Festival goers in a daze by the end of the magical evening.
CityFolk remains, year after year, a celebration of how different and welcoming music can be to all.
It’s always a treat to hop on the bus to CityFolk and see the energy rise in attendees. Approaching the ticket area, lines only seem to grow longer each year, and the bands start to echo out across Great Lawn.
Missing the performance of the Tennessee Cree, I had the privilege of catching the next act at Fasken Stage. Performer Jacob River Milnes provided a rockabilly number with a mix of slide guitar, sax, and charm to kick set attendees up for a night of good fun.
As Milnes finished up, the Fulcrum received the opportunity to get up close and personal with Charlie Edward’s performance over at TD Stage in the photo pit. Just a step away from the stage, the lighting as the evening came down served only to accentuate Edward’s performance.
Last seen at Bluesfest, Charlie Edward delivers the loud, heavy, and the ‘Rock n Roll’ sound many came to see that evening. The crowd caught on and sang along throughout the set. As each song was prefaced with a personal anecdote, the music developed a gravity in accordance to it.
Good crowd-work had the audience laughing in between numbers in the set, as Edward told people to keep an eye out for him after the performance as “the sweatiest guy in the crowd.”
Bouncing right back to Fasken Stage, Fred Eaglesmith proved to be an intimate orator to the crowd that evening. Attempting to get photos of the performance required navigating a densely packed crowd who was swaying along with the Country-Blues twang emanating from just a few feet away.
Eaglesmith’s voice throughout the performance was strong and gruff, the kind of grizzle that works well for the stories of towns left behind by urban development.
Humour and crowd-work seemed to come as second nature in this performance. Eaglesmith joked about performing before headliner Greta Van Fleet that evening, saying “right when you’ve reached the pinnacle in life, there’s another stage!” The music delivered by Eaglesmith and his band assured the crowd that he wouldn’t be upstaged so easily. It’s performances like these that compliment the Folk part of CityFolk.
The headliner of CityFolk’s second evening was the entrancing American rock band Greta Van Fleet. The band, made up of twin brothers Josh and Jake Kiszka, their younger brother Sam and their friend Danny Wagner, are familiar with performing in front of a big audience. The Grammy-award winning group has toured internationally this year, from the Netherlands to Germany to Prince Edward Island. As they took to TD Stage at 8:45p.m., they also took the attention of every audience member in the large crowd.
To begin their set, the band played their song “The Falling Sky,” and a crowd favourite, “Safari Song.” If you’ve ever listened to Greta before, you might have wondered how the screams of rock by main vocalist Josh Kiszka sound live. How can an artist have enough vocal stamina to perform for two hours while most of their sounds involve him singing so highly and passionately? From the years that the band has practiced and performed, his ability to perfectly sing a difficult setlist was astonishing.
Members of the audience sang and swayed along to their hit song “Light My Love,” while fire dramatically lit up the front of the stage. A costume change occurred and the band looked golden as they sang their song “The Archer.” The white flashing lights and the white sparkles of Josh’s suit looked god-like until guitarist Jake Kiszka played riffs and the stage was lit by a devil-like red. Josh passed out white roses to the crowd and the audience cheered while Jake played his guitar behind his head.
After the encore, the band played their iconic song, “Highway Tune” and their more recent and electric song, “Runway Blues.” The performance electrified the massive audience at Lansdowne Park and left festival goers in a daze by the end of the magical evening.
