Friday, June 02, 2006

Edmonton Folk Festival - to go or not to go?

We used to go every year (from 1989 to late 1990's sometime) to the Edmonton Folk Music Festival, that's where I first heard Ani DiFranco and Dar Williams, where I heard a number of Canadian musicians before they hit it "big" (Crash Test Dummies), where I've heard a number of Canadian bands that were never really "big" but I loved anyway (Junior Gone Wild, Spirit of the West, Moxy Früvous, Captain Tractor), and Canadian music staples like Blue Rodeo, Barenaked Ladies, Jann Arden, Colin James/Colin Linden, Great Big Sea. Then there are the musicians I might not have gone to see otherwise, but I can say I've seen live - Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris, Bruce Cockburn, Randy Newman, John Hiatt, Ashley McIsaac, Oysterband (a highlight in 1997 was seeing Oysterband and Great Big Sea on stage together to sing "When I'm Up I Can't Get Down", originally by Oysterband and covered by GBS). And all the world music performances over the years.

So, the 2006 lineup was released the other day, and I've been trying to decide whether I should go again after missing a few years (it got so competitive trying to get a good spot on the hill, and so tiring trying to see everything possible, that we just kind of gave up for a while). Here's my analysis of this year's lineup (trying to help myself figure out whether or not to get tickets):

would like to see (haven't before) - ***Sarah Harmer, Bedouin Soundclash, Jason Collett (has sung with Broken Social Scene), Feist (has also sung with Broken Social Scene), Hawksley Workman

would like to see again - James Keelaghan, Paul Kelly, Bruce Cockburn

big names but I'm not really a fan - Neville Brothers, Linda Ronstadt

and a whole bunch of names where I have no clue who they are ...

No comments: