Still more photos and reviews from Ottawa Bluesfest 2024: Bahamas, TALK and Summersets

[More from photographer Ross MacDonald and reviewer Karen Coughtrey. – AC]

Friday, the 8th night of Ottawa Bluesfest, was another night with a strong lineup for the country music loving folks, but of course there is always something for everyone at Bluesfest and Summersets, TALK, and Bahamas also graced the Bluesfest stages to kick off the weekend.

Ottawa’s (by way of Sault Ste Marie) Summersets is Kalle Mattson and Andrew Sowka. The two, performing on the Ottawa Bluesfest River Stage this night, are friends from childhood and longtime band mates as Mattson’s solo career has seen him nominated or winner of every major Canadian music prize.

The two are storytellers as well as musicians and Summersets began as a duet, a song called ‘Never Love Another’, which they performed tonight, a story put to music telling the fictional arc of a relationship inspired by other musician storytellers such as John Prine or fellow Ottawa singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards.

That song turned into a project resulting eventually in their album Small Town Story which follows the fictional characters from their moment of meeting as teenagers, through a break up, reconciliation and eventually death. They would perform much of the album for the audience including; ‘Christian Scientist’, ‘Anywhere You Go’, ‘ Pass Me By’, ‘Borderline’, ‘Unbelievers’, and ‘Acceptance letter.’

The set also included songs not on the new album including ‘Shots In The Dark’ from their 2020 Small Town Saturday EP.

Their music is a gentle yet lively form of rock reminiscent of famous duo Simon and Garfunkel, whom they have even compared themselves to and the duo are down to earth and delightful. They commiserated with the crowd about the heat and in a very Ontario summer of 2024 moment, instead of asking for a drink/beer like many of the acts have done this festival, Mattson made a plea for a family doctor, something he has never had, and a plight shared by millions of Ontarians, and a hot topic this summer in Ontario with access to alcohol seeming to take precedence over access to healthcare. They would close with a song about intergenerational wealth transfer and not being able to afford a house in Ottawa.

In the night’s next time slot the RBC mainstage saw one of the most (if not THE MOST) Ottawa opening ever to an act. Before TALK took the stage a TALK-TV logo styled to look nearly identical to the YTV logo of the 90’s followed by clips of TV news anchors saying “Bluesfest” followed by clips of retro tv show openings and ads. What came next was unexpected and awesome as the screens showed clips of memorable moments in Ottawa Senators playoff series’ and TALK would emerge on stage in a Senators Jersey to the teams theme music ‘Trumpeter’s Cry’ accompanied by none other than the beloved mascot Spartacat and the two ran around the stage pumping up the crowd.

TALK opened with ‘Fall For You’ and ‘How Long’ and then the song he wrote for his girlfriend (in attendance) and the confidence she brings him and written for anyone in the crowd who experiences self doubt ‘A Little Bit Happy’.

Something the crowd at his spring show at the Ottawa Bronson Centre missed, the crowd at Bluesfest got to experience the famous TALK Croc kick. Unfortunately there is a shortage of Crocs in his size though and the lucky audience who caught each shoe were asked to throw them back. Which they did, and at least one extra croc made it’s way up on the stage as well, which he autographed and returned.

In another crowd pleasing moment nearing the end of his set, the Ottawa star gave out about 20 pizza’s from his local (nostalgic for him) favourite Willy’s Pizza located in Ottawa suburb Kanata.

He rounded out the set of his own tunes with ‘Wasteland’ and ‘Hollywood’ and then treated the crowd to covers of Wolfmother’s ‘Joker And The Thief’, Foo Fighters ‘Everlong’, Jimmy Eat World’s ‘The Middle’, and a solo acoustic rendition of Radiohead’s ‘Creep’.

In what has become a common occurrence at many Ottawa rock concerts, Super-Kyle had his chair in the air! He managed to crowd surf to the front and then a little extra-special moment happened with one of Kyle’s favourite artists. TALK next sang ‘Afraid of the Dark’, a song he wrote for his grandmother, and Super-Kyle had the opportunity to join in.

TALK then sang his mega-hit ‘Runaway to Mars’, and was beautifully joined by the thousands in the crowd. In what is perhaps becoming a tradition wrapped it all up in a neat little bow with a song fans know for it’s difficulty on guitar hero (TALK would play a guitar hero guitar for this song) Dragon Force’s ‘Through The Fire and Flames’ against his bandmate (and guitar prodigy in the making) Connor Riddell. The highlight performance of the day was over too soon.

Headlining back on the River Stage was Toronto’s Bahamas. He promised the audience he would try to pack as many songs in as possible and that he did entertaining for 15 minutes longer than scheduled, performing straight through with almost no crowd interaction in between and no encore break. He entertained the crowd with nearly (if not) twenty different numbers of his jazzy, mid-tempo music.

The set included ‘Opening Act’, ‘I’m Still’, ‘Working On My Guitar’, ‘Show Me Naomi’, and ‘Half Your Love’.

Despite trying to pack in as much music as possible the band certainly took time to jam, showing off their instrumental and vocal skills in the middle or to end many numbers and the crowd ate it up. It really felt like they were just playing for their closest friends and having the best time, especially when they would sneak little references to Ottawa into the lyrics.

The Bahamas band is fantastic and he gives them the credit as the basis of their church of soft-rock but backup singer/vocalist Felicity Williams really stood out and her additions really made the performance what it was.

If you were looking for a soft mellow beginning to your weekend or end to your Friday night, the Riverstage was where it was at and the crowd could not have asked for more or better in that genre.