Snack foods? Check.
iTunes playing something suitable? Check.
Guitar Hero wireless guitar rendered unusable because the receiver thingy has been placed under lock and key? Check.
That means I can begin.
Hello, MelodyTrip. Nice to meet you. My name is James. By day, I'm an alleged technical writer for a company that's larger than most around here, but smaller than most that you've heard of. By night - or at least some nights - I go to concerts and then I write reviews. The big review archive is stored at my personal site, while more recent reviews (and a few album reviews too) have been cross-posted to Keeps Me Alive, the music blog that I have joint custody of. Though judging by my feeble number of posts there, I don't think it's fair to say I get joint custody, so much as I get to take it every other weekend. Except, y'know, when I have other plans.
A very nice person invited me to join MelodyTrip and cover the Regina Folk Festival. I spend a lot of time complaining that I spend too much time on other people's projects and not enough time on my own, but this, this I cannot complain about. The Regina Folk Festival is a lovely thing, and it makes me a little bit sad inside that I have only managed to attend once since moving to Regina in the spring of 2004. It was the 2004 festival, in fact; the last-minute addition of Hawksley Workman to the lineup was enough to convince me to attend, as he's one of my all-time favourite performers. But as much as I love Hawksley, it was Canadian veterans Spirit of the West who stole the show with a raucous performance that destroyed the preconceptions I had built up through 15 years of Saskatchewan FM radio.
The 2007 Regina Folk Festival - something like the 38th annual - runs from Friday, August 10 to Sunday August 12. As you may have guessed from the aforementioned bands, the festival tends to focus on independent Canadian artists, but the line-up is supplanted by musicians from around the world. Much like in 2004, this year's roster is once again headlined by Canadian veterans, with Bruce Cockburn and Blue Rodeo getting prime Saturday and Sunday night spots, respectively. I'd type out the rest of the schedule, but I'm too lazy and someone else has already done so - hit the official Festival site for the scoop.
Of the listed artists, I've seen Sarah Slean (delightful), Buck 65 (awesome), and Cuff the Duke (very talented), and I'm quite looking forward to seeing them all again. I've heard good things about the Hylozoists and Amy Millan. I will shed all credibility by admitting that I know nothing about
Michael Franti and Spearhead, but that will change on Saturday. I'm not a huge fan of that one City and Colour song I've heard, but in a live setting, who knows how I'll feel?
It's the setting itself that makes the Regina Folk Festival worth checking out. Situated downtown in Victoria Park (a mere six blocks from my apartment, so no parking hassles for me), the Festival's mainstage shows are held under sunset and starlight. This is not without its risks - I would have liked to see Feist's performance last year, but it rained and I'm very weak. However, the outdoor setting can lead to some great moments. Like I said, I love Hawksley Workman, and his performance was only helped by the cool breeze and the flashes of lightning off in the distance.
For those that prefer a bright sunny afternoon, there are two side stages - or "Sunlit Stages" as I see they're calling them this year - where lesser-known artists get time to perform, and some of the mainstage players team up for some unique - and free - workshops. Glancing over the workshop schedule, I notice no Bruce Cockburn and no Blue Rodeo, but if you like Sarah Slean, this is the weekend for you. There's also a children's stage, as well as an area for the purchasing of food and another area for the purchasing of local crafts and things of that nature.
So the afternoon stuff is all free, but the evening will cost you - it's up to $100 for a weekend pass if you wait until you show up. A full breakdown of the prices can be found at the official site. What they don't tell you is this handy tip: they will generally sell a handful of weekend passes in December or January. These are the earliest of early-bird deals and thus they are the cheapest passes you can get. This year, the pre-Christmas passes sold for $55 each - just over half of what a pass will cost you at the gate. Now sure, they don't announce the lineup until late spring, but what do you care? If you don't like who's coming, just wait until prices rise - then you can easily sell your tickets for what you paid for them. You break even, someone else gets a (perceived) deal, and everybody's happy.
Not that I would ever do such things, of course.
If you're not into taking a chance on early tickets - or tickets at all - you can always just hang out in the park for free. You won't be able to see the main stage that well, but you can hear everything quite nicely. Granted, you'll miss out on Bruce Cockburn's show-ending ritual of murdering an audience member at random during his encore (when he sings "if I had a rocket launcher, some sonofabitch would die," try not to call attention to yourself), but I think we can all agree that protest music is overrated and played out anyway, right?