marshmello draws families as RBC Bluesfest resumes

Before I begin let me clarify, for those who might be confused by the title, there wasn’t a giant bonfire at RBC Bluesfest on Tuesday night at Lebreton Flatts. But popular DJ, marshmello, was the first act to bring pyro to the stage at this year’s edition of the festival.

We arrived at the venue as Frase was taking to the RBC Stage. Probably one of the busiest people in Montreal’s music industry he’s a producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist who, on top of touring internationally, is also working on projects for a number of up and coming artists.

It was during his set that the first, and only, rain, so far for this year’s festival, fell so we ended up making our way to the SiriusXM Stage for, local artist, Lyle Odjick & the Northern Steam. Every year you see complaints on social media about lack of local acts or lack of blues in the RBC Bluesfest lineup when both are categorically false. You just have to know where to look and Lyle Odjick ticks both of those boxes perfectly. Without a doubt you’ll be seeing him back at RBC Bluesfest in the future but watch for his name on lineups for other area blues festivals as well.

After Lyle we managed to catch short glimpses of Emma Armstrong & SAINt JHN. Emma really being the only one of the two that stood out to me. SAINt JHN, to me, was forgettable and totally not the style of music you’d normally catch me listening to. After a song or two I made my way back to the River Stage to finally catch Crown Lands a band that we know very well but, until last night, I personally have never seen live.

Having won two JUNOs (Rock Album of the Year and Breakthrough Group of the year in 2021) I have been waiting a long time to see this duo live. I already knew going into the show that they wouldn’t disappoint as those on the Sound Check Entertainment team that have covered them have always raved about them. The final verdict was that the set was too short, I needed more. No doubt the chances will come as Cody and Kevin seem to pop up in festival and rock tour lineups quite frequently. Only a few Canadian dates remain this summer with their next show being at the Empire Theatre in Belleville on July 15 followed by Rock on The River in Timmins on July 23 followed by Rock the Hub in Truro July 31. After the Truro show they’ll have a short break before a Thunder Bay visit on September 13 for Wake The Giant.

After Crown Lands it was time for us to take our place at the RBC Stage for marshmello. Keenan joined me, once again, this time for a show that he’s been waiting for and looking forward to for 2 years. I’ve been dragging him to concerts for about 10 years now (he’s 14) and usually we go to see what I want to see (it’s ok we have similar tastes in music and he loves it all) but this time it was for him (if it was just about me I probably would’ve spent the full evening at Three Days Grace).

A few things that struck me early were that the age of the crowd was one of the youngest I’ve seen in years, I think the youngest draw before Mr. Mello would’ve had to have been LMFAO a number of years ago. I was also surprised at how small the crowd was compared to previous nights. I would’ve thought that one of the most popular DJs in the world would draw better. But everyone else’s loss was our gain as we were able to get a prime viewing area in the middle of the crowd.

You might be surprised that, as a country music fan, I’m actually a big fan of EDM and house music…especially LIVE. There’s something electric about those big DJ shows with the smoke and the lasers and special effects, what they lack in instruments and stage presence (not that all DJs lack stage presence, you’d be surprised). I did enjoy the mashmello show but found the volume surprisingly low…but no too low. It just felt different when you’re used to shows like that hitting you with the bass so hard it feels like your organs are being liquified inside of you.

mashmello spared little expense when it came to special effects including everything from smoke, fireworks and lots of fire (I guess that makes sense for an artist that takes his likeness from a popular bonfire treat).

Watching the crowd was fun too, all ages from very young to adults my age (I turn 48 tomorrow) just dancing and enjoying the music and the beat.

Much to my surprise with about 30 minutes left in the show my son told me that we should go and check out Three Days Grace because he knew I’d want to see some of their show. So we slowly made our way over to the River Stage where a decent sized crowd had gathered on the hill. It was hard to get close enough to really get a good view but the sound was great and you could see most of what was going on on the stage. I just got the feel that Theory would’ve been much better suited to a main stage headline show as they, and their audience, felt cramped on the River Stage in its location this summer.

After a few songs we returned to the RBC Stage for marshmello’s grand finale for part of which he performed his big hit, for which he collaborated with Bastille, “Happier”.

All in I’d say the night was a win both for us and everyone in attendance. An early afternoon threat of thunderstorms made way to a very comfortable evening and the performances, again, brought something for everyone. The only act I regret missing was Michael Franti but I fully expect he’ll be back at RBC Bluesfest or CityFolk in the coming years.

The festival continues tonight with performances by Millencolin, Sum 41, Alexisonfire, JP Saxe and plenty more. I’ll personally be back tomorrow to celebrate my big FOUR EIGHT at my annual Bluesfest birthday party so hopefully I’ll see some of you there! As always visit www.ottawabluesfest.ca

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