As per usual, the artistic direction at the Calgary Folk Fest amounted to a wide-ranging Folk Festival, pleasing for not one homogenous crowd - but to thousands of diverse listeners!

Though it’s true for most of the festivals, Calgary more than any other abandons the traditional, stereotypical definition of folk music in favour of what it truly stands for today: “music of the people”.  Herein lies…. the best acts of Calgary Folk Fest 2009, according to Claire and Bryn!

Akron/Family

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Don’t act too surprised.

These Brooklyn rockers were also on our ‘most-anticipated’ list.  And they came through! We say them at the Local 510 stage on Saturday night (side note: this was the first year the festival had an alternative stage during evening main stage shows—well done, festival organizers!).  Though when on stage they seem to be men of few words, Akron/Family are wonderfully engaging, getting the crowd up off their asses and singing—ahem—screaming along, particularly to the favourite 'Ed is a Portal'. Hopefully one of these days bassist Miles Seaton gets around to covering Ace of Spades, because we have the utmost confidence he could pull it off.

Bellowhead

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OK,  you might be tired of us going on about this gang but we’d be daft not to!  Bellowhead always brings the party and their main stage show on Saturday night was one of the best we’ve seen.  In fact Paul (oboe/ violin) told us it was evident right from the start it’d be a great show judging by how quickly the audience got into it.

It’s our third festival seeing Bellowhead and we think we’ve finally got the kick step down!

Chad VanGaalen

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We saw VanGaalen both as a mini-set on main stage and at two separate side stages and he consistently impressed us.  Catchy, melodious and the kind of vocals that are a little cute and a little absurd all at once.

We’re proud he’s an Albertan!

Lost in Cyburbia side stage, with Justin Rutledge, Carolyn Mark, Michael Bernard Fitzgerald and Mark Berube and the Patriotic Few.  An all-Canadian set!  And a very good one at that.

After hearing Mark Berube and his band for the first time at Winnipeg, we can’t seem to get enough of the life-affirming sound of his vocals and band.

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We were also exposed (for the first time) to Michael Bernard Fitzgerald, who is hilariously charming.

Maybe it’s the little boy-smile, maybe the daisy on his guitar, or maybe the ridiculously cute lyrics (I’ll pick you up at eight/ we’ll go on a date/ I’ll wear my finest clothes/ take you to a place no one knows/ we’ll eat dinner there/ and I’ll take extra care/ to pull out your chair for you/ baby girl I’ll care for you) but rest assured where ever this fellow goes he’ll have hundreds of screaming women tailing him (and it’s really, really funny to watch).

We’ve got a bit of a break now, so we can do our laundry, see the friends we’ve been missing, appease our employers by actually being at work and get on the elliptical to work off all those green onion cakes!

We’ll post again soon though! Please stay tuned.