On day 3 my shift was 11:00 - 3:00. At 3:00 I saw a session by Al Stewart, which was pretty neat - I used to have his Time Passages album when I was about 12, so it was cool to see him do some of those old songs. Then I caught a couple blues songs by Guy Davis before going to see a bit of Danu, a Celtic band from Ireland. After that I caught a session featuring Oysterband, and Shooglenifty. This was my favorite session of the festival, featuring the two best bands that played. I've been a huge Oysterband fan since the last time they played the Edmonton Folk Fest 4 years ago. And like I already said, Shooglenifty is blew me away. I got to see both of these bands in a variety of differnent situations throughout the festival, which was great.
The first act on the mainstage was the Warsaw Village Band, but I missed most of them because I was stuffing my face with the great food they feed the volunteers at the festival. Next up was Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver. They weren't bad but nothing special. Next was Ruthie Foster, a great blues/gospel singer/songwriter from Texas. The weather started getting shitty around this point, and it rained on and off for the rest of the evening. After Ruthie Foster was an afro-cuban band called Ricardo Lemvo & Macina Loca. After their set a lot of people began leaving due to the rain. Then Mavis Staples played. She was pretty good but I was a bit pissed that her set went on a bit too long cuting into Oysterband's time. By the time Oysterband started there weren't too many people left on the hill, so I was able to make my way really close to the stage - center stage in what would have been the second row of tarps had there still been a tarp there. This was an amazing set, and what was left of the crowd was really eating it up. Definately the best mainstage act this year in my opinion and being so close was great.
I went to the volunteer party but only stayed until a little after 2:00 AM this time. Caught a bit of Alpha Yaya Diallo, then went up to the quiet rooms where I caught a bit of a Celic jam in which two of the participants were members of Oysterband.
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 Al Stewart |
 Guy Davis |
 Oysterband on the Mainstage |
 Oysterband and Shooglinifty |