Last Saturday my buddy Buzzard and I attended the Ry Cooder concert at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. We had intended on going down to the show in the late afternoon, as Ry Cooder was scheduled to hit the stage at 9:30 so we thought we would go down checkout some of the other acts and some of the side stage performances and work shops. But as we had a few beers before the show downtown, it started to rain, go fucking figure, my luck with outdoor shows this summer isn't exactly very good. Well we weren't about to stand in the rain for four hours before Ry Cooder as there were no other acts that we really wanted to see. So we hung at the bar waiting for the rain to stop. Well that wasn't happening very quickly. We ended up sitting in the bar until 8:30 when the rain subsided enough and the act we wanted to see was to start in an hour, so that is when we made our way down to Gallagher Park. By the time we got there, the place was starting to thin out quite a bit, as I am sure most people had been there for the better part of the day and were getting tired of the rain. We got there in time to have a beer in the beer tent as there was no line up, which was a bonus. After our beer it was off to the hill to catch Ry Cooder. Because the crowd had thinned out so much due to the shitty weather, we were able to get within ten feet of the stage.
This would be my first time seeing the slide guitarist blues legend in concert, I have wanted to see him for many years and now I was going to get my chance. It was going to take longer then anticipated as his set was delayed by about 45 minutes, luckily it was only drizzling and not a down pour.
The show started with Ry Cooder sitting on a stool playing his slide guitar and belting out an unbelievable version of the Blind Willie Johnson song "Nobody's Fault But Mine" which was followed by two more songs from his latest release The Prodigal Son "Everybody Ought to Treat a Stranger Right" and "Straight Street". After the new songs it was time for a song from his 1970 debut album a song called "Alimony" which had a lot of people singing along. Sharing the stage with Ry Cooder were The Hamiltones whom are three musicians from North Carolina. They added some soul and gospel sound to Ry Cooder's music, they were good but I myself found then to be a bit overbearing and taking away from Ry Cooder. I would much rather have seen just Ry Cooder play with his own band, but that's a minor complaint. The Hamiltones also did two songs without Ry.
Ry also played a couple older songs from the Bop Till You Drop album "The Very Thing That Makes You Rich (Makes Me Poor)" and "Little Sister". I was so impressed with Cooder's voice and his slide guitar playing was excellent. At times he reminded me a bit of Joe Walsh just with his facial expressions and the way he moved about the stage and of course his sense of humour. A great show and I really hope I get the chance to see Ry Cooder perform again in the near future.
After Ry Cooder's set there was still Michael Franti & Spearhead to play to close out the Saturday night of the Folk Fest, but we didn't bother staying for him as the weather sucked, it was wet and cold and I wasn't dressed properly for the elements as I had left home early in the day and wasn't prepared for the fall like conditions. All and all though it was a great hour long set and I got to see who I really wanted. Good times!!!
Ry Cooder at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival.
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