Photos and a review of Night 2 of Ottawa CityFolk featuring Greta Van Fleet

September 18, 2024 Alan Cross 0 Comments 4 min read

[Another assignment for correspondent Ross MacDonald. – AC]

Day two of Ottawa CityFolk music festival was on Thursday 12 September, and once again the weather was perfect: sunny and unseasonably warm. Unfortunately, Cody Bowles of Crown Lands fell ill, and they had to bow out of the festival. London Ontario’s up-and-coming rocker Charlie Edward was the beneficiary of Crown Lands’ bad luck, landing in the time slot on the main stage just before the night’s headliner Greta Van Fleet.

Charlie Edward came out on stage full of the confidence of a more seasoned musician. He opened his 45-minute set with a cover of Badlands’ 1989 song ‘High Wire’. Charlie exemplified very good guitar skills and displayed a very rare trait of playing lead guitar and singing at the same time.

Charlie was a little self-deprecating while talking about himself in the third person: “Who is this guy, Charlie Edward? He’s only got one song out. So, thanks for being here on day one.” He has a full voice and great guitar skills. The show was somewhat reminiscent of Guns N’ Roses in that Charlie was playing guitar like Slash and singing with the stage presence of Axl all in one.

Midway through his set, Charlie pulled out a 12-string semi hollow-body electric guitar. It gave a beautiful full sound with its tonal shimmering and reverb. Charlie closed with his single ‘Bad Looks Good’ which drew a very positive response from the full crowd.

Grammy award winners Greta Van Fleet drew the largest crowd of this year’s CityFolk festival. There were concert-goers of all ages, but predominantly gen-y and gen-z. And when the lights went down and the four band members took to the back of the stage, there was a cacophony of screams from the young ladies, reminiscent of a greeting for the Beatles.

The concert started off with the band standing at the back of the stage, waving to the screaming fans, and then BANG! Literally! A set of flashbangs went off, followed by the band coming forward as they fittingly broke into ‘The Falling Sky’.

Next Greta played their smash hit ‘Safari Song’ with flames leaping behind the band and warming up everyone in the front of the crowd. Even some standing back by the soundboard said they felt the heat of the flames. The song has been hugely popular, so many audience members were singing along.

After ‘Safari Song’ it was Danny’s time to shine with a powerful drum solo. And while Daniel rocked the stage, Josh ran backstage for the first of several clothing changes. He came racing back onstage in a purple jumpsuit adorned in spiritual symbols to sing ‘Black Smoke Rising’.

Throughout the concert the band had a video backdrop with a desert scene, occasionally changing for some psychedelic patterns. After another couple of songs Jake broke into an acoustic guitar solo, which at one point led into a cover of The Beatles’ ‘Norwegian Wood’. And back came Josh dressed in his sequined white jumpsuit that he was wearing at the beginning of the concert.

Sam took a break from his bass to move over to play the keys and piano for a few songs. At that point Josh addressed the adoring fans: “Tonight we’re celebrating, sharing this space together. This next song is about a lesson in love. Please sing along if you know the words. Or sing along if you don’t know the words.” The band broke into the ballad ‘Light My Love’ with cell phone flashlights waving back and forth.

Josh’s voice has an incredible vocal range that is fully engaging. Many of his verses have a beautiful baritone sound, and then he pierces through on the choruses with high tenor notes. His range, and the band’s instrumental prowess, were showcased in their encore, their breakout hit single ‘Highway Tune’.