Phildel @ CBC Vancouver Studio 700 -- 11/18/13

One of my favourite musical discoveries this year came from the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. On the last day, I went to see a workshop with Justin Rutledge, Del Barber, Cold Specks, and a singer from the UK that I had never heard of, Phildel. Her handful of stripped down songs impressed me so much that I immediately picked up her album, The Disappearance Of The Girl, and it has been in heavy rotation ever since.
I was sad to have missed her actual performances that weekend, so when the Folk Fest announced they would be presenting a show in Studio 700 at CBC Vancouver with her headlining, I knew I couldn't miss it.

As an added bonus, opening up the show was Vancouver's own Jasper Sloan Yip. Joined only by Alex Hauka on cello and Stephanie Chatman on violin (and sometimes vocals), Jasper played more of a stripped down, acoustic set for the attentive crowd.
From "Athens", which was about a particularly bad day in Greece (and was also, as he introduced it, played as part of a "sad song competition") to the more upbeat and catchy "Show Your Teeth", Jasper wove through a series of ups and downs, with songs mostly about love and/or heartbreak.
He wrapped up the set with the title track to his newest album, Foxtrot, a beautiful duet with Chatman, her soft voice blending nicely with his.

Her band -- drums, bass, and synth -- took the stage and started the opening notes of the title track to her album, "The Disappearance of the Girl" before Phildel emerged from the back. The dark, ethereal pop was punctuated by Phildel's amazing, hauntingly beautiful voice, dipped in just the right amount of reverb, and the music all clearly came from deeply personal places. She gave backstory to many of her songs; the sinister song "The Wolf" was written in response to her extremely religious step-father who banned music when she was a child; "Holes In Your Coffin" is something of a revenge song after a betrayal; and the emotionally devastating "Funeral Bell" -- which I am sure caused more than a few teary eyes -- was written during a nervous breakdown.
She also had a very engaging stage presence, the intensity of her performance contrasting with her almost soft-spoken nature while telling stories between songs.
After her last song, "The Glass Ghost", the title track to her upcoming EP, the crowd gave a much warranted standing ovation. She was clearly moved by the response, and sat down at the keys for one last song, the beautiful "Comfort Me".

It was a perfect setting as well, a nice intimate studio with a very captivate and quiet crowd. The show marked the end of her current North American tour, but I am already hoping that the singer manages to make her way back here sooner rather than later.

setlist
The Disappearance of the Girl, Storm Song, Mistakes, Union Stone, Afraid of the Dark, Beside You, Celestial, The Wolf, Holes In Your Coffin, Moonsea, Funeral Bell, The Glass Ghost.
(encore) Comfort Me.

Vancouver Folk Music Festival Day Two @ Jericho Beach Park -- 07/20/13

The second day of the 26th Annual Vancouver Folk Music Festival was packed, so let's just get right to it.
(See day one here)

It was a day of seeing workshops, and started off with one called Songwriters' Café featuring a score of Canadian talent. Led by Justin Rutledge, who was joined by Miranda Mulholland on the violin, it also included Hannah Georgas, joined by her guitar player Rob Tornroos; Kathleen Edwards, joined by Jim Bryson; and Del Barber, joined by... no one.
The best thing about the workshops is the collaboration that can happen, and there was a touch of that here; Kathleen and Jim joined in on Hannah's song "Robotic", helping on vocals. There were also a couple of cover songs, Hannah covering "Bye Bye Love", and oft-covered song made famous by The Everly Brothers, and Edwards with a sultry version of Nirvana's "All Apologies". I was also very impressed by Del Barber, who I had only heard a little of before the weekend. His good storytelling convinced me to check out his full set later in the afternoon.

I caught a bit of Reid Jamieson and his folky singer/songwriter fare, and later on in the day there was the Going Bi-Coastal workshop, with Charlottetown, PEI's Tim Chaisson and Mo Kenney from Waverley, Nova Scotia representing the east, and Vancouver's Hannah Georgas, and Victoria's Aidan Knight taking care of the west.
There was some nice collaborating in this workshop, Aidan and Hannah being familiar with each other at the folk fest, and Chaisson joined in a Mo Kenney song on his fiddle. Hannah also covered Sarah Harmer's "Coffee Stain" and as the workshop drew to an end, Aidan got everyone -- on stage and in the audience -- to join in to "Jasper", which was one of the highlights of the weekend, and Tim wrapped it up by pulling out his fiddle and evoking a good old fashioned east coast kitchen party.

From there it was off to Del Barber for his own set. Musically, he is a pretty good folk singer/songwriter with a bit of a country edge, but it's his charm and storytelling that put him above others. Introducing most songs with a story, and chatting with the crowd between -- and sometimes during -- songs. Even when he screwed up (something he would attribute to bad karma the next day) he covered effortlessly.
There was also a great song that was about Archie marrying Veronica (an even that happened in Archie comics a few years ago) which was my favourite of the set, and he ended with a cover of "Harvest Moon"
Del was one of my favourite "discoveries" of the festival, and I will have to make sure to catch him next time he is through Vancouver.

As the sun arced over Jericho Beach Park, I caught the first couple songs from The Wooden Sky, but they were having technical issues to start and the heat was starting to bear down, so it was off to the beer garden and catch Maria In The Shower in the background. I had heard a lot about the East Van band, but never seen them live. They put on a pretty fun set, and I'll have to catch them next time they put on a show.

Not long after that, the main stage started for the night, with Danny Michel and The Garifuna Collective. Danny recently went to Belize to record and be inspired, and he came back to Canada to do the festival circuit with them as his backing band. They traded off songs, with highlights being "Survivors Guilt" and the catchy "What Colour Are You?", and put on a very energetic and fun set.

And then, ending my day was Whitehorse. One of my most unexpectedly favourite shows of the year so far was when I saw them at the Commodore, so they were one of my most anticipated of the weekend.
Married couple Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland are excellent musicians separately, but when put together, something magic happens. With only the two of them on stage, they have an array of instruments and looping pedals at their command, crafting each song from scratch, building them up one by one. Starting with "Killing Time Is Murder", the duo wowed the crowd, especially with Melissa's voice and Luke's guitar skills.
Aside from their own songs, they did a couple covers; a little bit of George Thorogood's "Who Do You Love" slipped in to "Radiator Blues" and a JJ Cale's "Crazy Mama" in the middle of the set. They also played each other's songs as well, including Luke's deliciously bitter "Broken" and Melissa's "Passenger 49", starting soft and then exploding part way through.
After what seemed like not nearly enough time, they wrapped up with the intense "Jane". They definitely didn't disappoint.

That was all for day two (there were other performers after Whitehorse, but I had to leave early). Day three would feature a couple more workshops and solo shows, and another one of my favourite festival discoveries.

Vancouver Folk Music Festival Day One @ Jericho Beach Park -- 07/19/13

For its 36th year, the Vancouver Folk Music Festival took over the shores of Jericho Beach Park to put on one of the biggest festivals around. I missed last year's festival, but the lineup this year was too enticing to pass up. With three days and over sixty artists, there was a lot to take in.

One thing, though, was a new layout to the main stage, which I didn't really like. Almost the entire field was designated as a "sitting area" with tarps and blankets covering the ground, but if you wanted to stand up, dance, or groove to the music, you were pushed off to the sides of the stage, fenced off. I understand why they did it, as I assume the people on the blankets did not want people standing in front of them, but it seemed to punish people who wanted to get up and move.

Anyway, I arrived at the beach just in time for Hannah Georgas to take the main stage. The hometown hero (she may be originally from Newmarket, Ontario, but we have appropriated her for ourselves) had previously been at the festival as part of the Malahat Revue with Aidan Knight, Said the Whale, and Jeremy Fisher, but this year the flame haired singer took the main stage on opening night.
As usual, Hannah was full of energy and had a great presence, starting off with "Waiting Game" building up to "Robotic" and a set of songs focusing mostly on her new, self titled album. Other highlights were a cover of Jesus & Mary Chain's "Just Like Honey" and the incredibly danceable "Shortie". She had a little help from her friend and former touring partner, Kathleen Edwards, for vocals on "Enemies" and the final song of the set, "The Deep End", as they brought the set to a grand ending.
It's always a pleasure seeing Hannah perform, and watching her on the main stage at the folk fest was especially a treat.

Next up after Hannah was Hayden. Even though he's been around for a couple decades I never really got into the Toronto troubadour, and maybe for that reason I didn't really connect with his set. Watching the first few songs, he seemed to have a low energy -- both in his music and his between song banter -- and while his songs were well written, they were a little too slow and melancholy. Perhaps if I stayed longer it would have picked up, but I took the opportunity to explore the festival grounds; the bazaar and vendors, and especially the beer garden and food trucks.

I made it back to the main stage for the "tweener", a short, stripped down set from Aidan Knight. He warmed up the crowd with three songs, including "Margaret Downe", one of the most heartbreaking songs.
Another tweener later on the night was Mo Kenney, whose few songs included "Deja Vu" and the recent SOCAN Songwriting Prize winning "Sucker". I hadn't seen her live before, so it was a nice teaser for her full set later in the weekend.

One of the people I was most looking forward to of the festival was Kathleen Edwards, and she was out next joined by Jim Bryson and Colin Cripps. She kicked things off with "Asking for Flowers", completely capturing the crowd's attention as the sun set over the mountains. Edwards has a phenomenal stage presence and energy, and just owns the stage. Going from her heartbreaking songs to her hilarious stage banter -- at one point stopping mid-song to jokingly tease the guy in front sprawled over five spots -- she had the entire park's attention.
A few highlights of the set included older songs like "Hockey Skates" and "I Make The Dough, You Get The Glory", as well as Hannah Georgas returning to the stage to help out with vocals on "Comedian/Chameleon".
Near the end of the set, Bryson took leave for Edwards and Cripps to duet of Kris Kristofferson's "Help Me Make It Through The Night" after Kathleen told the crowd about their past relationship -- they were married for five years -- and that it was his first show with her again in quite a while.
Sadly, it was then time to wrap it up as they closed out the set with the raw emotion of "Change the Sheets", as Kathleen conducting Jim & Colin to a powerful finish.


That was it for me on the first night, with great sets from Hannah and Kathleen. The next day would start bright and early with workshops from everyone seen today -- Georgas, Edwards, Knight, and Kenney -- as well as a few surprise discoveries, and another big highlight: Whitehorse on the main stage at night.

Vancouver Folk Music Festival: Day Three -- 07/17/11

Well, Sunday was the final day of the 34th Vancouver Folk Music Festival (see days one and two here).
Luckily the weather decided to be somewhat cooperative, and the rain held off for most of the day. I've heard it was the first VFMF in 15 years that it wasn't a scorching hot weekend, though to be honest I would prefer a little overcast and rain to that -- though I am sure I'm the only one.
But enough about the weather, and on to the music. Sunday was filled with workshops, which are bands/artists sharing the stage to jam together, and a few shows in the evening.

The day started with an 11am workshop called "Independently Minded", with Kathryn Calder, Jim Bryson & The Weakerthans Band and Imaginary Cities, which was without a doubt the best workshop I had seen all weekend. There was lots of jamming and collaboration between the musicians on stage, with the members of The Weakerthans basically playing backup for both Bryson (obviously) but also Imaginary Cities. Calder also jumped in often, at the very least on a tambourine.
Each band played three songs; Kathryn threw in a new song, Jim Bryson's "Decidedly" sounded great, and everyone pitched in to help Imaginary Cities end the workshop with "Hummingbird", which was spectacular.

The next workshop was also up there, in terms of collaboration and sheer fun. "All Fired Up" consisted of Danny Michel, The Burning Hell, Imaginary Cities (again) and Jason Wilson Band. I wasn't too hyped on Jason Wilson Band, they had a bit too much of a Dave Matthews vibe, but the others were pretty great, with members of The Burning Hell being really good about jumping in, much like yesterday. Again, "Hummingbird" was a highlight, and even though it was the fourth time I had heard it that weekend, it didn't get old. The Burning Hell ended their last song with a little bit of "In The Air Tonight" slipped in, and the group finished off the workshop with a pair of covers. First Jason Wilson Band with  "54-46 Was My Number" by Toots & the Maytals and then Danny Michel with Los Lobos' "Life Is Good". Both had near everyone on stage join in, and the ending of "Life Is Good" had the crowd join in on clapping and "Ooh la la", with everyone leaving the stage, resulting in the crowd keeping the song going strong for a couple minutes after they were done.

The third workshop of the day was a "secret" one, in that it wasn't listed in the program, but was on the online schedule. It featured Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three, Wendy McNeill and Elliott BROOD, and seemed a bit shorter than the others, with each band only playing a couple songs. LaFarge was pretty fun, with a crazy washboard player, and McNeill was good as well, but the best part of the set was everyone joining Elliott BROOD for "Miss You Now".

It wasn't long after that that the evening shows started, with Kathryn Calder kicking off the night on Stage 3. Even though I'd seen her a couple months ago (and that morning at a workshop, for that matter) I was still excited to see her play a full set with her band, and she did not disappoint. Even after she mentioned it not raining, only for a trickle to start, as if on cue.
But despite the sogginess, her set was really fun, especially with such energetic and upbeat songs as "A Day Long Past Its Prime" and "Follow Me Into The Hills", and one of my favourites of hers, "Castor and Pollux", which ended the set.
There were also a couple new songs, "Turn A Light On" and "City of Sounds", teasing a new album out in October, which I am eagerly anticipating.

setlist
All It Is, Down the River, Slip Away, A Day Long Past Its Prime, If You Only Knew, Turn A Light On, Follow Me Into the Hills, City of Sounds, Arrow, Castor and Pollux.

Jim Bryson & The Weakerthans Band was up next, staying on Stage 3. They had a bit of an awkward introduction, and at one point there was a holler for "Tournament of Hearts", so I don't think some people (including the emcee) really "got" the concept behind members of The Weakerthans as Jim Bryson's backing band, but that didn't diminish from being a fantastic set. As well as The Weakerthans, Rusty Matyas from Imaginary Cities was also playing with the band, on keys, guitar and trumpet.
I had seen hints of it during the workshops, but the full set proved what a great storyteller Bryson is, and what an engaging frontman he is, especially when backed by a group of musicians that talented.
A few of the highlights from the set were "Decidedly" and "Up All Night", both really fun songs, as well as "Freeways In The Front Yard", which had Jenny Whiteley out for vocals. The last song of the night, "Wild Love", was probably the most energetic of the set, (finally) getting people to their feet and ended with a bit of CCR's "Proud Mary", getting the crowd to sing along. As it came to a close, members of the band left the stage one by one, with Bryson "firing" them, leaving just him.

There were a few more acts after, on both Stage 3 and the main stage, but at this point everyone was pretty beat, and we figured there wouldn't be a better way to end both the day and the festival than with Jim Bryson & The Weakerthans Band.

So overall, I would say the weekend was an incredible success; I am so glad I got the chance to finally go to the Folk Fest, weather be damned. I wish it had been scheduled a little differently; there were times where three things I wanted to see happened at once and times where there was nothing I wanted to see for a couple hours... But I think there was only one person that I completely missed, everyone else I was able to catch in some form or another, either a full set, a workshop or a tweener.

Now, who's ready for next year?

Vancouver Folk Music Festival: Day Two -- 07/16/11

It was a little rainy for day two of the Vancouver Folk Music Fest, (see day one here) but it was just a little wet, it was still good, and the day started early with an 11am workshop. The workshops consisted of three or four bands on stage at once, playing each one of their songs, with the chance for others to join in and jam with them. Sometimes they did that, though sometimes it just ended up being each band playing a song individually.
And again, I will attempt to keep things as brief as I can, but this was probably the most packed day, so no promises.

First workshop was the "Sounds Of Home" with Joel Plaskett, Jim Bryson, The Burning Hell and The Dardanelles, moderated by Joel, who started things off with "Love This Town". They went down the line and each played three songs, with others occasionally joining in. Though the joining in didn't happen too often, but the best at it was members of The Burning Hell, especially their baritone sax. I hadn't seen Jim Bryson live before, but he was pretty good, especially "Metal Girls" (but more on him in day three) and The Dardanelles were definitely a maritime band, with a couple sea shanties. It was a pretty fun workshop, but it would be overshadowed by the two the next day (ooh, foreshadowing!).

The next show for me was one I was looking forward to the most, Imaginary Cities playing a full set. They went on a little late due to some technical problems; which seemed to be persistent on Stage 3, where I spent most of my time at the festival, but with the sheer amount of things on stage for the weekend and the required quick turnarounds, it was forgivable.
They started off with "Say You" and played most of the songs off their amazing debut Temporary Resident. Marti's vocals were amazing live, and Rusty was as great as you would expect.
Highlights were "Ride This Out", one of my favourite songs this year, which starts mellow and then explodes, and the climactic "That's Where It's At, Sam" which ended the set. "Hummingbird" was also fantastic live. It was an incredibly fun set, and I was so glad to have seen them play a full set during the festival.

setlist
Say You, Marry The Sea, Ride This Out, Cherry Blossom Tree, Calm By Storm, Temporary Resident, Where'd All The Living Go, Hummingbird, That’s Where It's At Sam.

Soon after, the evening shows started with Danny Michel at Stage 3. I wasn't overly familiar with his stuff, but he won me over in his first song with some cool looping, which I am a sucker for.
He was really fun to watch live, and even if he hadn't told a story about finding one of Paul Simon's apples and trying to plant a Paul Simon Apple Tree from it, I would have been able to tell his influence on Michel.

There were a few songs I recognized through the set, "Maybe You Can In Your Heart", "Feathers Fur and Fin" and "Who's Gonna Miss You", and he brought the show to an end with some more looping -- after having a couple problems with the pedals, but his persistence paid off -- and then some awesome use of sound effects off his iPod, which is hard to describe but awesome to hear.

After him was The Burning Hell again, but this time for a full set of their own. They are a pretty hilarious band, but not in the "novelty song" kind of way, more like clever lyrics and storytelling. Two great examples of that would be "Flux Capacitor", the title track from their new album, as well as "Dance Dance Dance" which had its very own disco break. They also have an incredibly upbeat, folk rock sound, and the combination of both those factors make for an undeniably fun set.
They wrapped up with "It Happens In Florida", an interesting spin on a love song with lyrics like "Love, it’s like a newborn child: seems interesting when it’s young, gets pedestrian after a while", and at the end, lead singer Mathias (and his big bushy beard) was getting the whole crowd to sing along.

Next up was [the legendary] Buck 65, who I had never seen before, so was really interested to see. He had a laptop and turntable and nothing much else on stage, aside from a music stand which he read lyrics to a couple songs off of, and was joined by Marnie Herald for backup vocals, especially for a lot of the songs from 20 Odd Years. The songs were not quite the same without the likes of Jenn Grant and Nick Thorburn, but she did a really good job regardless.
Buck was really energetic and fun to watch, dancing around and hamming it up for the children in the crowd, especially during "BBC", and he was also a great storyteller -- which makes sense with his CBC Radio 2 show Drive -- as he told a tale of going to not just the wrong venue, but the wrong city to play a show in Sweden.
Some other highlights from the set were "Indestructible Sam", which had Emily Wells join him on violin, the incredibly fun "Zombie Delight", which is about exactly what the title implies, and a bit of an experiment... He mentioned he played a festival recently at the same time as John Fogerty, so as a kind of "thanks" to the people watching him, he used "Run Through The Jungle" as the musical bed for "Wicked & Weird", which was pretty amazing. He put on an incredibly fun set, and I would definitely see him live again, given the chance. (Unfortunately, I had to miss his workshops the next day)

Finally, closing out the night was Elliott BROOD. It had been a long time since I had last seen them live, and I was definitely excited to hear their new stuff. And the "death country" trio did not disappoint. Even though there was a couple times that Mark looked frustrated, the band sounded absolutely great.
The awesome instrumental "Chuchwagon" and the new single, "Northern Air", just one of the few new songs they threw into the set, were both a few of the highlights, as well as the bands intense energy. Mark and Casey, who share guitar and vocals, and Stephen on drums all had an incredible energy to them and are amazing to watch live.
After everyone sang along to "Oh Alberta", they handed out the trademark tin pans and wooden spoons -- and after seeing them live thrice before, I finally got one of my own -- to bang along to "This Valley Town", and then for the big finale of "Write It All Down For You" with the whole crowd banging and shouting along to the HEYHEYHEY!'s.
But of course, that wasn't the end, as they were back out for one more, the soft -- or as soft as the Brood can be -- and beautiful "Miss You Now". An amazing set, and definitely one of the highlights of the whole festival.

Well, that's two days down and one to go, with the last day consisting of two absolutely amazing workshops, and a couple other great concerts by Kathryn Calder and Jim Bryson & The Weakerthans Band.

Vancouver Folk Music Festival: Day One -- 07/15/11

For the last few years, I have been wanting to go to the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, but have just never had the chance. This year changed all that, and it was my first ever trip. I was excited, despite the predicted weather, to take in the whole festival, and especially for a few of the bands playing, including the headliner for the first night.
And since I have three days and dozens of artists to cover, I will try to keep things brief.

Arrived a little after six to find space at the Main Stage, hosted by Lana Gay & Tariq Hussain of CBC Radio 3, in time for Freshlyground, a passionate afrobeat from South Africa. Put on a fun and energetic set, getting most people up and dancing for their final song, "Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)", from the 2010 World Cup.

The main stage also had "tweener" acts, which were short, usually acoustic sets to fill the time between main acts. The first tweener I saw was The Burning Hell. With seven members crammed into a small corner of the stage, they played a couple songs and were, as usual, entertaining and funny.

The next main act was Justin Townes Earle, joined only by a stand-up bass. He had a bit of a country twang to his songs, and was an incredible guitar player, using no looping or effects (other than a little reverb), as well as a storyteller, both in his songs and in his stage banter; he had a great personality and stage presence.

CR Avery was the next "tweener", with some slam poetry and harmonica beatboxing (you read that right). Aside from that, he had a couple of more mellow, folk-y songs and ended his short set leading the crowd in a song along.

Next out was Gillian Welch, with David Rawlings backing her up on guitar. She had a really nice voice and both her and Rawlings were great on guitar, which they played for most of the set, but occasionally pulled out the banjo and harmonica a few times; once even for the same song with Welch joking that they are the two most abrasive instruments, and she decided to put them together.
As the set progressed, they got more and more chatty and joked around between songs, and they even came back out for an encore of "I'll Fly Away". She was a great musician, but perhaps a little too country-ish for my tastes, and so her set seemed to go on quite long, but was still quite enjoyable.

The final "tweener" was Imaginary Cities, with Rusty & Marti coming out for a quick acoustic set including the massively infectious "Hummingbird" and a cover of Cake's "Mexico". I hadn’t seen them live before, and this was cool, but just a teaser for their full show tomorrow.

And finally, it was time for Joel Plaskett Emergency. It was almost exactly two years since I had last seen Joel, so I was more than a little excited. The Emergency was pretty minimal, as Joel was just backed by drums & bass, but that didn't mean they were not going to completely rock out.
The set spanned most of the Emergencies catalogue, kicking off with "Come On Teacher", and even included a couple new songs, one called "I’m Yours" and one that he didn't name (but I will dub "Lightning Bolt"), which was absolutely amazing; and mark my words, when it's recorded, it will be his next huge hit. Part way through the set the band stepped out for Joel to do a couple on his own, but came back gradually for  "Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'" and the rest of the set.
Throughout the show, Plaskett proved time and again what an amazing performer he is, with great presence and some of the best storytelling, especially on things like "Work Out Fine" where he wove a story of his old cat Whitefang throughout the song.
They "ended" with everyone singing along to "Nowhere With You" and "Extraordinary" before the encore, with a trip back in time to 1999 for Thrush Hermit's "From the Back of the Film", which was an amazing way to end off the night, and the first day of the festival.

setlsit
Come On Teacher, Through & Through & Through, Let Me Down, Maybe We Should Just Go Home, Lightning Bolt [?], Face of the Earth, Light of the Moon, Rollin' Rollin' Rollin', I'm Yours, Natural Disaster, Work Out Fine, Nowhere With You, Extraordinary.
(encore) From the Back of the Film

Stay tuned for day two which has a workshop, more Imaginary Cities, my first time seeing Buck 65 and the insane Elliott BROOD. (Also, better pictures since I remembered the batteries for my actual camera, not just my cell phone snaps)

Preview: Vancouver Folk Music Festival. July 15 - 17

It's almost that time of year! The Vancouver Folk Music Festival is back for its 34th year this weekend, from the 15th through 17th at Jericho Beach.

Despite always wanting to go, I have somehow never made it to the festival, until now! And what a year to go for the first time. Here are a few of the artists I'm looking forward to most, and are just a fraction of the full lineup.



Joel Plaskett Emergency - Come on. It's Joel. Reason enough to hit the festival. Be it solo or with the Emergency, Plaskett is always incredible live, and I wouldn't miss a chance to see him. Sure to be a great ending to the Main Stage on Friday.

Buck 65 - I have been a fan of Rich Terfry for a while now, but have never taken the chance to see him live, which I am very glad to correct. I've heard he is quite the live performer. He'll be playing on Stage 3 Saturday night.

Imaginary Cities - Quite possibly the act I am most anticipating. I absolutely love their debut album, Temporary Resident, but have not yet seen them live. From what I've heard, they're live show is just as good, if not better, than the album.
They are playing during the day Saturday, as well as a "tweener" set Friday night. And they're doing a free Musical Nooner at CBC Vancouver on Friday.

Elliott BROOD - I am hoping the pans and wooden spoons will be out in full force, and for a preview of their upcoming album, Days Into Years, which is due out in September. A veritable force of nature live, they're right after Buck, closing out Saturday on Stage 3.


Kathryn Calder -Formerly of Immaculate Machine and currently of The New Pornographers, Calder's solo stuff is about as great as you would expect from that pedigree. I've had the chance to see her live a couple times in the last year, but I am always looking forwards to seeing her again. She'll be opening Stage 3 Sunday night.


Jim Bryson & The Weakerthans Band - Members of The Weakerthans joined Jim Bryson last year for The Falcon Lake Incident, and I am definitely looking forward to these two powerhouses coming together. They'll be hitting Stage 3 after Calder on Sunday.

Jess Hill - She won the Ukulele Competition, meaning she'll get to play this song Sunday evening on the main stage. Regular readers know how much I like Jess, so I am glad she won and am looking forward to seeing her, if only for a song.

And that doesn't even begin to cover the immense number of bands playing or workshops. You can check out the whole festival schedule with these two convenient links: Daytime Workshops Schedule and Evening Schedule.

Hope to see you there?