CityFolk Festival Day 3

First up on the City Stage is Saul Williams.

I didn’t know anything about this man, but I was told it was something to make sure to check out. I had no idea what to expect.

He started out behind his laptop set up and cranked up the heavy deep intro. His lyrics talked about the missing and murdered aboriginal woman and the fear of the machine taking over.

You could tell that his lyrics spoke to the fans. He brings very deep topics to his music and it makes for a pretty interesting show. Now one thing I found off.

I don’t know who told the camera operators to do it, but they were zooming in and out like they were 12 year old’s with their first cameras. Kind of weird but ok.

Next on the Ravenlaw stage is Tamino.

Another one I don’t know about but heard good things. Born in Antwerp, he is the grandson of famous Egyptian singer/actor Mouharram Fouad.

This man has an absolutely amazing vocal range. He is smooth on with his instruments and hooked the fans right away.

He has played all over the world and we were happy to have him here in Ottawa.

We are now back at the City Stage with Rhye.

This Canadian based group is fronted by Mike Milosh and has released 2 albums.

They are a collective of musicians that focus on the band as a whole. Mike started out with his melodic smooth tone and connected with the crowd.

He then went over and joined in on his own drum set then followed that up on the keyboard next.

You could tell that these guys truly love the instruments.

On the City Stage next is Tim Baker

Lead singer of the band Hey Rosetta, Tim released his solo album in April this year.

He took to the stage with a fairly large crowd that continued to fill up slowly. Tim started out being the piano and the band played along.

Shortly after he picked up his guitar and got a little more animated as the crowd began to loosen up more. I don’t personally know much about Tim but you can tell he was very well loved by his fans.

He was even described as sounding just as good live as he does on CD.

That is always a bonus as it’s very hard to find someone like that.

We went over to the Ravenlaw stage once again got LeE HARVeY OsMOND.

Fronted by Tom Wilson this band as had several nods for the Polaris Music Prize as well as a Juno nod. The Ravenlaw stage is inside the Aberdeen Pavilion which had chairs set up and made for a nice intimate show.

The band members were having a blast on stage and there was even a slide guitar.

This was a pretty awesome showcase of some great blues and rock music.

Now the City Stage for CityFolk Festival day 3 is Leon Bridges and we had to race over to make sure we got there in time.

This was the biggest crowd of the day which was fun to see. Most well-known for his track Coming Home which was a top 10 viral track on Spotify.

He was also nominated for best R&B Album as the Grammy’s. Leon came out in what I would describe as a red kimono which was interesting and then the funk started.

The crowd was dancing along and loving every minute of it. We stuck around for a little bit to listen to more of the set and you couldn’t help yourself and just bob your head.

This set was very easy to enjoy to say this least.

Closing out the night is The Snotty Nose Rez Kids.

Based out of BC this is a dynamic indigenous duo has been nominated for the Polaris Music Prize as well as a Juno for best indigenous album of the year. They took to the stage with a blast coming with fury.

This was the only Hip-Hop piece we would see so it made for an interesting close to the night.

The high energy duo went off with their powerful delivery of their lyrics and using every inch of the stage.

Near the end they brought up a bunch of people on stage to finish out the show with a blast.