Saturday July 9 -A perfect day to attend the Vancouver Island MusicFest

By Keith and Heather NIcol

Although the forecast called for showers off and on Saturday, July 9 the actual weather for the second day of the 2022 the Vancouver Island MusicFest (VIMF) was a perfect termperature for listening to music.  This day felt very much like pre covid 19 MusicFests with all stages operating and lots of people turned out to see the varied performances. We opted to catch the main concert stage to start with at 10 am and the very first act was The Burying Ground. This Vancouver based plays country blues music and what a great way to start the day. They have a terrific sound and song writing that everyone can relate to. We stayed at the main concert stage for the next group as well – Roots and Grooves which is another local band that had a varied act of sing alongs and catchy music. 

                                     Devora Laye played the washboard with the group The Burying Ground

 As with many performances at MusicFest, you would like to clone yourself since we also wanted to see the collaborative First Nations session being held in a overlapping time slot at the Grierson Stage. This is something the MusicFest is known for and this collection included all of the First Nations musicians at the 2022 VIMF. It was also to include a group from Konatal from Taiwan but they unfortunately got sick with Covid 19 and so couldn’t attend. But this “All Tribes Together” event was well received and the Grierson Stage was standing room only for their performance. 

                                                      All Tribe Together was very well received at the Greirson Stage

We love the Grassy Knoll stage since it is more intimate and we wanted to catch another local band from just up the road in Cumberland called Corwin Fox and Cumberland Brothers. We liked their combo of fiddle, guitar and banjo and were again impressed with what great talent lies in the Comox Valley. Another intimate stage is the Woodland Stage and we wanted to see the only group from Newfoundland at this years VIMF – Quote the Raven. After living on Newfoundland for over 30 years before arriving in the Comox Valley we have come to seek out East Coast Music. Quote the Raven won Newfoundland and Labrador’s 2019 Group of the Year award and the duo is known for their smooth vocal harmonies. Again we wanted to be 2 places at once so part way through their set we headed back to the main stage to catch a group from Chile – Subhira Quintet. We liked their energetic sound which featured flute, cello, violin, drums and piano.  With 19 albums to their credit they symbolized Chile’s World Music genre. 

                                Quote the Raven are from the Newfoundland and played at the Woodland Stage

We then took at break at home for a couple of hours but returned to the main stage to catch John Boutte, Ferron and Taj Mahal. What a treat to see these performers but we especially enjoyed blues legend – Taj Mahal (see photo below).  He is a multi grammy award winner and we loved his varied music that has influences from Africa, the Caribbean, and of course the American South. What a way to end our Saturday at MusicFest!  Congrats to the organizers for putting together such a varied lineup. For more information on the line up for Sunday’s shows see- https://www.islandmusicfest.com/