Friday, July 03, 2026

image

Jazz Fest day eight wasn't a very good one.

I arrived earlier than I had been arriving and got a Notre Dame de Beouf burger and chatted with the two young women working there as it was prepared. That was nice. I found a picnic table nearby, ate it, and then attended the Thee Marloes show that started at 18h. The best way I could describe this band is as a higher end lounge singer group, with the woman having a lovely and semi-sultry voice, and though she was sitting at the keyboard the whole time, still she moved like a vixen singer would with a spotlight on her in an upscale lounge.



I left this show at 18:35 so that I could get a good spot at the TD stage for the Annahstasia show that was to start at 19h. (my plan was to go back to see Thee Marloes second set starting at 20h, but as you'll see later, this didn't happen) As I approached the TD stage it started to lightly rain, I found a spot very close to the stage, but surrounded by perhaps 1000 girls of approximate age 15-18. They were exceedingly noisy and many of them chatterboxes that were talking ever so loudly due to how many of them there were, and this talking continued well after the show started. I found this highly disrespectful to Annahstasia who was singing to us even though she could likely hear all of the chattering from this front of scene large group of girls. 

While waiting for the show, and during the first 10 minutes of the show, the rain continued, and in my immediate vicinity, two umbrellas were open keeping those nearby people dry, but then spattering the rain on to me. Internally this irritated me, the inconsideration of the umbrella holders and the chattering all around me. Externally I remained stoic. I ended up moving to a less advantageous place.

Annahstasia's first three or four songs were slow songs, with her sustaining long notes, and only the viola, sax, piano and cello accompanying her. I failed to understand why these girls were present at this show as they weren't paying attention, and this slow music probably doesn't appeal to them. Subsequently, an electric guitar player got added who mostly just played atmospheric sounds, and then by about 19h30 the drummer finally got involved for a few more songs with a stronger rhythm.

She has a great voice, but I had a hard time knowing if I liked her music given all of the distraction of what was going on around me.

At around 19h40 I noticed some really dark clouds above us, so I snaked my way out of the audience where none of them had noticed the same thing I had. I walked to the far side of the NFB building which was adjacent to where the stage is and found an exterior overhang to stand under. Within seconds of me reaching that place a torrential downpour with violent winds came upon us and a minute later someone figured out how to enter the NFB building where the entire ground floor is an open area lobby, so I entered there to wait for the storm to pass.

By 20h45 the rain had mostly stopped and so I exited the building and walked the grounds of the festival, the next show at the TD stage was at 21h30 and I decided that I had had enough of this night and headed home.

No comments: