enough. I finally made it through the crowds and into the venue in time to catch some of Francesco Yates’ set on my way over to a packed lawn by the Videotron stage to catch America. I was impressed to say the least, their hits “Horse With No Name” and “Sister Golden Hair” were anthems from my childhood and seeing them performed live was an incredible experience, likely, for me anyway, once in a lifetime.

By the time I made my way back to the main bowl the word packed was an understatement. Before that night the largest crowd I’d seen at Bluesfest this summer was for the Killers, if I were to render a guess the crowd was already at Killers level before the Backstreet Boys sung their first note and there were still hordes of people coming into the venue.

I guess you could say I was a Backstreet Boys fan from a distance. I knew and liked few of their songs from back in their heyday but that’s about where it ends. The show started with lights and lasers and pretty much anything else that you can think of that generates light, with the exception of fire. The screen behind the stage lit up with large letters going through the Boys 9 albums starting with their 1996 self-titled debut all the way to 2019’s DNA. Then one by one each of the 5 members was featured larger than life on the screen before they exploded onto the stage wearing…heavy black trench coats…

Ok lets backup for a second here. This tour stop took place outdoors on a very hot July evening in Ottawa, Canada. I know we’re nicknamed the great white north but the temperature that day peaked at 25 degrees (77 degrees Fahrenheit) and that’s before the humidity, which often adds anywhere from 5 to 10 degrees to the actual temperature.

The show started out slow, for me, because the first 9, or so, songs were not ones I was familiar with but you better believe that I chimed in and added my own vocals (for anyone standing near me that night I’m sorry I’m a writer not a singer but often sing like no one’s listening haha) to “Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely”. By the time we reached the mid-way point of the show it turned into a full on hit parade starting with “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)” and taking us all the way to “I Want It That Way”.

The lights dimmed and the crowd had a chance to catch their breath for a bit while the Backstreet Boys went for yet another costume change before returning for two final songs “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” and, the grand finale, “Larger Than Life”.

Fan or not you have to give these guys a tone of credit. I turned 45 the day of their show. Most of the guys are around my age, Nick is the youngest member of the band and he’s 39 now. I’m burnt out after 10 days of Bluesfest and all I really did was walk around listening to music, maybe getting 15000 steps a day. These guys got up and stage danced their hearts out and sang 33 songs for 2 hours!! Yes, you read it correctly THIRTY-THREE. And they do this night after night after night after night and travel in between.

As we wrap up another edition of RBC Bluesfest I have to say I this was probably one of my favourite years since I started covering this festival. My two favourite nights were hands down the Killers and Backstreet Boys, that’ll be a hard birthday to top but definitely makes up for being drowned in the rain during +Live+ a few years ago. Other highlights for me included Eric Church and, I was pleasantly surprised by Kane Brown and Gone West.

Now it’s time for a break and some family time before we do it all again for Boots and Hearts in early August. Bluesfest organizers won’t get much of a break as soon they’ll start getting things ready for CityFolk 2019 which has one of the best lineups out of all Ottawa summer festivals this year!

I want to give a special shout out to Renee Doiron, Brian and I split the reviews over the festival, but Renee was there night after night running from stage to stage in crazy temperatures with cameras slung around her shoulders all night. These men and women are the true festival heroes, they add the colour to this page of black and white. Special thanks to the Bluesfest Media team as well, there were a few shows that overlapped that we couldn’t get to but they had a photographer at each stage throughout the festival to ensure that there were photos to be had of everyone.

So here’s to 25 amazing years of RBC Bluesfest, we can’t wait to see what the next 25 years hold.