Saturday night’s lineup for the 2024 Tim Horton’s Dragonboat Festival concert series was a full card of Canadian talent.
Unfortunately, I was not able to get there in time for Emma Lamontagne’s set, but some pics of her set are available on the festival’s Instagram page.
I arrived just in time to catch local Ottawa folk singer/songwriter Dan Kelly’s set. Backed by his band, Kelly’s set was full of musical storytelling, singing about life, long car rides after moving to Hamilton with his dad, as well as the recent loss of his biggest fan—his mother.
Third on the bill was High Waters, another local Ottawa band. This year’s festival was unique for me, in that for the first time, I had not seen any of the acts before, so each act was a discovery.
In introducing the band, Live 88.5’s DJ Noah said, “if you like Radiohead, you’ll like these guys!” and he wasn’t wrong. The band’s sound reminded me of artists like Radiohead, yet with a vocal timbre and style similar to Tim Baker of Hey Rosetta, with songs that go to unexpected and interesting musical places.
View this post on Instagram
Next was Kingston singer/songwriter, Luella (Liv Whitefield), and her band. As a project that started during the pandemic, Luella took advantage of the fact that her father runs a recording studio in Kingston, to help bring her first album to life—2022’s Luna, as well as her sophomore release, Summer Bummer. She played a set of dreamy pop, with soulful vocals and songs with a depth that belies her young age.
As the rain continued to build, Saturday’s headliner took to the stage. Windsor rock duo The Blue Stones, were a well anticipated act at this year’s festival, and have been rising stars in the Canadian rock music scene over the last few years.
Despite the rain, the crowd condensed closer to the stage, with fans of the band willing to brave the rain with many donning free Live 88.5 rain ponchos to help stay dry. For a duo, The Blue Stones manage to make a massive sound—a wall of guitars and drums that pleased the crowd, mixed with the lights and smoke on the stage, the falling rain actually added to the ambience of the evening.
The Ottawa Dragonboat Festival, and its free concert series of purely Canadian music is always a surefire way to officially kick off the summer season.
.gif)
