2016 Ottawa Bluesfest Lineup most mysterious ever!

It is officially the eve of the announcement of one of the most anticipated festival lineups in Ottawa, Ontario…heck maybe even Canada. The 2016 Ottawa Bluesfest Lineup will officially be announced tomorrow morning.

There are many topics I had in mind for this weeks edition of Monday Musings but lets be honest in Ottawa the only thing anyone is thinking about today is who might be announced for Bluesfest tomorrow morning.

Ok so here is a list of what we know so far….

 

That’s right a whole lot of nothing.  In as long as I’ve been covering Ottawa Bluesfest I can’t recall a single year where we didn’t have at least one confirmed artist going into the launch. So big kudos to Bluesfest on keeping the leaks away this year.

Over the past few days Bluesfest teased us with pictures (a different band for each day). After analyzing the pictures and consulting with other music fans we feel the following bands will be part of tomorrow’s big lineup announcement.

Day 1 artists teaser: Awolnation – worth noting that Fall Out Boy is touring with Awolnation at the moment so there’s a chance if we get one we’ll get the other. It’s also worth mentioning that Our Lady Peace was a strong contender for this hint as well so we’ll see which one it turns out to be…maybe both?

Cashmere Cat – a Snapchat post featuring a cat and a photo of Ariana Grande make us believe that Cashmere Cat a Norwegian DJ will make up part of tomorrow’s announcement as well.

Sia / Arcade Fire the final teaser of the weekend has us, and many others, on the fence. Two of the clues (fire on water, Tiger Woods) point towards Sia but one clue (a picture of the intersection of Jeanne d’Arc and Innes in Orleans) makes us think of Arcade Fire’s song “Joan of Arc” – it’s worth noting that both Sia and Arcade Fire are featured in the Way Home lineup

I can go on and speculate on who we might see on the lineup announcement tomorrow:

Florida Georgia Line – the popular country duo is currently on tour with The Cadillac Three and would be a big attraction for the country crowd and are only showing dates in the northern US at the time of Bluesfest…the only issue here is contractual obligations to the new Trackside Music Festival could put Bluesfest too close to their event.

Brad Paisley, Tim Hicks – both are on the lineup for London’s Rock the Park (Gone Country) festival and are good fits for Bluesfest.

John Fogerty is a strong possibility he’s playing in Quebec City and then in Toronto and is wide open for a stop in Ottawa so we’d love to see him on this list.

City and Colour – Dallas Green’s project City and Colour has a large following in Ottawa. Their current touring schedule has them headed back to Ontario from the east coast right in time for a stop at Bluesfest so I’d be willing to bet that you will see City and Colour on the list tomorrow.

In the past we’ve seen spillover from Cavendish Beach Music Festival possibilities this year could include Kenny Chesney (he isn’t showing his July 10th date in PEI yet and is open from the 2nd to the 16th so he’s a maybe), could The Band Perry make their return to Ottawa this year? They aren’t high on our prediction list but their schedule would allow for it. Same goes for Blake Shelton he’s open from July 9th to 30th but again not confident enough to put money on this one.

The Osheaga lineup which is also set to be announced tomorrow is also expected to see some cross-over acts.

Regardless of who gets announced tomorrow there’s no doubt 2016 will be another incredible year of music at Lebreton Flats. Kudos to the Bluesfest team for keeping anticipation high and leaks at an all time low.

Stay tuned, as always, Sound Check will have all of the details