Bluesfest, July 16: KC Boogie Blast

So, the last day is here, and it’s off to a flying start. Load in was scheduled for 8am, and at 8:30 we got a call from the band that said they were just crossing the border, which is about 2hrs from Ottawa by truck/bus. How do you deal with that you ask? You say “Screw this” and go to breakfast. It’s nice to be able to start the day with a solid meal and just ease into things. Once the truck pulled in, everything went pretty smoothly and we didn’t have to worry about much.

 

The entertainment throughout the day started with a Gospel act, followed by a couple locals, Drew Nelson and JW Jones, both of whom put on good shows. The last act before KC was The Kentucky Headhunters. They were awesome, both musically and personally. It was total Southern Rockin’ Country from the truckstops and roadhouses of the Bluegrass State. They were total full-on rednecks and it was great. They could play too. There was some pretty mean slide guitar going on. Probably the most entertaining set on my stage from the whole festival. The highlight was the 50-something yr. old drummer with the coon-skin hat and the white footlong sideburns. Good times.

 

KC and the Sunshine Band was an interesting end to things. It was a Vegas-style show with dancers, and airtight band and spots with Gloria Gaynor and Sister Sledge. It was a really slick production. The crowd seemed to really love it, but we were surprised at the lack of disco outfits. There was supposed to be a look-alike contest before the show, but they scrapped it at the last minute because no one entered. Oh well, big loss.

 

After that, the fun part of tearing everything apart began. It wasn’t so bad, only took about 2 and half hours. That’s pretty good time when you have 2 semi’s and a 5 tonne truck to pack and only 8 guys doing everything in the dark. We finally made our very first trip to another stage for the staff after party (we were always too busy to run away during the festival), and shared our war stories with everyone else at the open bar. Craziness ensued, rumours started flying about all kinds of things and at 4:30am it all wrapped up.

 

And, believe it or not, catering finished off with a good day. They had some pretty good ribs for lunch with a decent spread of fruit and desserts. I was surprised to say the least. I didn’t risk going back for dinner though, why take a chance; chicken stir fry could strike twice... I left with a good taste in my mouth.