Most Bluesy Headlining Artists at 2014 Ottawa Bluesfest

Oh shit, Moist are on the bill. I can't believe they still exist.

Don't know whether to laugh or cry. Why are they billing it as a blues fest?

You could do the same with this year's New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Mainstage headliners each day: Santana, Phish, Eric Clapton, String Cheese Incident, Christina Aguilera, Bruce Springsteen, and finally one New Orleans act: Trombone Shorty.

RIP The Blues

at least it's not all fucking Jools Holland like it would be if it was in the UK

The headliners for this year's Pori Jazz, Finland's biggest jazz festival, are Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Pet Shop Boys, Mac Miller, Jamie Cullum, and James Blunt. Well, I guess at least one of them is an actual jazz musician. They pretty much admit they could never sell a big festival on jazz alone, so they bring in these kind of names to lure people in. A couple of years ago there was a parody news item that Pori Jazz had booked AC/DC for their main performer, and lot of people (myself included) believed it.

It may plausibly have been a luring strategy at one point for the Ottawa Bluesfest too, but at this point the blues presence is so tokenistic that I suspect the festival is just too big and too established for them to be able to change the name.

yeah, i can see that happening.

out of interest, who actually are the blues acts in the line-up?

Jj grey & mofro

Seriously they are the only 'blues' act on that lineup.

only one i spotted was elvin bishop but i don't know a lot of the people further down the bill

they should just make the minor alteration to "bloozefest" and it'd be cool

and to think that, once upon a time in the 1980s (no doubt), some lone board member probably tried to rally others against the idea of inviting eric clapton, seeing as he's more of a rock than a blues artist.

that man is probably sitting on a computer somewhere, complaining away on the baby boomer version of ILM.

John Mayall's probably still doing something in the blues genre. Sugar Ray and the Bluetones are blues. Honey Island Swamp Band are more roots/Americana, but I'll give 'em a pass.

I was gonna inclue Dr. John, until I reread. That's Dr. Hook.

Snoop has been known to work blue

all of these bands play the blues but only one has got Soul

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46g8zDcziL0

going solely by the criteria of "bluesiest sounding name", i vote for lady gaga

Clearly they should be calling it a jazz festival.

Ha, this reminds me that Mississippi Gary (of "Kids In The Hall" fame) admitted to being from the Ottawa region (altho CBS or HBO changed it to "Vermont" for American viewers, because networks are stupid)

I remember in 2012 they booked Skrillex and Tiesto, and lots of Bluesfest traditionalists got upset that EDM was upstaging rock.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Three-way tie OTM.

Lol: http://www.stereogum.com/1832584/hear-mark-kozeleks-new-diss-track-ottawa-blues-fest-is-run-by-inbreds/mp3s/