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The organic machine of Edmonton Folk Music Festival began to really click, whirr and salsa dance into true form Friday, topped with the wistful nostalgia of Blue Rodeo and — writhing well past the fest’s bedtime — powerhouse Latin ensemble La Misa Negra.
By the numbers, Day 2 of year 45 opened its gates at 4:30 p.m., a busy one despite there still being tickets up for grabs, the slopes filling up on stages main through seven with free-range beers and plastic curry plates abounding.
Friday brought on a curator’s buffet of sessions/workshops/banter factories, highlights like familiar Guinean-born guitarist Alpha Yaya Diallo’s solo show morphing into a hip-shaker jam with Black Umfolosi International and the core of Thursday openers Orchestra Gold.
The McDades sent Celtic folk vibes from Stage 5 to the eager lineup of volunteers getting their amazing payoff dinner, while Rose Cousins hopped from her show into an awesome relay sesh called Crisis, What Crisis? with Ruen Brothers, Jess Willamson and Elisapie.
Many settled into that perfect late afternoon glow with Wyatt C. Louis, beautiful faces sunning themselves like savannah panthers as the amicable Calgary/Treaty 7 folksinger sang us the very appropriate Carefree with a crown of leaves and flowers a la Misty Mountain Hop on his head.
He wrapped up too soon with the chipper, jaunty Dancing with Sue — get to know him when you can.
The sunbeam aphids in Brownian motion gave way to that waning fingernail moon as well-dressed and ever-handsome festival mainstay Blue Rodeo brought their sweet, almost familial hits to the hill once again a bit past 9 p.m.
How many times this band has played 5 Days in May in this setting is close to impossible to know — five bucks to the first person who can convincingly prove the correct answer, show your work! — but this the troupe led off with.
Next up, the steel-driven, Byrds-y classic Cynthia and the jangly New Morning Sun.
Greg Keelor took back the vocal lead on Venus Rising, Jim Cuddy following that with the chipper Head Over Heels, both earning a good reaction.
Quiet and acoustic, Keelor sang Is It You, the Toronto boys then knuckle-cranking the knobs right for the wailer Trust Yourself — generally good advice unless you’re possessed by a demon or some narcissistic politician or whatever.
Then, making me and a large number of Blodeos happy, the band’s 35-year-old secret apex Diamond Mine, mixed up and nice and Lynchy at first — with Mike Boguski’s swirly keys kicking the doors open into a Live at Hollywood Bowl, Ray Manzarek vibe, the effort thrashing to its natural conclusion of controlled chaos.
Under the gradient cigarette stain sky, Keelor kept top wire-bird perch for the lesser known but beautifully brutal Disappear, Jimmy Bowskill’s pedal steel mewling that extra sadness into the thing, right down into the loneliest of sounds with Boguski’s piano disappearing into the band coming back for the crescendo.
The first clear-sky planets and stars showed up to watch Til I Am Myself Again, Cuddy’s “I had a dream that my house is on fire” having extra weight in this disaster-prone province of surely avoidable contradictions.
“Ok, I guess we get to have the first singalong of the folk fest,” Keelor decided before his also-crushing It Hasn’t Hit Me Yet, the proximal tarpers up on their feet and indeed echoing the song-title chorus.
“It’s an honour to be at this festival, it’s one of the great highlights of the year. Thanks to Terry for having us, and to you for coming out,” Cuddy purred before hitting the high notes on Try after the 15-second encore break.
They ended it with the singalong Lost Together, lyrics flowing right back at the band as Keelor, then guitarist Colin Cripps, took on the verses as a glittering tram slowly slunk away across Tawatinâ Bridge behind with a certain poetry as the band wrapped up.
While no one I asked backstage including bass player Bazil Donovan knew how many times they’ve been here, Blue Rodeo will always be warmly welcomed here.
In a bit of a break before the headliner, Boy Golden delivered a few main-stage-worthy songs, including the wistful Mesmerized. Then, in a tight little bunny cluster, Jake Vaaleland & the Sturgeon River Boys effectively cosplayed a touring Johnny Cash band, suits and all.
Kinetic fireball La Misa Negra zipped the night up as the headliner, pity anyone who wandered off after the Ontario CanCon legends, perhaps scared off by the shrieking metal guitar HELLO! of Marco Polo Santiago in thrashing around in his Motorhead shirt.
Oh man, I was down for this fiery business, the Oakland band’s name meaning the rather darkwave-sounding “black mass” or “black ritual.”
It was, of course, rather more Cumbia than all that — a rhythmic Afro-Latin melting sundae of song and dance now fronted by the utterly striking and captivating Crisol Lomeli — one of my lady friends threatening to murder me if I didn’t somehow introduce her to her new wife.
Everyone was up and shaking bodies instantly, and after just a few numbers including bouncy-frenzied love song Sancocho with Santiago riffing Barricuda, Lomeli joked, “All right, that’s our set — goodnight!
“Should we keep going?” she smiled.
Big wave of YEAHHHH!
“All right, boss,” the singer grinned.
Veni Pa’ Ca was mayhem, the horn section of Justin Chin’s tenor sax, Lidia Rodriguez on bartitone sax and Maxwell O’Leary’s trumpet playing notes in unison as Lomeli outpaced Eminem.
“Where my ladies at?” Lomeli bellowed, getting the band-name call and response she set up at the beginning of the show going again, then Santiago ditched the shredder for the melodic and mourning hip-shaker El Agua Ya Se Acabó, Elena Elizabeth Lepe keeping the beat on the congas. So good. You, uh, didn’t go home, right?
Easily transcending language into the universal, a series of cascading horn solos and primal drumming by Lepe and Craig David Miller behind his kit had the thousands upon thousands dancing and sweating, arms in the air during Misa de Medianoche with an air of sexual chaos.
“This is one of the kindest festivals I’ve even been to in my life,” the singer noted as the night kept on, a bit like being in a blender that kept switching between speed settings, Santiago breaking into Slayer-level buzzsaw riffs.
At the singer’s request, all the candles and phone lights created a field of digital fireflies as Lomeli went a capella on the wailing Tambo, Tambo, congas underlying, O’Leary’s ghosty trumpet beckoning the full wall of horns before pushing to the front again as Lomeli ripped the sky open with her magnificent, drawn-out voice.
A mini walkoff for water at 11:59 p.m. had us begging for more, then Saturday at the folk fest started as early as mathematically possible as Santiago teased No Doubt’s Just a Girl and Blondie’s One Way or Another, Lomeli laughing, “This isn’t karaoke!”
Then a double encore with the meaty, horny (as in full of horns) Navegando Por El Rio as Lomei beckoned us to jump and jump, with the swaggering-punchy El Conejiyo Blanco finishing the job, with only the robins and chickadees to follow.
Superb fun, so much more to come.
@fisheyefoto
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