Country music returned to the main stage at Ottawa Bluesfest on Sunday night with an all Canadian showing of acts featuring a stunning headline performance by Canadian country Queen Shania Twain, Newfoundland’s own Alan Doyle and, once again, a nod to the Canadian indie country community with South Western Ontario’s Buck Twenty. Other notable acts on the bill for Sunday included Toronto’s, by way of Queens University in Kingston, Wild Rivers who had the impossible task of going up against Shania Twain on the River Stage.
With a heat warning still in effect festival goers on Sunday got a bit of a break from the high humidity as a late afternoon thunderstorm rolled through the venue about an hour before opening. Thankfully there was no impact on programing from the storm but it pulled much of the heavy humidity out of the air making the evening much more comfortable than the first three days of the event.
Buck Twenty was first up for me. Mike and Aiden are both incredible musicians who have been working hard for the last decade, or more, so given an opportunity to perform at Ottawa Bluesfest on the RBC Stage ahead of iconic acts like Alan Doyle and Shania Twain is a much deserved accomplishment. Bringing in their mix of country and rock Buck Twenty quickly started drawing in the crowd from other parts of the venue. Their high energy set, and their band’s fun solos, were a hit for everyone in the crowd. It’s always nice to see good people get rewarded, I have a feeling it’ll take them some time to come down from the high that was last night.
I honestly didn’t stray far from the main stage last night as Alan Doyle is a long time favourite artist of mine, going back all the way to his Great Big Sea days. A few years ago Doyle performed on the River Stage offering a more, in my opinion, intimate performance for the audience. Doyle had zero problems commanding the larger RBC Stage and turned, unofficially, the Ottawa Bluesfest grounds into the biggest kitchen party ever hosted on Canadian soil…not sure if anyone’s keeping a record of that but if they are I’m willing to bet it was broken last night. The show was filled with Doyle’s solo hits, including a number from his 2024 album Welcome Home, such as “1,2,3,4”, “Bully Boys” as well as many of the Great Big Sea favourites that made his career many years ago. An Alan Doyle performance would be nothing without the help of his Big Beautiful Band, the newest member Johanna Sö who has joined the band on fiddle. Who doesn’t like a good fiddle solo during a kitchen party? Doyle Sö the opportunity to show off her skills with an incredible solo that had the crowed cheering. Definitely put the cherry on top of a great set.
After a short break, a seemingly rejuvenated, Shania Twain returned to Ottawa Bluesfest, also just 2 years since her last appearance. For starters I’m a huge Shania Twain fan. I’ve been on her bandwagon since the very early days when she was just starting out in Timmins, Ontario. I’ve seen her live many times and her live shows are incredible….that said 2 years ago was the first time I saw her since she recovered from her throat surgery and I felt the show was a bit too perfect and that the pomp and pizzazz might’ve covered up the fact that she, perhaps, wasn’t always singing. Was it just me? Who knows, maybe I was wrong, or maybe not. But Sunday night…Sunday night was magic.
I felt that the crowd was smaller on Sunday than 2 years ago, which was ok. Shania came out with a stripped down set, less gimmicks, just Shania and the songs that made us all fall in love with her. Vocally she was perfectly imperfect, almost emotional at times. Did she always sound flawless? Heck no but would I expect her to after 2 throat surgeries? Absolutely NOT! I loved the extended set of songs that she did simply sitting on a barstool taking the time to really connect with the crowd, even bringing up two young girls at one point to sing with her. Also serenading a couple that had just gotten engaged and singing happy birthday to two other audience members (too bad my birthday fell a few hours too late or maybe I would’ve been serenaded as well 🙂 ).
This was the Shania Twain I remembered, this was a night to remember and Shania….I’m glad you’re back.
Wanted to give a quick shout out to Wild Rivers, they were given the short straw and had to perform opposite of Shania Twain on the River Stage…they were on my list to check out on Sunday night but I just couldn’t get free of Shania’s grip. You really should check these guys out, they were formed just down the street from me in Kingston at Queens University and call Toronto home now. They’ve got a great sound, a JUNO nomination and have toured with the Chicks, Noah Kahan and more. Over 2 million others listen to them on Spotify every month…if that’s not enough reason to check them out what is? Here’s hoping they can swing back through Ottawa in the near future.
Bluesfest goes into a short break for the next two days so my feet will get a break and maybe, just maybe, I’ll get caught up on some sleep before we go back full throttle on Wednesday with a powerhouse lineup including Kingston’s own, our friends, Luscious, Tom Morello, Def Leppard and, of course, many more for those who aren’t all that in the main stage lineup!
