Vancouver Folk Festival is a smorg of musical delight

This was our first year attending the Vancouver Folk Fest, which happens yearly at the Jericho Beach Park in Vancouver. Having been to a few larger festivals, we had a good idea what to expect – or so we thought!

First off, the setting was incredible… rambling park lands with trees, a lagoon and foot bridges, beach front and a killer view of West and North Vancouver, and the downtown core from the West Gate. Combine this with cool ocean breezes all day, a ton of food vendors (from ribs and corn to vegan delights), and an entire self contained vendor’s market area, it was almost too much sensory overload. Add the 6 stages and the incredible variety of acts to fill those stages – and there truly was something for everyone to find to enjoy.

We managed to catch Ramblin’ Jack Elliot’s set in the shady park area under the trees and it was quite interesting to hear his stories relating to the songs. With over 40 albums under his belt, he’s considered to be one of the country’s legendary foundations of folk music.

As the sun moved, so did the shade so we wandered to find the breeziest spot and ended up at Stage 4, grabbed an iced coffee and sat to indulge in people watching while waiting for the next acts.. for us this weekend it was the ladies who really shone! We sat for nearly two hours entranced by Emily Triggs, Sunny War and Celeigh Cardinal.

Emily Triggs hails from Quebec and sang a few songs in deep throaty french, and although I don’t speak the language, the songs had me entranced. Sunny War‘s guitar style really stands out, as did her songs of growing up, and social issues. Celeigh Cardinal is a Metis singer with a voice that draws you in and makes you lean forward to catch every word. All in all it was an incredible way to spend the afternoon, before gearing up to watch Basia Bulat and rounding out with Sam Roberts.

Dinner, a walk to stretch the legs, a bit of a wander through the other performance tents to catch snippets of bands ranging from soulful blues to hopping dance grooves – very cool.. then pick a spot to see Basia Bulat. Having missed Basia’s shows each time she’s been in town, this was our ‘must see’ of the weekend. No idea what to expect but the lady is lovely!

Quirky, cute, engaging, eclectic and commanding; Ms Bulat kept the audience enthralled with her performance and witty banter between songs. With a back up band that included a keyboard, drummer and cellist, it was just the right amount of bluesy pop goodness to herald the sunset and segue into the rock of Sam Roberts Band up next.

Having seen Sam Roberts Band on many occasions (an understatement haha) each performance is truly unique and it’s difficult, if not impossible to say any one performance is better than any other.. but tonight was magical. With a somewhat shorter set list than usual, the band more than made up for it with the energy and rapport with the crowd, who ditched the blankets and sling back chairs and stood up ready to ‘give ‘er’. (and if they didn’t Sam would have made one motion to ‘get up’ and the audience would have complied.)

Coming out strong with ‘Detroit’, it set the mood for the entire show, which saw such dance numbers as ‘Fied to Ruin’, ‘Metal Skin’, and ‘If You Want It’ (which allowed Roberts to ditch the guitar and himself dance to each side of the stage and up onto the risers), as well as crowd pleasers like ‘Them Kids’, Where Have All the Good People Gone’ and ‘Hard Road’. The band even performed ‘Climb Over Me’ which we’d never heard before, from their recent deluxe re-release of We Were Born in a Flame album (which just went Double Platinum!)

Ending the show with ‘Brother Down’, the band turned it into the encore with Roberts putting the mic down to jump into the audience and connect with as many fans as possible, while the guys left on stage played their hearts out. Guitarist Dave Nugent jamming with drummer Josh Trager and whipping his head and hair back and forth like some metal rock god will stick in my mind’s eye for eternity.. it was just so crushingly good. Roberts finally materialized back on stage after what seemed like forever, finished the song… ‘I think my life is passing… me…. by….‘ , waved to the crowd, “thank you mes amies, be good to each other, take care of each other” and was gone… what a night!

All in all it was a great weekend of music, people, experiences and memories. Vancouver Folk Fest is a must for any music lover.