The office surprised me with a pizza lunch the day before my last, and I really do mean surprised. I was working the last thirty minutes til my actual lunchtime, enjoying my music and the stillness of the room as everyone else went to work in another, when my fellow team lead came up to my desk with a serious question and asked if we could go talk. I felt kind of concerned and followed her. She led me to the closed board room door saying we should talk in there and motioned for me to open the door. When I saw that the room was completely full of coworkers apparently having a meeting, I automatically made to close the door, but before it was shut, everyone was saying “surprise!”
Feeling somewhere between sheepish and embarrassed, I went inside and thanked them (my fellow team lead had not allowed me to shut the door and make the tactical retreat I had intended to).
My embarrassment wore off as they started cutting the pizzas, and I thanked them all again (also mock-complained, “you guys really got me!”). Those two huge slices were definitely a tasty alternative to the sandwich that I had brought with me that morning.
Then, finally, it was my last day at the office I’d been working at for years, that I was going in to every day for most of the pandemic. I’d had quite a bit of notice and time to prepare beforehand so all of my responsibilities and jobs had been neatly handed over to others before I left (with plenty of time to train each person and make sure they were comfortable with the hand-over), the result being that I had no regrets upon stepping out the door for the last time yesterday afternoon.
I felt light, ready for the next chapter of my life to begin.
So I decided to kick it off by leaving early and going to Bluesfest for the first time since 2019.
Going back to this music festival after so many years was fun, even comforting — but I am also so much more centered now than I was back then. It didn’t feel like a new beginning, it felt like taking the next step in my life by leaving my old job, and then setting foot in this familiar place, days away from starting a new one.
The weather was warm but the breeze was cool making of the evening a perfect one for going to see some bands play outdoors.
I was a little late arriving to the River Stage for the first act, Pony Girl, so I encountered them mid-song, having never heard them play before. They were having such a blast on stage, it was impossible not to get into their music. When they suddenly played a clarinet solo outta left field, I knew I was in the right place, their songs delightfully unusual — art pop being a music genre I hadn’t been familiar with until their performance. Thumbs up for these talented, energetic, local musicians!
The frontman told the crowd they were having an amazing time playing for us that evening, which was especially important considering the night before had been the exact opposite: their rehearsal space had started flooding… with sewage. Yikes, man. He gave us extremely clear (read: comically roundabout) directions to the merch tent to buy their new album, and then got emotional thanking us for coming out to see them — because there’s nothing quite as special as “playing music with your best friends.”
And it showed. They just kept grinning at one another, sharing said jam session among friends with us, the crowd.
We cheered as they ended their set and began clearing away their instruments and equipment for the next band as the sun began to set.
As the sun continued to set, casting warm golden light onto the stage, Allison Russell came out with her band, beaming at us in her glittering blazer. Though she lives and works in the US, Allison Russell explained (en français) that she grew up in Montréal and that performing at Ottawa Bluesfest had been a longtime dream of hers. A dream so big that she’d missed her daughter’s first performance in a play to fulfil it… and we, the crowd, were grateful for her and her band’s presence that night.
I’d never heard any of Allison Russell’s music before and was touched by her lyrical storytelling through her radiant singing voice and radiant, radical message of love, peace, and acceptance. She spoke of growing up with an abusive adoptive father, of running away from the abuse, finding her chosen family, and of slowly unlearning the shame that her adoptive father had forced on her through his white supremacist ideals. It made the overpowering sense of love, compassion, empathy, and acceptance in her songs that much more beautiful. She introduced each member of the band as part of her circle, her chosen family, and all four of them radiated with purpose as they played, whether the song was sad and heartfelt or whether it was uplifting and euphoric.
They took their final bow to our enthusiastic applause.
The crowd packed in elbow-to-elbow as they cleared away equipment and rearranged the stage between bands; the sun had set entirely when Fleet Foxes came onstage as a cheer went up from the crowd. Their opening vocal harmonies were so soft, so clear, and finally seeing them live I understood that up to four band members would sing together at once for those beautiful, layered melodies, that it wasn’t several tracks layered together as I had figured. It was a wonder to see and to hear. I was also fascinated by all the different instruments they played throughout the performance.
The crowd was utterly thrilled by the performance (me included), singing along to songs, whooping, cheering, calling out to the band — and the band seemed pleasantly surprised by this enthusiasm, with the frontman continually exclaiming “thank you so much!” with a grin after almost every song.
Hey man, that’s our line! 🙂
It was particularly meaningful to me to hear Your Protector, Blue Ridge Mountains, and Blue Spotted Tail live, three of my favourite songs by them. Your Protector gave me chills… Blue Spotted Tail was so quiet and beautiful, the lyrics deeply touching. Something about Blue Ridge Mountain’s lyrics just puts the coziest sort of image in my mind.
I heard about their self-titled album through one of Saga’s entries on his old ameblo. It wasn’t nearly as easy to sample albums back in those days, so I just decided to trust Saga’s taste and buy it on a whim — it became one of the most-listened to albums in my library (especially when I was writing), and is the album that clued me in to the fact that folk rock is one of my favourite genres. Thanks, Saga! ♪
The two other songs I’d recommend (that they didn’t play that night) are Tiger Mountain Peasant Song and Sim Sala Bim.
They played right up until the minute it turned 11, and then they stopped and left the stage… an Ottawa bylaw prohibits loud noises past that time, so even though the whole crowd was ready to call out “one more song!” (and I’m sure the band would have wanted to play one) they wouldn’t have been allowed to do an encore.
It was a gorgeous concert.
I made my way home, tired but glad that I’d gotten to hear such great sets, and went to bed as Saga and アリス九號., on the other side of the world, were setting up to play what would turn out to be a seriously wild and passionate live at 新潟NEXS… ♡♪