After a short cooling down period, not that it actually cooled down much at all, Ottawa Bluesfest returned on Wednesday evening and it was full throttle all night long on the RBC Stage with powerhouse performances from Kingston’s Luscious, the one and only Tom Morello and the timeless Def Leppard.
Led by Brielle LeBlanc this, Kingston based powerhouse group, has been making a name for itself over the last several years playing gigs and festivals and it seems, this year, they may have finally hit the jackpot landing a slot opening for Tom Morello and Def Leppard on the main stage at Ottawa Bluesfest. By now you should know that I have a soft spot for up and coming indie acts so no one should be surprised when I say that this set was one of the most anticipated for me at the festival this year.
The energy from this band is unreal. Just watching LeBlanc jump around and run from side to side was exhausting and yet she managed to keep that up for their entire set in, almost, 40 degree heat…without collapsing. They managed to crank out their biggest hits from “Bombshell” and “Diamond Ring” all the way up to their latest release “Caution Signs” which was released just last week. One thing is for certain on their current trajectory we’ll be seeing much more of Luscious in the years ahead and the stages they play will keep getting bigger…although it’s hard to get bigger than main stage at Ottawa Bluesfest. Check them out at https://www.lusciousband.com/
Tom Morello was up next, freshly back from the UK where he served as musical director for the incredible Black Sabbath/Ozzy Osbourne “Back to the Beginning” celebration concert. Picking up where Luscious left off Morello quickly raised the temperature even more. Frequently joined by his son, Roman, Morello cranked out 17 songs over the course of his set including “Power To The People”, “One Last Dance” (from “Venom: The Last Dance”) as well as covers from Ozzy Osborne “Mr. Crawley”, Audioslave “Like A Stone”, John Lennon “Power to the People” not to mention numerous nods to Rage Against the Machine including, of course, “Killing in the Name”.
If you’re into rock and haven’t seen Tom Morello or the big outdoor music festival just isn’t your scene he’ll actually be back in Ottawa October 29 at the Meridian Theatres @ Centrepointe. Tickets for this show are on sale now at Tom Morello: A Night of Stories & Music | Meridian Theatres @ Centrepointe.
I’ve been a fan of Def Leppard for as long as I can remember. Shockingly I’ve missed every opportunity to catch them live until this week. When I saw their name on the lineup announcement for this year’s Ottawa Bluesfest I immediately cleared my calendar to ensure that nothing could prevent me from being there. It was a sea of vintage, and modern, Def Leppard shirts as far as the eye could see in the crowd on Thursday.
These guys have been rockin’ since 1977, almost as long as I’ve been on this plant, and they sound as good today as they did back when I first became a fan. They started the show with Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop) and played all the way through their biggest hits including “Rocket”, “Let’s Get Rocked”, “Armageddon It”, “Animal”, “Love Bites”, “Two Steps Behind”, “Rock of Ages” and then finished the night off with “Hysteria” and “Pour Some Sugar On Me”.
It was every bit as amazing as I had hoped it would be. My only regret is that we were one of the few outlets not allowed to shoot the show so you won’t find any photos from this performance in this review, instead I’ve included some from when we covered them in Toronto back in 2022.
