This past weekend my buddy Buzzard and I attended the 17th annual Edmonton Blues Festival held at Hawrelak Parks Heritage Amphitheatre. There were two headlining bands that we wanted to see Elvin Bishop on Friday and Canned Heat on the Sunday, so we opted for buying the weekend passes as it was a lot cheaper. This was my first time going for the whole weekend and the last time I went to the Blues Festival was back in 2010.
Kicking off this years Blues Festival was Mississippi's Shawn Holt & The Teardops. Shawn is the son of Magic Slim who first started the Tear Drops back in 1977. Magic Slim passed away in 2013, Shawn has carried on with the band name since then. Shawn Holt & The Teardrops put on a good show with some rockin' blues. I thought the other guitarist in the band actually stole the spotlight from Shawn.
Shawn Holt & The Teardrops.
Next up was The 44's with Kid Ramos out of Los Angeles, this band was a great rocking blues band that really got the crowd up and dancing. I had seen Kid Ramos once before in a band called the Los Fabulocos a few years ago and thought he was good then as well. Kid Ramos and Johnny Main made for a great guitar duo ripping it up. I made my way to the front of the stage during their performance and it was then that I realized how short these guys were, checkout the picture of their pants all rolled up, damn that made me laugh. When Shawn Holt came out to do a song with them it really made them look like dwarfs actually. A pretty decent set by these guys.
The 44's with Kid Ramos.
Headliner of the evening, and the reason I wanted to go the first night was Elvin Bishop. This was my third time seeing Elvin in concert, and again a great set by this Tulsa, Oklahoma blues artist. It had been fourteen years since I last saw him in concert. And this was the way to see him, in an outdoor festival setting. Though the night here was mighty chilly, Elvin helped warm up the crowd with some wicked blues with lyrics that have a sense of humour to them as well. The dance floor was packed right from the start of his set. Some of the tunes he did during his seventy-five minute set were Party Til The Cows Come Home, Can't Even Do Wrong Right, Everybody's In The Same Boat, What The Hell is Goin' On and Hey Ba-Ba-Re-Bop just to name a few. This was a fun way to end the first night of the Blues Festival and am sure everyone left with a buzz and a smile on their face. Good times!!!
Elvin Bishop.
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