More from Ottawa Bluesfest 2023: Mumford & Sons, Amos the Transparent, The War on Drugs

[More reporting from Ross MacDonald (photos) and Karen Coughtrey (text). – AC]

The Ottawa weather, including the very serious tornado that touched down in one of its largest growing suburbs, tried to take centre stage Thursday but it could not dim the lights or the spirits of Ottawa Bluesfest. Thursday night’s main bowl lineup consisted of local indie rock darlings Amos The Transparent, American rockers The War On Drugs and headliner Mumford and Sons.

The aforementioned weather ushered in a distinct change in the temperature to the Ottawa region including a cold wind, but Amos The Transparent had no trouble warming up the audience as they took the stage opening with ‘Change My Mind’.

It was evident the band was grateful to be playing at all that early evening as they reminded the crowd after their song ‘Faded Blue Ink” of what the festival crew had been through that day due to the ongoing severe weather warnings. A feeling of gratefulness likely shared by the audience as it came awfully close to there being no shows to attend that night.

They continued to get the crowd warmed up with ‘Troublemaker’ and channelled their rock mentors, asking the already active crowd to get right into a favourite track ‘Says The Spark.’

Among the favourites of theirs they played they also treated the audience to a brand new song ‘Best Friends’ and a cover of Phil Collins’ ‘In the Air Tonight.’

In a sweet moment of the night, lead singer Jonathan Chandler reminded the crowd about why we love and attend live music. “We’re here for the moments, right? Here to create moments, have moments? You’ve allowed us to be part of your moments and you’re part of moments to us.” Jonathan said before asking the crowd to commemorate one of his best moments in singing Happy Birthday to his 12 year old daughter.

They finished up their perfect evening opening set with the very apropos ‘Sure As The Weather’ and ‘The Burin Peninsula.’

With very little intro, The War On Drugs took the crowd by surprise as they took the stage next, exactly on time, opening with their song ‘Ocean’s Of Darkness’ before moving straight into performing ‘Pain’.

They talked about trying to work some blues into ‘Strangest Thing’ (It is Bluesfest after all) and relayed stories of touring through northern Ontario (Shout out to Sault Saint Marie and Thunder Bay) but otherwise had little to say to the audience preferring to stick to the music.

They had some strong instrumental stand-out moments with ‘Harmonia’s Dream’ being bookended with long instrumental interludes, a synthesiser feature in ‘Under The Pressure’ as well as Jon picking up the saxophone on (at least) ‘Red Eyes’ and on ‘Eyes To The Wind’ which also saw Adam pick up and play a harmonica. They finished up their turn on stage with ‘I Don’t Live Here Anymore.’

When it was time for the main event some were initially confused as the stage lights lit up and Bryan Adams’ ‘Everything I Do (I Do It For You)’ began blaring but no one appeared on stage. Not to worry though as Mumford and Sons did appear right after to light up and warm up the crowd with their lively hit ‘Babel’ and then continuing with ‘Little Lion Man’ and ‘Roll Away Your Stone’. From start to finish, Marcus’s rich and deep voice shone with pitch-perfect harmonies from Ted and Ben.

‘We’ve gone on tour by mistake,” they said. “We said yes to one show and then Canada called.” To the delight of the crowd they finished the thought with “We couldn’t say no, it’s been too long.” and it goes without verifying that everyone in attendance hopes we won’t have to wait too long to see them again.

They said the Ottawa crowd was the largest crowd in Canada they’d ever played for, but of course they might say that in every city they visit. They also mentioned in passing that they hadn’t been warned about the bugs so we’ll have to see if they survive this Canadian outdoor summer festival tour, and wish to come back.

There were mellow moments to the set such as during ‘Below My Feet’, ‘Dust Bowl Dance’, and ‘Delta’. That said, overall the set was high energy and had the crowd jumping and dancing to their hearts delight on songs such as ‘The Cave’ and ‘Believe’ which featured some pyrotechnics but also saw the crowd asked to turn on and wave their cell phone flashlights creating that dreamy starry night effect that has become a favourite.

Marcus got close to the fans descending from the stage into the crowd on ‘Ditmas’ only to reappear draped in a Canadian flag he’d borrowed from a fan. Although he did try to return the flag after the song, it appeared he was told to keep it, prompting him to thank the audience for their kindness and the warm return.

Their last song of the main set ‘The Wolf’ featured a pyrotechnic waterfall and although time was tight (Marcus joked they’d been late to the stage because of his hair and makeup) they managed to squeeze in a two song encore.

They opened the encore with ‘Awake My Soul’ and then literally lit up the night with a beautiful firework display ending their concert with the much anticipated mega hit ‘I Will Wait’. The unexpected fireworks at the close of a long worry-filled day was the perfect ending and there is no question that the Wednesday night crowd left happy and fulfilled by the evening of performances, some likely thought would be cancelled.

Mumford and Sons
Marcus Mumford – lead vocals, guitars, drums
Ted Dwane – vocals, bass guitar, double bass, drums
Ben Lovett – vocals, piano, keyboards, accordion

War On Drugs
Adam Granduciel – lead vocals, lead guitar, harmonica, keyboards, samplers
David Hartley – bass, rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Robbie Bennett – keyboards, piano, rhythm guitar
Charlie Hall – drums, organ
Jon Natchez – saxophone, keyboards
Anthony LaMarca – rhythm guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
Amos The Transparent
Jonathan Chandler – vocals, guitar
Olenka Reshitnyk – percussion, vocals
Dan Hay – guitar, backing vocals
James Nicol – bass, backing vocals
Christopher Wilson – drums
Mike Yates – cello, keyboard, percussion, backing vocals
Blair Hogan – acoustic guitar, backing vocals