Article and Photos by: Adrienne Row – Smith 

Ottawa, ONT – The 22nd anual CityFolk Festival was a show to remember. Spanning over 4 days, the festival brought together young and old to enjoy various geners of music, expanding its muscial acts to include not only folk artist such as Old Man Grant and John Jacob Magistery, but also popular rap artist such as Bryson Tiller and Joey Bada$$.  The festival was not only hosted in the green lawn area of Landsdowne Park, but expanded into the capital city. These other venues show cased local talent, such as Tribe Royal, and Harea Band, both of which have new or upcoming releases that are worth checking out.

Inside Landsdowne park acts were spread across three stages, and time slots allowed people to listen to a few songs of one band and casually move around to have tastes of the other acts going on. This was a brillant set up, as it allowed vistors to enjoy big names, but also discover new music. A downside to this festival was the fact that many of the local artist were too far away from the main stages, and may have lost out on gaining new fans. Yet, despite this, City Folk Festival was host to some great talent.

On the second day of the festival, the City Stage hosted a collective of big names in rap and R&B, featuring Kewku Collins, Joey Bada$$ and showstopper Bryson Tiller.

First on the stage was Collins at 6:00pm, with his DJ warming up the crowd with samples of popular songs and creating a sing a long vibe. Collins eventually came to the stage, eating cheetos and waving to fans. With fans screaming, Collins jumped off the stage and handed a few fans the rest of his cheetos to enjoy. Collins energetically played songs from his most recent album, Nat Love, that was released earlier this year. Collins was hard to capture, as he quickly ran from one side of the stage to the other, making sure each fan got a bit of his attention. Near the end of his set, he sang happy birthday to fans in the crowd, hoping that they would have a wonderful rest of their time. His music is defintely something I recommend checking out, as it is a bland of  emotive vocals and rap ballads blended together.

Joey Bada$$ is one of the only rappers I have seen live that has caused a mosh pit to occur. This feat is defintely an asset, as it is a reflection of the high energy that his songs and presence invokes out of spectators. Even before he entered the stage, fans were chanting and screaming his name, and so when he finally graced the stage the noise was almost louder than his music. He opened his set with his most notable song “Unorthodox”, and played other songs including “Daily Routine”, Devastated, and “Zesus”. He also threw in unreleased tracks, as a token of appreciation to their excitment for his return. After demand for more, Bada$$ showered the fans with Devastated one of his more popular songs.  Joey Bada$$ left the stage with fans cheering for more, and ultimately leaving behind a lot of energy that Bryson Tiller would have to make use of.

Brebach, was a more folk oriented act on the BMO stage, playing celtic themed songs. They had multiple instruments at their disposal featuring bagpipes, flutes, whistles, a bouziki (which I had to look up the name for because I had never seen something so pretty, and it’s similar to a mandolin), fiddles as well as guitars, violins and a double bass. While Joey Bada$$ entertained the mostly younger and student crowd, Brebach appealed to an older crowd and families who enjoyed the music and some were even dancing. Throughout their set, Brebach was joined by Change of Step which are a group of Scottish Highland dancers from Ontario. The music and the dancers really ended the evening beautifully for the BMO stage.

The final act of the night that I witnessed was Bryson Tiller, who caught the eye of Drake immeditialy with his debut single “Don’t”. With that kind of attention over a debut single, I knew that Bryson Tiller would defintely be an artist to check out. The crowd itself was amped up and ready to go for Tiller’s performance, so much so that many began pushing each other back and forth in a wave motion. Tiller played many fan favourites of his debut album “Trap Soul”, along with popular tunes that he released via his sound cloud. Defintely is an artist to keep an eye out for.

Day 3 of City Folk Festival was a rainy day, featuring periods of downpour and light showers. Regardless of the weather, Saturday was much more popular with kids enjoying the puddles while their parents enjoy the acts.

Canadian muscian Dan Mangan played City stage at 4:30 pm, playing songs from his album Nice, Nice, Very Nice, and Club Meds.  Even though Mangan was mastering the main stage, the vibe of his set was more personal and intimate due to the small crowd that he played to. This intimate nature was solidified when after his set, Mangan came off the stage and chatted, signed and took photos with eager fans. Defintely a sweet and soulful individual, with a great grasp of weaving stories into musical form.

After Mangan, British Columbian natives The New Pornographers had one of the bigger crowd draws of the day even through technical issues and heavy downpour. Hoping to push through these trying times, their set included popular songs Backstairs, and Dancehall Domine off their more recent album Brill Bruisers. These songs kept the crowd dancing, some even dancing arm in arm with each other while smashing through puddles. Most notably, The New Pornographers were able to draw on a crowd base of both young and old, an attest to their broad musical capabilities

Entertaining the more folk seeking crowd, New Zealand native Marlon Williams dominated the BMO stage. His voice an uncanny echo of the late great Elvis Presley, Williams played a set filled with songs inspired by history, hardship and looking postively on life. After Williams had intially finished his set, with a soulful song the crowd cheered for five minutes straight demanding for more. Williams overcome by this devotion, happily obliged. If you’re looking for a the next big bluegrass star, defintely check out Williams, as he is not only a great soulfull singer but a modest man too.

The final act on the BMO stage was British Columbian hip hop artist SonReal. His entire set from start to finish featured him engaging the crowd with fist pumps, waving hands or getting them off their feet. SonReal never stopped moving, he was a ball of energy doing every dance he could possibly move his body to do, while playing such songs such as Try, Can I Get a Witness and Everywhere We Go.  SonReal was a fireball of passion, and has certaintly earned both the final slot on the BMO stage for a busy Saturday and his Juno award nominations.

The final and perhaps one of the biggest crowd drawers for Saturday was Austrialian singer – songwriter Vance Joy. He began his set with Mess is Mine, and also played fans favs such as Georgia, Riptide and included a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s song The Chain. Even though VanceJoy was far back from the crowd due to rain flooding the stage, he was still able to create an intimate and fun atmosphere.

Overall, I City Folk Festival can claim 2016 to be a smashing success for multiple reasons. For one they have broken through and have become a mainstream attraction for not the older crowd, but now appeals to students. Even though it is moving away from it’s folksy roots, by branching into new territory they are allowing anyone of any age to discover their new favourite artist. Finally, the succeed because they not only bring international artist to the forefront and introduce them to potential new Canadian fans, but also provide a great avenue for fans to discover their a new Canadian talent as well.