Category Archives: Festivals

Last Thursday evening marked the start of the 2018 edition of the Kemptville Live Music Festival. The festival was the brainchild of Bob Beshara of Class Axe Guitars in Kemptville. From his idea came a long list of volunteers who have pitched in to make the festival a great success. In a short four year run, Bob and his volunteers have built this festival into something to be very proud of. I have had the honour of photographing the last two years and things run so smooth it’s unbelievable. Even this year when Kim Mitchell had to cancel due to health concerns, it was taken in stride and handled with less than 24 hours to spare.

The Toronto stop of Vans Warped Tour involved over 50 bands, each ready to provide one last memory for fans of the event. A full day of music running from 11 in the morning until 10 at night, it is best described as an exhausting day full of energy.

The Algonquin College Online Learning Rebelfest, formerly known as Mountain Man Festival, was held this week in a scorching weather at Lansdowne Park, after being relocated from last year’s venue at a Calabogie resort.

July 20th marks the 52nd annual Great International World Championship Bathtub Race in Nanaimo BC.

Starting off the kick off party: The Black Franks. They are a 4 piece local Nanaimo cover band playing songs like Roadhouse Blues by The Doors and Takin’ care of Business by Bachman Turner Overdrive. The former Mayor, Frank Nay, who started the bathtub races would turn 100 this year and his son, Brad Nay plays guitar. What an honour to be able to celebrate this long standing tradition!

Next up is local Nanaimo rock band, Wise Youngblood. This power 4 piece absolutely killed it with Kyle Stephan’s gritty melodic voice and whiskey soaked lyrics, Andrew Harper dropping wicked guitar riffs, David Buchanon slaying the bass and Myles Nowik pulling it all together on drums. Wise Youngblood entertained us with originals such as Pyromaniac, Noon at Night and The new single Robot. Also sweet covers of Where is my Mind by The Pixies and Psychokiller by the Talking Heads. This band has an inviting stage presence that makes you want more!

Headliner Gord Bamford and band were welcomed to the stage by a diverse crowd covered in plaid, boots and a sea of cowboy hats. With songs like Farm Girl Strong, Stayed ’til Two, Drinking Buddy and Livin’ on Summertime had everyone up singing, dancing and just having a down right good time. The party continues with Folsom Prison Blues – Johnny Cash and a few other originals. The band had thier own spotlights through out the concert to showcase their talants. During The Devil went down to Georgia by Charlie Daniels they took turns creating a mashup of songs from newer artists like Adele and Bruno Mars while making sure to rock out on the instrument of thier choice. The fiddle was an awesome display of entertaining and fast finger working talant. The bass player rocked out to Adele sitting at the back of the stage with a broken leg from a previous show.

Fans had been chanting Breakfast Beer for most of the night so Gord Bamford made it worth the wait closing off the show while everyone was having a foot stomping, head bobbing, hip gyrating, beer drinking amazing time!

Photos by Jeremy Mac Knott

Review by Jessica Brady

Brad Paisley stopped by Calgary last week for a visit to the Calgary Stampede.

The Mill Street Brewery and Dine Alone Records are bringing back the Hopped and Confused Festival to the Ottawa Mill Street Brewpub at August 17th and 18th.

Well as many of you who know me know, I HATE this day!!! Although this was by far the HOTTEST Bluesfest I’ve been to in 8 years, it’s never easy to see it come to an end. 2018 saw record temperatures and 300,000 music fans come to Lebreton Flats in Ottawa for 10 days of incredible music.

New city performs at Cavendish Beach Music Festival. Photo by Dee Arsenault

Day 4 of The Cavendish Beach Music Festival opened with a new comer to the Canadian music scene “new city”. New City is a electropop band who arrived on the Toronto music scene in 2017 with their hit “Coachella”. While performing at Cavendish Beach Music Fest, New City put on high energy performance, and it was clear they were absolutely loving every minute on stage.

Broods performs at Cavendish Beach Music Festival. Photo by Dominic Harper

Broods are a brother and sister duo who reside from Nelson, New Zealand. As soon as the duo took the stage, it was obvious the crowd was in for one of the most high energy shows of the weekend. The duo started off their set with “Conscious” and sister Georgia Nott took the stage by storm and used every inch of it in her spectacular set.

Dan and Shat perform at Cavendish Beach Music Festival. Photo by Dominic Harper

19 You + Me was the breakout song for duo Dan & Shay and they have taken the country world by storm every since. In January the duo released their latest hit single “Tequila” and to date it has been their highest charting single. At Cavendish Beach Music Festival, Dan & Shay preformed all their top hits, including 19 You + Me, From The Ground Up, and for the first time in Canadian soil, their hit Tequila. During their set, the duo showed off their range and huge musical talent.

Shawn Mendes Performs at Cavendish Beach Music Festival. Photo by Tourbus Entertainment

Shawn Mendes is arguably one of the biggest stars to come from Canada in the last decade.
Mendes opened his set with “There’s Nothing Holding Me Back” and the 13000+ fans at the Cavendish Beach Music Festival site we’re on their feet and screaming. Shawn was absolutely one of the most captivating acts that took the stage during the entire weekend. One of the most incredible facts about Shawn Mendes, is the he is a headliner at major festivals at only 19 years of age.

With that another year of Cavendish Beach Music Festival comes to an end. Stay tuned this fall for announcements on who will be headlining the festival next year.

More Photos:

Well Day 9 started off a little earlier than the previous day. With it being the second last day…I didn’t want to waste it no matter how just about done I am lol! Some of the highlights on my list included Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine, Jessie Reyez, Rae Sremmurd, Colin James and, of course a sampling of everything in between.

It’s that time of year again, festival season is in full swing and fall fair lineups are starting to be announced. Fairs in and around the Ottawa area always offer something for all musical tastes and the 2018 Spencerville Fair lineup is no different.