On Day 2 I volunteered from 2-6. I hung out at stage 5 from 6-9, catching 2 sessions. One was Oscar Lopez, Danu, Beppe Gambetta, and Paris to Kyiv. The other was Tony McManus, Shooglenifty, and a couple members of Oysterband. First up on the mainstage was a Mexican singer named Lila Downs. I really enjoyed her, she has a beautifull voice and the music was terrific. Next was Steve Earle, who I'm a big fan of. He played without a band, just him and a guitar. Of course he finished with Copperhead Road. After Steve Earle was Shooglenifty. They were the big suprise of the folk fest for me this year - these guys blew me away big time (especially at the Sunday night volunteer party, but I'll get to that on day 4). They're an extrememly high energy six piece celtic band from Scotland.
After the mainstage I went to the volunteer party. The first band in the party room was Ricardo Lemvo & Macina Loca. And after that was Oysterband which was awsome - I had been really hoping they would play one of the parties. The first time Oysterband played the festival was in 1987 (before i was going). They played the volunteer party that year and people are still talking about how great they were. About 10 years after the fact one of the band members said in an interview with a Brittish magazine that their best live gig ever was at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival volunteer party in 1987. And their perfomance there this year was amazing as well.
Pictures - click on a thumnail to view a larger version
 Lila Downs |
 Oysterband at the volunteer party |
 Steve Earle |
 Shooglenifty |