Toronto Bluesfest Red Hot Fun

Unlike The Rolling Stones big SARS benefit concert, the Toronto Star Bluesfest allowed pretty much anything you could carry on to the festival grounds: lawn chairs, umbrellas, huge blankets (blankets were even on sale at the festival), and the crowd was allowed to walk around with beers-in-hand, no beer gardens at this event.

According to the Bluesfest organizers, some 36,000 music fans took in the four-day event at Exhibition Place (July 23-27) that featured performances from an eclectic array of artists ranging from John Hiatt to Sheryl Crow. This bodes well for the future of the newspaper-sponsored event, as Bluesfest proved inarguably to be one of the most thrilling music festivals this city has never seen.

Here’s a glimpse of whom S&H.ca caught during the weekend festival:

George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic
July 25, Main stage

The legendary George Clinton and his band, Parliament/Funkadelic, delivered a sonic assault of crunchy guitars and slick, funky rhythms to an estimated 11,000 fans on this night.

Rightly referred to as the Godfather of Funk, the colourful Clintondidn’t disappoint with an explosive one-hour set that capped off a day featuring 16 other acts on the bill.

While one might be hard-pressed to find anything blue about Clinton’s music or his on-stage antics, you’d also be hard-pressed to find anyone in the crowd that wasn’t captivated by his and P-Funk’s masterful performance. This is a band that established itself in the 1970s with the likes of bass player Bootsy Collins, saxophonist Maceo Parker, and keyboardist Bernie Worrel to name but a few. The modern rendition of the band hasn’t slowed down any, as bassists William Nelson and Cardell Mosson, and guitarists Mike Hampton and Dewayne McKnight, joined some original members to keep the P-Funk juggernaut alive and kicking.

With a musical repertoire that spans five decades, Clintonis a pure entertainer. Only he could incite a typically docile Toronto audience into headbanging mode at a blues concert.

— Liam Lahey

Royal City
July 26, Roots Stage

Royal City’s sparse, mournful alt-country was well suited to the rainy Saturday afternoon.

A thin crowd of Queen West types and Boomers took in the rain soaked gig. It wasn’t for a lack of trying by the band but the downpour that lasted through and put a damper on the audience’s enthusiasm. For the most part there was polite applause and head nodding. The only real response came during an intense performance of ‘Bad Luck’. Bodies swaying in time to the music and stomping feet could be seen through out the audience.

The band kept up a good, though awkward at times banter. A running joke through the set was that Mick Jagger was going to be performing at the Roots Stage that night. It was guitarist Jim Guthrie’s birthday so they finagled an ice cream bar and Guthrie shared it with his band mates.

The band switched effortlessly from mournful country laments to rousing barnyard stompers with a touch of indie rock thrown in. For the most part the music was very laid back and mellow. It’s easy to see why RoyalCityhas been called the perfect soundtrack to a western; their set brought to mind a wagon train on a lonely windswept prairie hunkered down for the night singing around the campfire.

— Andrew Horan

Howe Gelb
July 26, Roots Stage

Anyone who caught Gelb’s set was probably of two minds: Either they would have thought it was a shambling, disorganized affair or a brilliant stream-of-consciousness performance.

He started a little late but made up for it by putting on one of the most entertaining sound checks I’ve ever seen. Gelb kept the Rolling Stones gag going by performing the opening bars of Jumpin’ Jack Flash.

It’s fitting that Gelb’s catalogue has a song about the Devil; he commented that it just isn’t the blues with out it. He has a bit of a demonic appearance himself. The rain had let up by the time he hit the stage and there was a bit more of an audience. It was the same mix of hipsters and older folks left over from RoyalCity’s set. He held the audience enraptured with his at times corny jokes and rambling dialogue.

It was just Gelb, a guitar, a keyboard and some recorded music. His music is a mixture of jazz, country and blues combined with his at times darkly humorous lyrics. He took audience requests for a couple songs and scored points with the crowd by featuring a song about Ontario. Despite starting late and the set having a slightly disorganized feel his charismatic stage presence more then made up for.

— Andrew Horan

Blind Boys of Alabama
July 27, Main Stage

The Blind Boys of Alabama took to the Main Stage with much fanfare - it would be safe to say they drew the biggest crowd that cloudy Sunday evening. The weather was touch-and-go with dark clouds creeping south towards the CNE grounds, but once vocalist Jimmy Carter said, “We didn’t come all the way from Alabama looking for Jesus; we brought him with us,” the skies went from fearsome to sunny.

In case you think they guys aren’t blind, think again – it’s not just a name. Since forming the group at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in 1939, the Blind Boys have mastered the haunting falsettos and powerful harmonies of good gospel music.

Their pure soul gospel music was infectious, as was evident when Carter went into the crowd and proceeded to get everyone on their feet and on their way to salvation. The crowd looked like a Baptist church on Sunday: hands waving in the air, people enraptured by a presence they could not see, but could surely feel.

Leader and vocalist Clarence Fountain once said, “Music is music, and a song is good if you can feel the emotion to really sing it.”

Not all the Blind Boys showed, but Fountain and Carter where enough to keep the crowd wanting more of their deeply spiritual songs. Both men felt the presence of God, and by the time their set was done it wouldn’t be hard to believe someone had been converted right there at the CNE.

- Antoine Tedesco

Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets, feat. Sam Myers
July 27, ‘Not the Opera’ Stage

Sam Myers, at the age of 63, has that blues voice you expect to hear at a blues festival: deep, soothing, sombre, but most importantly extremely emotional. And he plays a mean harmonica too.

Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets where so tight you would need explosives to throw them off. They are by far one of the most authentic blues bands out there today. While people/bands are fusing one genre with another this band is all about tradition, especially when you take into consideration Mississippinative Myers’ musical history. His roots trace back to the legendary Jimmy Rogers and Elmore James. Sam made his mark in the ‘60s and is easily one of a handful of traditional Delta bluesmen who made his mark in the '60's and is still considered contemporary today.

“I think Sam is as good a blues singer as there is and his harp playing has its own unique sound. Sam’s a real stylist in the truest sense of the word," said Anson Funderburgh, a Texasnative and a respected bluesman.

Together, Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets along with Sam Myers were an absolute pleasure to listen too. You could feel the blues permeate from Myers’ pores.

- Antoine Tedesco

Photographs courtesy Toronto Star Bluesfest