(I got the idea for this series while sifting through the ‘piles’ of digital photos on my laptop. It occurred to me to share some of these great pics from some of my favourite concert sets from time to time. Until I get around to the next one, I invite you to peruse my ever-growing list of concerts page.)
Artist: Wintersleep
When: July 12th, 2012
Where: River stage, RBC Bluesfest, Ottawa
Context: I attended Ottawa Bluesfest for the fourth year in a row back in 2012 but it was the first year that I purchased the festival pass and took full advantage of it. By the final day of its 10 day duration, I was pretty tired but headed down to the grounds anyway to enjoy a great slate of Canadian indie bands. Wintersleep, a five member indie rock band from Halifax, Nova Scotia, was a late, yet very welcome addition to the Bluesfest schedule for me because I had never before seen them live. Their 7:30pm set time on the River stage was bright and energetic, supercharged with wicked drum beats care of Loel Campbell (who is also really fun to watch) and the easily identifiable singing voice of Paul Murphy. You can really tell by watching them that Wintersleep are serious about their music. You almost get the feeling that when they hit their stride and they’re deep into their jam, it doesn’t matter whether the audience is big or small or even there at all. That’s not to say they don’t appreciate their fans but their dedication to their craft is obvious by the way they throw everything into their performance. I thoroughly enjoyed this set, especially their renditions of my favourite track, the anthemic “Weighty ghost” and new song (at that time) “In came the flood”. I would highly recommend seeing them live.
Point of reference song: “In came the flood”
