[youtube width=”600″ height=”400″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Whv1tLqKZig[/youtube]
After a 25-minute drive and a bumpy school bus ride to Clarke Fields Park in Barrhaven, my friends and I made it to Oktoberfest Ottawa this weekend. Running September 27th to 29th, the festival’s headline was “Food, fun, froth, frauleins und fantastich musik”. We were not disappointed. The fields were filled with heated tents, small stages and lots of beer, which, considering the ticket was only $15, was nothing to squawk at. Highlights included $6 beer tokens, long, hilarious and friendly lines for the outhouses and many well dressed and costumed patrons.
If lederhosen, pretzel and sausage eating contests or beer stein relays wasn’t enough to get you to make the trek out to Barrhaven this weekend, then you missed out on a killer show by Manotik’s own Hollerado. Headlining on Saturday night, the Juno nominated Hollerado gave a show the likes of which the boonies of Ottawa have never seen before. Complete with confetti cannons, lit beach balls and foam machines, to say that they rocked out would be an understatement.
A crowd of more than a thousand gathered as lead singer and guitarist Menno Versteeg, bassist Dean Baxter, drummer Jake Boyd and guitarist Nixon Boyd played songs from their second LP, White Paint. The band’s set included So It Goes – a song Menno wrote in reaction to his grandfather’s passing that celebrates his time fighting for the Dutch Resistance during the Second World War – as well as Pick Me Up, a Canadian Rock/Alternative chart topper. Hollerado ignited the audience by busting out a crowd favourite, Juliette from their debut album Record in a Bag, came back for an encore with Americanarama (in the video above) and ended with a cover of Neil Young’s Keep On Rocking in the Free World.
An hour of tunes later and there was confetti in everyone’s beers, but nobody cared as they wiped the foam from their faces, slapped the beach balls overhead and even got in on some crowd surfing. The quality of the band’s sound was incredible for such and small venue, making their live performance seem like it was straight from the studio. Nixon’s melodic guitar lines give Hollerado’s tunes that “stuck in your head” quality that you’ll find yourself humming along to days later. It’s that catchy rock that has given Hollerado so much success over the past few years and we can’t wait to see where they’ll go next
Saturday’s show at Oktoberfest Ottawa was part of their So It Goes tour, which will take the band across Canada and into some northern US cities. If you want to catch these guys rocking it again, check their website or twitter for tour dates and ticket information. We are also eagerly awaiting the start of bassist Dean’s career as a Nicholas Cage look-alike.
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