If You Build It...

and don't advertise it... they may come... for free...if you beg. This past weekend's Whistler Music Festival was put on by Festival Network out of New York, who were clearly unfamilar with Whistler and its connection to Vancouver. I heard they advertised quite heavily south of the border but left Vancouver off their marketing plan until the last minute... ooops! It was really too bad because the Festival was incredible and I hope the financial loss they must have suffered doesn't effect plans for next year's festival.

The Line-up:
SATURDAY: Serena Ryder, Meshell Ndegeocello, Bedouin Soundclash, The Roots and Thievery Corporation
SUNDAY: The Stephane Wremble Trio, Medeski Martin & Wood, Robert Randolf & The Family Band, Allen Toussaint Band, Broken Social Scene and Elvis Costello & The Imposters

Let's start with Saturday. We left Vancouver at about 9am, but by the time we hit Whistler, checked into the hotel and made our way up the Gondola to the venue, it was almost noon and Serena Ryder was just finishing her set. I managed to make it in time to see Serena perform "Weak in the Knees" a very emotive song about wanting something you can't have - in this case, a married man. I first saw her perform that song acoustically at an industry showcase 2 years ago, after which, I ran out and bought her album. The album has just 3 orginal songs and coincidently 3 songs I like, however, rumor has it there is a new album full of orginals on the way - yay!

The Roots were undeniably Saturday's highlight. They are a high energy jazz influenced hip hop group, who were named one of the world's top 20 live acts in a 2003 edition of "Rolling Stone" I don't think anyone in the crowd Saturday night would've argued that fact. Damon "Tuba Gooding Jr." Bryson (pictured on the left)was incredible and had the entired audience going as he and the other band members bounced around on stage and put on a spectacular performance. I felt bad for Thievery Corportation who had to follow...

On Sunday after 3+ hours of instrumental pieces, I experienced a bit of self discovery... I really, really like lyrics. I appreciate the talent it takes to masterfully arrange and perform an intricate instrumental piece. But there is something to be said about being able to enhance a superb piece of music with lyrics. Often it can have the opposite effect.

By the time we got to Robert Randolph & The Family Band, I was ready for some vocal attention. I was disappointed, but to be fair, their musical acumen is what they are known for. However their latest album "Colorblind" is full of lyrics. To add to my frustration, their recent big hit "Ain't Nothin' Wrong With That"... didn't play it.

This is getting long, but all I need to say about Allen Toussaint is that he is an absolute legend, and exactly what you would imagine and expect him to be. Broken Social Scene, who I'd expect to be great live, was a series of unfortunate events. First they step on stage and begin to play only to find out their instruments aren't tuned or plugged in. Once they get that sorted out they have bad, bad, feedback problems to the extent that they walk off the stage until it can be fixed. They mention at one point that Kevin's voice isn't up to par so there are songs they can't perform and their back-up singers weren't able to get across the border. They had their moments but overall the set was less than you know it should be so I will save judgement until I see them again. They looked good though...


Then there was Elvis... Who was the headliner and highlight of the show and worth every penny of your hard earned money should you ever get the chance to see him live. I'm going to create a whole new post for Elvis Costello, because he was just that good.