Sunshine and hot temperatures welcomed fans to LeBreton Flatts in Ottawa as RBC Bluesfest kicked off it’s 2023 edition with large crowds for an opening night of country featuring Lindsay Ell and Shania Twain and a night of pure rock and roll featuring Billy Talent and Weezer.
Brea Lawrenson performs at the RBC Bluesfest in Ottawa. Photo: Renée Doiron
A heat warning did little to keep tens of thousands of country fans from streaming into the RBC Bluesfest venue on a Thursday night for an all Canadian night of country music on the RBC Stage. Ottawa’s own Brea Lawrenson got the crowd warmed up for Lindsay Ell who took the pass and setup the night for Shania Twain to bring home.
I’m back in a Green Team volunteer uniform this year so my time at the festival is split across the entire venue rather than one specific show. So I’ll do my best to give an overview of as many of the acts I was able to take in (with as many as 4 shows taking place at once it’s tough to take in everything).
J.C performs at the RBC Bluesfest in Ottawa. Photo: Renée Doiron
As Brea Lawrenson was kicking things off on the RBC Stage British Born, Ottawa based, rapper J.C was kicking things off on the River Stage located behind the War Museum. Worth noting I have yet to see a night, this year, where there isn’t a massive crowd on hand at that stage. The hill is almost always full of people which, from an artist perspective, is a great thing to see when you’re looking out onto the crowd.
Lindsay Ell performs at the RBC Bluesfest in Ottawa. Photo: Renée Doiron
I caught the first few songs of Lindsay Ell’s set, now this is a Canadian country artist who has seen her share of success south of the border but, in my opinion, remains under rated on the Canadian scene. Not only does Lindsay have an incredible vocal and songwriting ability she’s an incredible guitar player who can stand up to the likes of Keith Urban, Brad Paisley and others with ease. To add to all of these talents many of you might recognize Lindsay as the current host of CityTV’s Canada’s Got Talent. One of my favourite qualities of Lindsay’s is that her on-stage personality is exactly the same as her off stage personality. She’s a super human being and seeing her rock the big stage at RBC Bluesfest was awesome to behold.
Dax performs at the RBC Bluesfest in Ottawa. Photo: Renée Doiron
Next up in my travels was Dax on the River Stage. Once again the atmosphere was electric over at the River Stage and the crowd was loving Dax. I’m not big on the hip-hop scene, nothing against it but it’s just not for me but I’ll admit that I felt the groove during Dax’s performance. Fitting to have him in the lineup for a predominantly country themed night as, believe it or not, he had a song on the country charts (“Dear Alcohol” with Elle King). I shouldn’t be surprised, country music is still a hot market in music and it’s very open to crossing over into other genres and hip hop and country music have long been linked in style so it’s not uncommon to see marriages like this.
BBNO$ performs at the RBC Bluesfest in Ottawa. Photo: Renée Doiron
To close out the night we took in BBNO$ on the River Stage (our photographer was denied access to Shania Twain and we have a policy that we will not review shows we can’t shoot). It was a fun set with lots of energy and it was easy to get caught up in the fun.
More Photos from Day 1
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Night Two
Pup performs at the RBC Bluesfest in Ottawa. Photo: Renée Doiron
Night two was all about the rock and roll with Toronto punk rockers PUP kicking off the party on the RBC Stage in front of an already huge crowd which was nice to see as we arrived at the venue.
Digging Roots performs at the RBC Bluesfest in Ottawa. Photo: Renée Doiron
As we made our way in we had to visit the SiriusXM stage for the JUNO Award and Summer Solstice Indigenous Music Awards winning Digging Roots. We’ve been following this talented duo for the last number of years but it was my first time catching them live and they would not disappoint.
After Digging Roots I had to take a short break from watching the show to tend to my volunteer duties which unfortunately forced me to miss much of Billy Talent’s set. Having been a Billy Talent fan for many years they’ve been on my bucket list to see live so I was disappointed that I didn’t get to see a full set but I have no doubt that they’ll come around again and it was clear that the crowd enjoyed the show.
Weezer performs at the RBC Bluesfest in Ottawa. Photo: Renée Doiron
There was lots going on last night at the festival but I stuck to the main stage area for the most part. Weezer has been on my radar, I think, since Windows 95 came out and their, now famous, video for “Buddy Holly” was included on the OS release as our computers entered the multimedia era. They’ve been on my LIVE wishlist for a very long time and boy they did not disappoint.
Weezer performs at the RBC Bluesfest in Ottawa. Photo: Renée Doiron
With their own hits “Beverly Hills”, “Say It Ain’t So”, “Undone” and, of course, “Buddy Holly” and a number of fun covers, including Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” Weezer made night two at RBC Bluesfest unforgettable.
Night 3 kicks off in just a few hours with notable performances by Steven Taetz, Blackie and The Rodeo Kings, Blakdenim, BadBadNotGood and, of course, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss. It’s a night off for me tonight but Randi Saunders will pick-up the quill and pen for tonight’s show so watch for her review sometime tomorrow.
Night 2 Photos
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