Hand-clappingly good kickoff to summertime musical adventure

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This article was published 11/07/2019 (2620 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BIRDS HILL PROVINCIAL PARK — A tornado watch didn’t dampen the spirits of those attending the opening night of the Winnipeg Folk Festival Thursday.

The watch was issued by Environment Canada just after 2:30 p.m., but the sun was shining over Birds Hill Provincial Park when festivalgoers started arriving at the gate ahead of the evening’s main stage acts.

Thursday night is a homecoming of sorts rife with annual traditions for many festival attendees.

For friends Bonnie McCardle, Beth Zahn, Denise Friesen and Cathy McQuillan, that tradition includes arriving in style. The women from Calgary, Minnesota, Winnipeg and Kenora have been attending the festival together for the last eight years, and they’ve been shuttling out to Birds Hill park in a white stretch limousine for the last seven.

“He drives us out and picks us up at night and he keeps our chairs for us,” said Zahn, referring to the limo driver.

“And he has wine in the back for us,” added McCardle, laughing.

While the group is looking forward to this year’s lineup, the music comes second to the time spent together.

“This is our big one because we’re living all over North America and we really look forward to this and we’re always sad on Sunday when it’s over,” McCardle said.

Inside the festival gates, another reunion was taking place in the queue for the tarp shuffle — a daily event in which folks walk, skip and waddle to claim a spot for their tarp in the main stage seating area.

“There’s a core group that likes to show up early, so you get to spend some time in the line catching up on what’s happened in the last year,” said Steve Schleppegrell, who has been coming to the festival for about 25 years. “We really do enjoy being able to see the performers and it’s worthwhile for us to get up front and do that.”

After snagging a spot in the second row, Schleppegrell was off to bring in the rest of his gear with his wife and grab a beer before the music started.

Knowledge-keeper Sherry Copenace opened the event with a blessing and was joined on stage by two drummers.

The first act of Thursday’s set was a singer-songwriter well-known around the festival. Winnipeg’s Taylor Janzen is just a year out from her last appearance in the Stingray Young Performers Program and has made a big splash since releasing her debut EP 12 months ago. She took the stage and launched into Dennis Quaid, a song that has been on regular rotation on national radio stations and is more about her struggles with anxiety than her love for the A-list actor. Janzen is well-suited to a bigger spotlight.

Lindy Vopnfjörð and Jesse Mattas were the other Manitoba-grown talent to take the stage as tweeners, along with Nashville’s Sean McConnell, on Thursday night.

Atlanta sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell of Larkin Poe pulled people onto their feet and into the dance pit with an energetic set full of electric guitar and bluesy harmonizing. Dressed in all black and donning sunglasses, the whole band oozed rock ’n’ roll. Mixed in with hits from their own catalogue, Larkin Poe played some hand-clappingly-good covers, including Black Betty and John the Revelator.

Tim Baker, the former frontman of Canadian indie band Hey Rosetta!, delivered for those in the audience looking to sit back and let the music wash over them in the setting sun — even if the sun was overtaken by ominous clouds part-way through his set. He is fresh off the release of his first solo project, Forever Overhead, a slow and jammy album that shines a spotlight on Baker’s skills as a vocalist and songwriter. The sway-inducing sound held up well live.

At press time, the threatened rain had managed to hold off. There were also no tornadoes reported, unless you count the cheers that swirled through the crowd when the headline act took the stage.

Alt-rockers Death Cab for Cutie made their Folk Fest debut on Thursday with a show that had all the trimmings of a stadium rock concert: light show and smoke machine included. Lead singer Ben Gibbard addressed the juxtaposition by jokingly announcing: “Hello, we’re Death Cab for Cutie and we’re America’s No. 1 folk act.”

The crowd didn’t seem to mind stepping outside the folk box, though, as there was plenty of dancing and clapping before an abrupt stop to the action.

The band, and a very active Gibbard, played three songs and the first few chords of Black Sun before having to leave the stage as a precaution after reports of lightning. The pause in the music and inclement weather had many in the crowd packing up and throwing on rain gear. Those that waited roughly 30 minutes for the storm to pass got to see the band return to the stage to jump in right where they left off.

eva.wasney@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @evawasney