Day 1 brought us Master Musicians of Jajouka, The Weakerthans, Aimee Mann, and Sam Roberts, with 2 of the 4 bands that convinced me to buy tickets for this year on opening night I was certain this is going to be a good show.

The lineup to get in to the grounds was horrendous looking (and kept getting worse), but when we made the decision to line up it surprisingly moved along quite quickly, getting us inside within 15 minutes. Once inside I see Susan selling programs (I talked with her for a bit, long enough to get separated from my group) and in the background I can see and smell food alley…

Indian, Jamaican, Mediterranean, hot dogs, ship burgers, roasted corn, and those accursed little donuts. (/drool)

The Ship seriously dropped the ball tonight, turning away orders because they had some issues with their “System” and they didn’t want people upset for waiting too long for food… as I said (jokingly) to the lady behind the counter “not getting a ship burger is what is going to make me unhappy”, but she wasn’t swayed to take my order.

No matter, as I had a fantastic chicken and lamb pita from another vendor and it certainly did the trick, and I’m sure at some point I’ll have myself a burger for lunch, or supper… or a later night snack

On to the music!

I missed most of the Master Musicians, but from what I did hear they weren’t really my cup o tea so I really can’t say I’m that upset.

The Weakerthans had a very solid set, and I was thoroughly entertained while trying to figure out a way to hide from the sun. From what I can tell they played from all four of their CD’s, mixing slower and faster songs throughout their allotted hour. One complaint I have is that I was a bit let down when they didn’t play One Great City! to end off their time on stage… since it is the song that brought the band to my attention it would have been that cherry on top to make their performance perfect.

Oh well, at least they played “Tournament of Hearts” (who doesn’t like songs with curling references?) and Plea from a cat named Virtue (a song from a cat’s perspective telling his owner to stop being so lame), two of my personal favorites.

Aimee Mann wasn’t bad, I just think she was very poorly placed as a follow up to the Weakerthans and a precursor to Sam Roberts. Some of her songs were catchy, but the overall drop in the energy level was noticeable about three songs into her set… and it just seemed to go on.. and on.. and onnnnnn. I think she would have been better off to be second on the night, or playing a different night entirely.

Fortunately, Sam Roberts came in to save the day, playing a much more up-tempo set which hit the highlights from his two (or is it three?) albums. He engaged the crowd, got people up off their festival chairs, and generally did as much as you could ask from a performer closing the first night. Well, maybe not as much as I could ask because I was hoping he would play “The Canadian Dream” at some point… I realize it didn’t really fit with his “energy set” but it is still a great song that could have worked in the encore.

All in all, it was some good times with good music and good people… along with building a mental list of stuff I shouldn’t forget to bring along tomorrow night.