Staying Cool at the Vancouver Island MusicFest

 by Keith and Heather Nicol

Saturday, July 15 was forecast to have temperatures in the high 20 C and humidex values abit higher so the name of the game for much of Saturday was staying cool. The water fill location got lots of use as did the mobile water fill ups run by some of the 1300 MusicFest volunteers. Congrats to all the volunteers. For us it was a day of sampling the amazing variety that Doug Cox brings together for MusicFest. For instance, we caught Out of Bark and Bone, a dance group from Montreal to start on the main stage.

                                 Out of Bone and Bark - a dance company from Montreal performed on the Main Stage

From there we sought shade and wanted to hear one of the young guitarists invited to MusicFest – Liam Docherty who was at the Grassy Knoll Stage. He has been playing publicly since he was 7 and has been the youngest person to be nominated for Maple Blues Award! Then it was into the Barn where we knew we would have shade but the fact that the place was packed meant that you really didn’t cool down. The set we saw was called “Groove a Go-Go” and featured Jack Semple, the Paperboys and Sprig of That. They played their own music but then did a fun collaboration which produced a standing ovation from the full house. 

                                                    The Paperboys wowed the crowd in the Barn

Then it was to our favourite stage for beating the heat- the Woodland Stage to hear Persian powerhouse Tissa Rahim followed by Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman who played banjo and fiddle. Both groups features young performers which is great to see at the festival. Then we took a break in the afternoon to cool off and recalibrate for the evening performances in the Concert Bowl. 

                                                Tissa Rahim is a young singer to keep your eye on

We caught part of the Brother Brothers who was followed by Roy Forbes and then headliner Rickie Lee Jones took to the stage. She is a Grammy Award winner who has who has just written a book about her life called Last Chance Texaco. Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Galactic followed Rickie Lee Jones to conclude the evening. And there is still a full day to come. For more info on Sunday’s performers  see www.islandmusicfest.com  See you tomorrow.

 

                                Rickie Lee Jones headlined the evening performance on the Main Stage on Saturday