Ottawa Bluesfest takes place in the nation’s capital from July 4-14. While it’s a Bluesfest in name, a lot of the acts aren’t very bluesy at all, unless the missing link between blues and dubstep will be discovered soon.
Saturday was highlighted by a re-united Dixie Chicks playing the main stage and Glasgow’s Belle & Sebastian making their Ottawa debut. Before this, Neko Case of the New Pornographers played the main stage with her talented band featuring Kelly Hogan, Eric Bachmann (Archers of Loaf, Crooked Fingers), Dave Hunt and the impressively bearded Tom Ray.
The band kicked off their set with a pair of songs from her back catalogue, “People Got A Lotta Nerve” from Middle Cyclone and “That Teenage Feeling” from Fox Confessor Brings The Flood.
Unsurprisingly, she played a handful of songs from her new album The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You out September 3. (Bonus points if you say that album name ten times out loud without messing up).
“We just made a new record and we’re fucking excited about it,” Case said before launching into a new song.
While it may have seemed like Case was using the festival date as an excuse to test out new songs live, she mixed in some favourites and had fun with the crowd. At one point she ran across the stage, telling the crowd she did it to show off how fit she is. “I want to show how ripped I am by playing this tambourine,” Case later said, although her tattooed arms were covered by an extremely comfortable looking camo hoodie.
Case lamented “the cruel stabbers of rock and roll” as she had to miss the headlining Dixie Chicks, flying out after her performance for an 8 a.m. soundcheck in Toronto the next morning.
Neko Case fans certainly have reason to be excited for the new album after this performance.
Words by Jonathan Briggins. Photo by Scott Blackburn.
