On Sunday I made my way down to Hawrelak Park for the last day of the Interstellar Rodeo Festival. This was the first time in five years that I haven't gone all three days. A variety of reasons for that, wasn't all that keen on the line up this year, though that usually doesn't hold me up, but the cost and personal reasons. But of all days that I really did want to go was Sunday because of Alejandro Escovedo and Courtney Barnett were playing. But as of Saturday I wasn't going. But lucky for me, my sweetheart Janis and her friend Erin went on the Saturday. While they were there having a bite to eat at one of the picnic tables, the couple next to them asked if they were coming on Sunday for the show. They said that they weren't, that was when the couple asked if they were interested in buying their tickets for 20 dollars a piece as they were not able to make it. Thanks to Janis she picked up a ticket for me for Sunday. So, I was now going, and the price was right too!
Because I didn't pay full price and the weather was touch n' go, I didn't head to the festival grounds until mid afternoon, that and there was really no bands that interested me til later in the day. Well the weather ended up cooperating, no rain after the lunch hour, so that was perfect. I got to down to the Hawrelak Park Amphitheatre in time to catch the band out of Regina, Saskatchewan called The Dead South who are now signed with Six Shooter Records, the label that puts on this festival. There music is described as a mix of folk and bluegrass, they were good at what they do, but not my jam.
The Dead South.
Next up was the Interstellar all Stars, this has been a tradition of the Interstellar Festival in which they put together a group of musicians for a jam. This year the group consisted of Jason Plumb from Regina whom fronted the Waltons, Tim Baker from St. Johns, Newfoundland the lead singer and songwriter of the band Hey Rosetta!i> and Rose Cousins from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Their set was good with the highlight being when they did the Tragically Hip song "Ahead By A Century" that had the crowd singing along. It actually gave me chills hearing it. Pretty damn cool.
The Interstellar All Stars.
Now it was time for Alejandro Escovedo, one of the artists that I really wanted to see. This would be my second time seeing Alejandro in concert. Escovedo who is from Texas is a veteran of the music scene having recorded and toured since the late 70's. The man has played punk, roots rock and alt country and good old rock n' roll. As Ford Pier the MC of the festival mentioned in the introduction of the band, that Escovedo played in the punk band The Nuns who opened for the Sex Pistols in San Francisco their final concert. So ya, Alejandro has been around for a while.
Escovedo's hour long set was rocking through out playing a Rank & File song, Rank & File being an old punk band he was once in. Of course he also played his solo stuff including the songs "Sally Was A Cop", "Chelsea Hotel 78", "Sensitive Boys" and "Five Hearts Breaking", those were the songs I knew at least. Escovedo gave me a Keith Richards kind of vibe. I really enjoyed his set and was a great way to warm up the crowd for the final artist of the weekend.
Alejandro Escovedo.
Closing out the festival was Australian singer/songwriter Courtney Barnett. She was the artist that most excited me about this years line-up. Her latest album Tell Me How You Really Feel is one of my favourites of this year, so I was really looking forward to hearing her play live. And she did not disappoint at all. She rocked that stage right from the get go opening with the song "Hopefulessness" from her new album. This lady writes some amazing lyrics and with so much wit, like these words in the opening song "you know what they say, no one is born to hate, we learn it somewhere along the way, take your broken heart, turn it into art", and that's just the first verse. Another great song she performed was "I'm Not Your Mother, I'm Not Your Bitch".
Another great line of lyrics again from her new album in a song called "Nameless Faceless" "he said "I could eat a bowl of alphabet soup, and spit out better words than you". Courtney certainly has a way with words.
At the start of her set I was standing up by the soundboard having a few beers, as last call was coming and I didn't want to waste any beer tickets, so I had a few lined up, as I was watching and listening to her music all I could think was this would be even better if I was up close. So I wasted no time and downed my last two beers and made my way up to the front of the stage. And yup, it was even better up close. Courtney brought her "A" game and rocked the hell out, she brought the punk to Interstellar. Very impressed!
Kind of sad that I didn't go all three days to this years Interstellar as this is a very fun laid back festival even if you don't know all the bands, it is always a really good time. Great job by Six Shooter Records putting on this festival and to all the awesome volunteers. Good times!!!
Courtney Barnett.
Courtney Barnett setlist I got from the show.
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