SO – I’ve been incredibly spoiled this past weekend as far as seeing my favourite bands are concerned. First Radiohead, then Rufus. Rufus was very good as well. This was my 3rd time seeing him, the first being when he opened for Tori Amos at Massey Hall in Toronto (amazing!) and the second at Convocation Hall, where I somehow scored a seat second row/centre (doubly amazing!). Convocation Hall was in 2002, and I sadly hadn’t been able to make it to any of his shows since then. I heard he was coming to Ottawa for the Folk Festival on August 17th, and didn’t hesitate buying a ticket, despite it being nearly $50 for the day-pass. A day-pass I would only use about 5 hours of, but whatever.
I got to Britannia Park around 6ish, grabbed a veggie roti and staked out a spot at the main stage. I’m not going to lie – some of the acts were not my cup of tea. Far from it, but I managed. I was pleasantly surprised by Odetta – she was great. I had never heard of her before, but a quick spin on Wiki says she’s often referred to as “The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement”. Crazy. She was very bluesy-folk, which was a nice change from what I’d sat through for the past few hours. She was seventy-eight years old and in a wheelchair, but she definitely brought it. She did a couple encores and ate into Rufus’ time a bit, but that was fine. Had it been anyone else, I’d have been a bit pissed.
Anyhow, it didn’t take too long to set up for Rufus, as it was just his piano and guitar. The crowd sort of re-grouped after Odetta and the front filled up with standing folks. Again, I experienced that weird entitlement phenomenon I’ve only noticed with Ottawa crowds. I’ll try to explain this without offending anyone. You’re at a General Admission concert. Just because you put down a blanket/tarp/lawn chair (often all three) does not mean you 1) own that 3′x 5′ (often larger) space you put that blanket/tarp/lawn chair down on, nor do you 2) own an unobstructed sight-line from your space to the performer on stage. If you end up getting both of those things, that’s great! But if you only get one, or even none of those things – tough shit. Some folks didn’t really get that. As people began to stand at the stage, I heard several people sitting in lawn chairs start bitching about it. A guy turns to me (perhaps because I look younger) and asks “Do you think they’re going to sit down?” I laughed and said no, I knew they were not going to sit down. “Someone should call security and tell them to sit down!” the man replies. Yeah, I’m sure they’ll get right on that, I was thinking. There was more bitching from a few folks about “sitting there all day” just to have their view blocked by standing people for the last act. Whatever, it happened at last year’s Bluesfest too. I don’t understand them, these General Admission lawn-chair folks. You can’t have it both ways. You don’t own a spot – that’s the ~point~ of General Admission. Even at a FolkFest with a bunch of aging hippies, you can’t rely on the “respect” (I heard that word a lot) of others. Anyhow, after that exchange with the grumpy guy I promptly zipped up to the crowd and secured a slightly left-of-the-centre spot a few folks deep. Nice.
I got fairly close. A lot of my pictures didn’t turn out because my batteries were dying and I was pretty wobbly. That combination makes for some shitty photos, let me tell you. I need to work on the wobbliness. I also need to work on taking photos where he doesn’t look like he’s having an orgasm. But anyway, I’m glad a couple turned out. I don’t care if you take them for “personal use” – but please credit me if you use them online or anywhere else.
No one really announced Rufus, so when he just casually walked out on stage it was a little surprising. It was just him though – no backing band. He took a seat at the piano and after a brief “hi”, went right into Danny Boy. I think I took the above photo at that point. I can’t remember. He played a few others, maybe Beauty Mark was in there at that point. Then he grabbed his guitar and started talking about how it was great to be back in Ottawa. Heh. He started into Sanssouci and then stopped to tell us he’d been followed into the bathroom earlier that night by a bunch of teenage boys. He said it was the “height of his career”. I got a video of it and the rest of Sanssouci -
I don’t remember the order of the songs, or even all that he played. I’m terrible at that stuff. I can tell you that he played Danny Boy, Going to a Town, California, Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk, Hallelujah, and that new song Zebulon, because I’ve got them all on video. I remember him playing Vibrate too. His mother (Kate McGarrigle) accompanied him on piano for If Love Were All, Quand Vous Mourrez de nos Amours, and Somewhere over the Rainbow, and I got those on video too. She’s a pretty neat lady, that Kate. She had killer boots on and was very funny as well. Anyhow, my videos… the visuals on these videos are pretty crappy, but the sound is OK. I don’t see any harm in taking videos like that. Since they’re not good enough to like, profit from, who cares? It’s about the memories, only the memories.
All in all, it was a good show. Rufus is a very funny guy. He tells little stories, makes jokes, and stops and swears when he makes mistakes. I find the latter very endearing, as my piano teacher always told me to keep going if I made a mistake. Nine times out of ten, no one would notice if you just kept going, she said. It used to drive her nuts, I think, because I would always stop and go “Oh crap” or something like that when I screwed up. I still do that when I play guitar or piano. Not sure what that’s about. Oh well. I love Rufus. As I mentioned in my other journal, I think he’d have to do something unspeakably terrible for me to stop loving him. Sighs.
I have no idea what he’s talking about here, but it’s a funny photo, so I thought I’d post it.
Ps – Thank you (again) to the nice woman who shared a taxi with me after being stranded at Lincoln Fields. (Yes, bus bullshit, as anticipated.) When I went to pay for my half of the fare, she told me to put my wallet away. It wasn’t a crazy fare or anything, she just knew how it was being a student and told me to pay it forward in the future. Very much apprecaited!
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Great job Em. Fantastic videos. Thank you!