Ottawa Bluesfest Coverage: Angine de Poitrine, Sheryl Crow, NAYANA

[Melody Maloney took most of the pictures. Karen Coughtrey did the write-up. – AC]

Night seven of the 2026 edition of Ottawa Bluesfest will be one to remember with a sold-out crowd, meaning 40,000 music fans would descend on the Lebreton Flats park by the Ottawa River. Two very distinct fan bases sold out the night, featuring a huge country artist (not reviewed here) and the hottest band coming from Canada (Quebec specifically) right now, so big they needed to be moved to the main stage due to their meteoric surge in popularity.

The RBC mainstage lineup for Friday, July 17, 2026, was Nayana, Angine De Poitrine, Sheryl Crow, and Ella Langley.

To start the night, local Ottawa native, upcoming country artist, Nayana took the stage. After sharing an emotional, tear-filled video on TikTok after having her set cut short and moved earlier in the evening due to the changes to the RBC Mainstage lineup, although she was no longer the artist performing directly before the iconic Sheryl Crow, she should be pleased with the sizable crowd she performed to. Her set was fun and flirty (new single “Flirtin’” came out yesterday) and a great way to kick off the evening for the many country fans in attendance.

Next though, the crowd needed to be ready to rock as something very different was about to take the stage. On their website, they describe their style as Dada Pythago-Cubist Mantra-Rock, and while others simplify that, calling it math rock, one thing is for sure: you really need to see it to understand it and its growing appeal.

Although a select few know the identities of the duo from Saguenay QC behind the phenomenon, to most they are simply Klek and Khn de Poitrine brother space time voyageurs who seemingly gaze in endearing wonder at each other and at the massive crowds they are attracting of late.

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Every part of the performance is unique. They are now widely known for their black and white polka-dot outfits and papier maché masks and headwear, even painting exposed skin (hands and feet) to complete the polka dot alien look. The only colour being a yellow triangle on each of their get ups (Khn’s hat and Klek’s chest) as well as a golden pyramid atop Klek’s helmet. The polka dot theme extends to the double neck guitar/bass and drums they play and the backdrop of course was also tiny polka dots.

All of this has been picked up by the fans, and the people watching was excellent as many arrived in homemade costumes of their own,even whole families dressed up together. The simple examples being anything black and white or polka dot clothing and the more creative including home-made Angine de Poitrine style headwear (helmets, buckets, pyramids, a die) and even a shaved polka dotted head.

The aforementioned triangle is also a symbol for the band, accessible to everyone and they and their adoring fans use both hands to make a triangle holding this up in the air (or onto the triangle on their clothing in the case of the band) to show affection and appreciation.

The music itself needs to be heard to understand, they are a dream for the music theory nerds trying to figure out how the way the band plays in a way to the uneducated might appear to be random and without thought is actually a carefully crafted playing with the time signature in a way that is actually quite ear pleasing. On their website they describe it as “built around a dynamic interplay of adding and subtracting sonic motifs in constant metamorphosis.”

There is no way to describe it better or more clearly than they do themselves and so to explain it better, from their website :

“Using his agile toes and an electronic looping module, Khn records and harmonizes multiple layers of melodic ornamentation in real time, constantly switching between microtonal guitar and bass lines that intertwine through angular, chromatic quarter-tone phrases. Within this vortex of repetitive cells, Klek’s dry-toned drumming behaves with the wisdom and restraint of a sherpa; the gradual and calculated addition of elements, or the stoic use of silence, guides the listener through the journey — making asymmetrical grooves dance, pushing intensity to its peak, or shifting the rhythmic anchor point at exactly the right moment.”

One can also hear the influences of other types of music at moments in their work. As just one example, at one point sounds very reminiscent of a fiddle could be heard, and that being an instrument used in much French Canadian traditional music should not be too surprising.

It goes without saying that with such a new band and on a night where the other artists on the mainstage were of the country genre that many in the crowd were taking in the performance out of curiosity and of course there were some that did not understand but it was clear that many new fans were being born as they grooved to the surprisingly pleasing sounds of the two aliens on stage.

The endearingness of the two performers is likely a part of the success, the music is great, the costumes are interesting but the way they use their nearly unintelligible foreign alien language (they may have said Angine De Poitrine, Ottawa and We heart you at different points throughout the set) and simple gestures to communicate to each other and with the audience really makes it feel like something special and something you want to be a part of.

Their glowing triangles and other lights (eyes) which glowed yellow for most of the show were seen to change to red at the end of the show, a sign the end was coming and our time with the space travellers was coming to a stop.

Having the tough job of following up that iconic act was the songstress Sheryl Crow and as a legend in her own right she was up to the job. She’s still got it (there was never any doubt) and the crowd quickly became very dense during her set and being anywhere towards the stage was not for the claustrophobic among us.

She did however show appreciation for her opener (although she shied away from attempting to pronounce their name) she seemed very impressed (although perhaps unaware that their fandom reaches far beyond Ottawa) declared “they fucking rocked”, are her new favourite band and promised to bring the triangle symbol all the way back to America.

Clad in a Canadian Tuxedo (jean jacket covered in patches including at least one Canadian one) and a superman t-shirt she opened with ‘A Change Would Do You Good’ and ‘Can’t Cry Anymore’.

She played something for everyone, playing her hits from a variety of her early albums including ‘All I Wanna Do,’ ‘If It Makes You Happy,’ and ‘Soak Up The Sun.’ All of which had all the women in the crowd of a certain age belting them out along with her.

Also included were the song she wrote and performed for the Cars soundtrack ‘Real Gone’ and her Cat Stevens cover of ‘The First Cut Is The Deepest.’

Surely she meant well but she did at one point make a joke about thinking that Canada was going to become a state which was met with loud boos. In trying to correct it she explained she was caught looking for real estate in Canada so one can hopefully assume she meant to express that she loves Canada and would love to live here but doesn’t want to leave her own country. Fair enough.

She ended with her hit ‘Everyday Is A Winding Road’ and included a long instrumental finale to it which one might have wondered if it was inspired by her new favourite band Angine De Poitrine.

Sheryl was not the last act of the night however a decision was made to escape the suffocating crowd and to let other better suited publications review country star Ella Langley who most likely put on a great show for the masses of adoring country fans who crammed the park to hear her.

Sheryl Crow – vocals, guitar
The Real Lowdown
Peter Stroud – electric guitar
Audley Freed – electric guitar
Fred Eltringham – drums, percussion
Robert Kearns – bass
Jen Gunderman – keyboards