Big Canadian finish
BLUESFEST 2008: Colin James and David Wilcox closed the ninth annual event

Bluesfest London could count on its True North finishing kick last night.

Vancouver blues rocker Colin James closed the ninth edition of the fest with a rousing set. Just before him, Toronto roots rocker David Wilcox held the stage.

James hit the stage with I Hope You're Happy from 1995's Then Again. The guitarist and singer moved around and was at the edge -- and almost over it -- more than once in the early going. "Good thing I didn't fall off . . . you can't ever live that down -- YouTube," he joked.

No danger of that. James takes chances, but he is always in command.

There was room for an R&B treatment of a Bob Dylan classic, a Miles Davis-tinged trumpet solo -- a lovely bit of lyricism on a weekend of mucho loud guitar -- and an instrumental dedicated to the late Jeff Healey. All that was just by mid-set with plenty of music to come from James.

This goes out to Jeff," James said in the weekend's second salute to the Canadian blues rocker who died earlier this year at age 41.

On Saturday, Day 2 of the fest, members of Healey's blues band and guests had saluted Healey with versions of his hits. James brought a personal touch to the guitar sounds that filled the temporary concert venue at King and Clarence streets.

"I saw somebody on the street in downtown London," James ad libbed during a great cover of Dylan's Watchin' the River Flow. James's slide guitar and Steve Hilliam's funky tenor sax really turned Dylan's stream of consciousness into a new direction. It was a good example of the way James and his band -- his guitars, keyboards, drums, bass and two horns -- take the blues feeling to new places.

Wilcox finished up his partying set with Riverboat Fantasy as the crowd, estimated by organizers at 8,200 fans, sang along happily.

Early in his set, James remembered visiting a friendly Wilcox, who was already a star, when James was just about 18 and his own career was about to begin.

Late last night, many fans were singing the blues -- with some angry asides -- when Bluesfest ran out of beer. The size of the crowds, with 6,000 on Friday, 7,500 on Saturday and last night being the biggest, may have surprised organizers.
"I bumped it up to a huge number," Bluesfest London chief Chris Gould said last night. He had ordered 150 more cases than last year, but the fans drank through hundreds of cases and thousands of beers before the fest ran dry.

While respecting the fans who were riled, it strikes this critic as like being at a ball game when the taps are switched off in the seventh inning. Isn't Colin James in prime form sweetly intoxicating enough?

The Canadian theme had started earlier in the evening of Day 3, when big-voiced Kitchener singer Cheryl Lescom, a former Londoner, had the crowd up and cheering after her first solo spot with the Motor City Women.

"Oh, go on . . . and on and on," Lescom joked with the crowd after the ovation. The Motor City Women have Lescom in the front line with five other soulful-sounding women.

Whatever it needs to do about its beer orders, some other constructive criticism can be offered to help prepare for Bluesfest 2009.

It needed to work on three things, it said here in 2007: Figure out if a blues festival needs less classic rock; bring blues women to the bill; and cut back on the guitar bands.

This year, Belgrade-born guitarist Ana Popovic and the Motor City Women were two of 2008's best acts -- and there must be more women out there to follow them.

Bluesfest 2008 still had too many guitar bands and too many long, long solos. Bluesfest's boomer fans love all those guitars and classic rock, too -- so those won't change. So here's an easy one to effect -- why not put some Londoners on the bill?

"You're the first guy that's asked about a local guy," said Gould, who pointed out Bluesfest has had Londoners on stage other years.

To which I'll add -- there's an all-London bill at Aeolian Hall tomorrow night and CBC Radio is recording it. London bluesman Chris Chown is on that bill and you should be there.

Isn't Colin James in prime form sweetly intoxicating enough?