Jadea Kelly had very nice vocals for laying in the grass near the tent.
Elliott Brood
As the black-clad Young Galaxy had joked earlier they had lost the coin toss with Elliott Brood to see who got to wear white so the trifecta came onstage (early due to a botched intro by the awful MC) blanc top to bottom. Rather than get right into it they opened slower but next got into the favourites with Oh, Alberta (but no If I Get Old). As this was a folk fest you think people would be getting down but perhaps put off by the couple new tracks from the forthcoming record it wasn't all-encompassing buy-in, though the folks from Windsor seemed to enjoy it, earning a special shout-out ironically before Northern Air. When they decided to The Valley Town the folks were coming around and reinstating the old tradition of passing out pans and wooden spoons the lucky bunch got to bang along to the set-ender Write It All Down for You.
Dan Mangan
Always a pleasure to see you Dan but this time around there was a sense of anticipation - I know you're done the album so give us a listen already! Blacksmith, the newly christened five-piece backing band including violin and horn, did their part as Dan sang into each of his two mics opening with Oh Fortune and 'classic' Road Regrets. Then we had it, a first glimpse of the much-anticipated new record via a song entitled Mouthpiece. Whereas after the last record came out things like "departure" and "giant leap forward" were batted around this song seems like a fitting follow-up to the grand sound of Oh, Fortune as it was musically thick, featuring a healthy dollop of violin, and self-proclaimed "the wordiest song yet." Later in the set was another new song that sang something like 'forget real life and dwell' and was less Postwar Blues and more Leaves, Trees, Forest (both of which were played this show.) On Blues the instrumental lead-in, despite a couple technical difficulties, built and built until it was a recognizable swell the song tore up although not quite to the degree that it has before in its unbridled live incarnation. Following this onslaught Blacksmith temporarily excused themselves so Dan could win over any remaining crowd talkers with beautiful Basket. Upon their return they played Starts with Them.. before the second new track and Leaves along with its extended outro. This outro carried on and on until you could make out Robots which was the natural singalong that it is. I suspected this would be the finale, as has been the case so many times before, but an emboldened Dan blew through the 2 minute warning and began Rows of Houses. Who was going to stop him? It was another impressive song and something that would have been lacking had they cut it. Nobody on stage seemed too concerned about running over as Dan left Blacksmith behind to take their time and finish the song properly. Totally worth a hand slap.
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