RBC Royal Bank Ottawa Bluesfest Day 8 by the numbers…

Main Stage Headliner: Bad Religion (how cool is that?)

Party Factor: 5… hey, it’s Wednesday night. Still a big crowd – respect.

Band 1: The first band we saw tonight was Montreal’s Grimes. Accompanied by Blood Diamonds on beats, Grimes was exactly as we expected (that’s a good thing). Trippy, pulsating, psychedelic pop. Grimes always seems like her songs are going to go off the rails… then she starts to sing and I end up amazed by how great the song is. Hats off – this is next level pop music.

2-some we loved: Youth Lagoon! Boise Idaho’s Trevor Powers (and guitarist) started to play and immediately had our attention. Absolutely gorgeous lo-fi pop… reminded me at times of MGMT and Beach House. We might be the hundredth person to tell you about this band – but go listen to them now. Here.

Number of Classic Bands Blitzen Trapper Reminded us of: At least 4. There were times when the Portland band reminded us of Neil Young, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, and even Chicago! Very accomplished, very familiar, yet entirely their own.

November 13: That is the release date for Big Boi’s new album Vicious Lies & Dangerous Rumours, as he told the crowd tonight in between killing it with a mix of hits from his incredible Sir Lucious Left Foot album and a greatest-hits set of Outkast. The best beats we’ll see all week? Probable… but not yet definite.

Extra hats-off to his crew – including DJ Cutmaster Swift (1989 DMC Champ!) and his MC  BlackOwned C-Bone. Amazing show – wish this set had gone off during last night’s hip-hop extravaganza… it would have KILLED!

Yards Rich Aucoin roamed from the stage: 75. This guy is an amazing showman. A guy that feels more like the friendliest guy in the crowd than the most famous guy at the stage, Rich Aucoin’s music is amazingly happy, and even included one of our favourite videos (see below) as part of the multimedia presentation.

Rich Aucoin makes everyone happy.

Collective age of Bad Religion: 200+

Amount that matters: 0. Nobody has played faster or harder all week… Bad Religion was a very important band in our musical DNA (and if you’re reading this – they’re an important band in your musical DNA too!), and I hope all fans of loud music get the chance to see the masters at work.