Last Friday my buddy Buzzard and I went to the
Edmonton Folk Fest to see
Jason Isbell in concert. Also playing on this night was Amanda Shires. Now I've never been a big fan of the Folk Fest (I'll get into that later), but sometimes there is an artist you just have to see, and this year it was Jason Isbell again. There was also John Prine that we wanted to see on the Sunday night, but unfortunately John Prine cancelled as he had surgery and cancelled all his summer dates. So it was just the Friday night for us.
We got to Gallagher Hill in time to catch
Amanda Shires on one of the side stages. Having heard a few of her songs on
CKUA I was very interested in seeing her in concert. Amanda is an American singer-songwriter, fiddle player from Texas that has released a handful of albums. She is also married to
Jason Isbell and plays in his band The 400 Unit. Her latest album is called
To The Sunset, I knew a few songs she played from that one, "
Parking Lot Pirouette", "
Leave It Alone" and "
Breakout The Champagne". I was surprised by how rocking her set was, she has a great voice and great band backing her up. For the last two songs of her set, her husband Jason Isbell joined her and her band. That was cool. I had a feeling that would happen, one more reason I wanted to see her play. I was very impressed and will be looking into getting some of her albums.
Amanda Shires.
After Amanda's set we figured we would have a quick smoke and grab a beer. Well this is where the problems start. We headed to the smoking area that was close to stage 6 which is where we just saw Amanda play only to get there and be told it was closing, we would have to go to the main smoking area by the beer tent. Ok fine, why they would close a smoking area that early I don't understand. So off to the beer tent we go. Well that was a fucking shit show. Line up to get into the beer tent, line up to get beer tickets and then line up to get a couple beers, cause you might as well grab two as it took for fucking ever to get a beer. Now we have to slam back two beers as quick as possible so that we could have a smoke and get to the main stage to catch the opening of Jason Isbell's set.
We got to the main stage just as Jason was taking to the stage, but here is another reason this festival drives me crazy. The stage is at the bottom of hill, which makes it a natural amphitheatre, it's actually pretty cool. But people get there super early and lay out these huge tarps to mark there spot. Then take off and go see other acts on the other many stages. That's bullshit in my opinion. We got to the main stage and of course the only place you could find a spot was way the fuck up on the hill, where you are basically just listening to tunes and watching the performance on a video screen. So we walked amongst the tarps and found a few with no one sitting on them, so we sat our asses down and started watching
Jason Isbell's show. Eventually a few come to there tarps and find us sitting on them. Well where the hell were you before the show started. The tarp I was sitting on the three ladies that came back, let me sit and share their tarp. But my buddy got hassled a bit but didn't move. So we had alright seats for Jason's set.
This would be my third time seeing
Jason Isbell in concert and first time seeing him without his band The 400 Unit. This time around it was just Jason, his wife
Amanda Shires on fiddle and
Sadler Vaden on guitar who also plays in 400 Unit. Jason opened the set with the song "
Tour Of Duty" from his 2011 album
Here We Rest. He did a great selection of songs from his last three albums
Southeastern,
Something More Than Free and
The Nashville Sound, songs like "
Something More Than Free", "
Molotov", "
Last Of My Kind", "
Speed Trap Town", "
White Man's World" and "
The Life You Chose", "
Cover Me Up", "
Stockholm" and "
Elephant" to name a few. Of course there were a few songs I really wanted to hear but didn't, but that's gonna happen when you have such a solid discography. Jason's set was awesome, I find that each time I see him live he gets stronger as singer and performer. very impressed!
Jason Isbell.
After Isbell was Brandi Carlile closing out Friday nights festival. I was looking forward to seeing her as well. But after Isbell it was off to the beer tent for a cold one. Well, guess what, the fucking beer tent is closed already. What the hell, there is still another act to come on and there is no more beer to be had, not impressed. And by now the main walking area where the pissers are and food trucks and such is a mud pit and it's dark as hell too. Now the organizers did all they could do with the mud situation, bringing in sand, and rig mats to cover the muddy areas. With the shitty summer we have had, they did what they could. But nonetheless, now there is a whole lot of mud and it's dark and you can't see what you are walking in. They need more lighting in the food truck area. It was just getting messy, I was pissed about no more drinks, and then the thought of walking all the way back to the main stage and trying to find a place to see the band from was all too much. I was getting to be a grumpy fuck, so I just decided to call it a night. So I missed Brandi Carlile which bums me out, but I just wasn't having fun. And it was getting chilly out too!
A few things I would change about this festival is obviously the alcohol license issue, it would be SO much better if you could walk around and enjoy a beverage and sit on the hill and watch the show, ditch the damn beer tent already, beer stands all about the festival site would be much better, I'd ban the stupid tarps on the hill as well, more lighting on the main grounds, keep your smoke areas open later, and move the damn video screens you have at the front of the stage, yes it's nice that you can see them if you are not close, but move the screens to the back of the stage or raise them. The screens block so much of what could be good site views from the side of the stage and such. I've said it before and this time I am thinking of keeping to it, no more
Edmonton Folk Fest for me until I either quit drinking or they change the beer policy here. I'll sit amongst the trees at the top of the hill outside the fenced area and enjoy the music and drink and have fun. Did it years ago and had a blast. And hell if you are sitting at the top of the hill in the grounds, all you are doing anyways is watching the screens. I'm obviously one of the few that has these complaints because the crowds prove me wrong, but I am sure that there are some that would agree with me. Anyways, the music was good, the vibes not so much.
