It was another exciting time at the Tim Hortons Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival. The lineup for Saturday’s concert was amazing to say the least. It consisted of Ottawa’s The Acorn, who I have been seeing a lot recently as Rolf Klausener and company released the new album, Vieux Loup. The album is also on the 2015 Polaris Music Prize long list.

Following The Acorn was Jeremy Fisher, who now lives in Ottawa. He had a good set and brought a lot of fun humour which the crowd loved. After Fisher was done, next was The Rural Alberta Advantage and they didn’t disappoint. They were rocking each songs and the crowd enjoyed it.

Last, but not least was Dan Mangan + Blacksmith, who I last saw back in February for NAC Presents. Mangan and his band returned to Ottawa for the Dragon Boat Festival. Also, his band mates were doing double duty as two of the members played as Peregrine Falls and they performed at Ottawa Jazz Festival prior to going to Dragon Boat Festival.

Dan Mangan + Blacksmith did not disappoint as they played tracks from their album, Club Meds and previous songs from Oh Fortune and Nice, Nice, Very Nice. The encore set had some favourites from Robots, Basket and a few others.

Overall, it was great attending Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival as I missed out from last year due to NXNE in Toronto being at the same time. What I love about Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival is that the concert series is all Canadian and it’s free. The organizers love and understand Canadian music. It was fun to hang out with some of the CBC Radio 3 fans as they were at the festival. It was a great to overcome my post-NXNE withdrawal. Marvellous job, Ottawa Dragon Boat Festival!

You can check out the photos over at Flickr by clicking HERE. Continue reading →