A week ago legendary rock and roller Robert Plant and his Sensational Space Shifters closed out 2019’s Ottawa City Folk Festival.

With the sky getting darker and the audience packed tightly together,  the atmosphere for the final act of this years CityFolk festival was electric. Before the show was gonna go down, 71yr old Robert Plant had a surprise in store for everyone. Up on the jumbo screen for everyone to see appeared the famous video of Greta Thunberg’s speech at the 2018 U.N. climate change conference. Such a powerful message by someone so young, and as you can imagine all eyes in the crowd were glued to the screens. When her speech was done a resounding roar of approval came from the crowd.

CityFolk in Ottawa. Photo: Renée Doiron

As the video came to an end out walked Robert Plant and his Sensational Space Shifters. Quickly they busted into Led Zeppelin’s  “What is and What should never be”  the audience erupted into a resounding cheer of approval. With a quick break Plant greeted the audience and told of how last time they were in town they were a “jazz band”,  referring to their 2011 appearance at Ottawa’s Jazz festival, and that this time they are a Folk band.

The bands set was a mixture of originals, few covers, and 5 Led Zeppelin songs. Plant and his Shifters versions of the Zeppelin tunes were much different than the originals.  A lot quieter, more symphonic, but still with the feeling that they were a Zepplin tune. The crowd ate it up, singing along just as it was the famous rock band up on stage. As you can imagine it was a spectacular way to end this year’s festival season.

White Buffalo performs at CityFolk in Ottawa. Photo: Renée Doiron

Earlier in the evening country/punk rocker, White Buffalo performed inside on the Ravenlaw stage. What a big surprise to the evening, I’ve heard rumors of how wicked a rock show the man from Los Angeles puts on. The rumours were spot on. The indoor venue was packed and each set of eyes in attendance were captivated by frontman Jake Smith. Smith is a giant of a man on stage with a deep resounding voice and charisma coming out the ying-yang. You can’t help but have boatloads of fun watching Him and his band rock out to their own style of country with a punk rock attitude.