blog post Ottawa vs. Ottawa: Who has the bluesier festival?

The nation’s capital hosts some great parties throughout the year.  There is the International Children’s Festival, the Carnival of Cultures, the International Chamber Music Festival, the Free Thinking Film Festival and there is no better place in the country to be on Canada Day than Capital Hill in Ottawa. 

Two of the biggest music festivals, come summertime in Ottawa, are the RBC Royal Bank Bluesfest and the TD Ottawa Jazz Festival. 

We’ll just call it the battle of the banks.  Though one is in fact called the Bluesfest, of the two however, which has the bluesier line up?

Let’s face it, most people buy their ticket to a festival based on the headlining acts playing the main stage.  Though, called the “Bluesfest” it has a decidedly un-blues main stage line-up.  Peeking at the Jazz Festival however there appears to be a good solid faction of blues in the mix.  (Remember, this is just a comparative sampling.  For complete, unbiased, line-ups have a look at each of the respective websites.)

Now I wouldn’t want to paint the Bluesfest in an entirely unflattering light.  It is important to be aware of the Black Sheep Stage.  With an audience capacity of roughly 500 vs 10 000 at the main stage, the Black Sheep Stage may not be the primary mover of tickets for the Bluesfest, it does however, offer a top knotch line-up of authentic blues.

Downchild
MonkeyJunk
Shemekia Copeland
Bettye Lavette
Sugar Ray and the Bluetones
Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas
Super Chikan

Which ever way you go, you are in for some amazing blues this summer in Ottawa.

Related:

Holger Petersen’s top 10 blues festivals

Vancouver Jazz Festival 2012: Ken Pickering’s guide

5 reasons why A Tribe Called Red makes sense at a jazz festival