Kendall Elise’s Bluesfest Report: Day 5

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Acclaimed Kiwi recording artist Kendall Elise and her drumming partner Chris Kemp are spending the holiday weekend in Australia, attending the Byron Bay Bluesfest.

Fortunately for us, she’s sending The 13th Floor daily reports. Here’s what she has to say about Day 5:

Day 5 began with a trek to the campground cafe before the queue got too long. I ordered a bacon and egg burrito and a flat white. Once the festival gates opened, we ordered another organic donut fresh from the deep fryer. Then some spinach and ricotta ravioli in a mushroom sauce and another sausage from the food court. Followed by nachos. Chicken skewers on a bed of salad and turmeric spiced rice. And some salt and feta balls. The day was also punctuated by whatever beer was not yet sold out, namely Tooheys. I did my best to eat as much as I could as promised. My pants and I are no longer in an amicable relationship. All the walking should counteract the calories, right? Right?!

After ‘lunch’ it was back to Jambalaya to see Samantha Fish perform. Samantha is a singer-songwriter and guitarist that hails from Kansas City, and very humbly advised the crowd that performing at Bluesfest was always on her bucket list and is a dream come true.

Samantha plays an Arctic White Gibson SG. And dang can she play it. I watched her shred song after song, moving between blues, straight-up rock and showing she can also skilfully pick out a quieter country tune with her acoustic guitar, playing ‘Need You More‘. She also played a cigar box guitar with her song ‘Crow Jane’ demonstrating her slide ability. She has a powerful voice and her guitar playing is exceptional. She has a retro 60s aesthetic and sound, accented by a horn section and beautiful vocal harmonies. Her band are pretty fire and all seemed to be having fun on stage. I loved that her horn section looked like they were fresh from an IT department. We went straight to the signing tent to meet with her after her set for a photo and a chat.

After fangirling over Samantha Fish we walked to the Juke Joint stage to see if we liked the sound of Miss Velvet and The Blue Wolf. They were entertaining but a little heavy and intense for my exhausted self.

We were sitting in the bar wondering where to go next when a rain shower forced us into the Delta tent. To my surprise and delight Mojo Juju was playing the final few songs of her set. She prefaced the title song to her latest album ‘Native Tongue’ with a personal introduction around her Australian Wiradjuri Filipino family ancestry.  Her final song was a nostalgic soul track called ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, where she played a beautiful R&B style guitar. It really soaked into my bones and was one of the only other moments that stirred my emotions throughout the whole festival. It made me wish I had caught more of her set!

The rest of the afternoon was spent sitting inside the Crossroads tent watching the high energy Vintage Trouble. Solid old school blues combined with rock and looking the complete vintage package in 50’s style suits. They had the crowd going with a solid entertaining performance, complete with death drops, high jumps, crowd surfing, and a dramatic backwards slide down the stage stairs.

Then, it was finally time for Paul Kelly in the Mojo tent. I had never seen Paul Kelly live before so was really looking forward to it. I have become familiar with his last two studio albums from which he chose songs to open his set. His stage show was impeccable and very true to the recordings. I especially loved the way he had his backing singers (Sisters Vika and Linda Bull) take the lead on songs ‘My Man’s Got A Cold’ and also ‘Don’t Explain’. The whole show was purely wholesome and joyful. The whole audience sang along for the classic ‘From Little Things Big things Grow’.  As the band kicked into popular ‘To Her Door‘ we reluctantly left so we could rush over to the Crossroads tent and catch the second half of the Raconteurs (aka The Saboteurs) set.

And I’m so glad I wasn’t disappointed! The crowd was sparse enough that we could comfortably walk right up to a spot that had a good view of the stage. I’m rather a fan of Brendan Benson so it was a real treat to hear him lead the song ‘Hands’ where I think his voice really shines. A song I wasn’t familiar with but really enjoyed was the dark and sexy ‘Blue Veins’. ‘Steady, As She Goes’ was the crowd favourite, complete with audience participation. Definitely one of the memorable Bluesfest sets.

That was about all of the excitement I could handle with such a jam packed Easter weekend.

After scrimping and saving to buy our tickets to Bluesfest over a year ago before even hearing the lineup, it was hard not to build high expectations waiting for it to roll around. I think Bluesfest met those expectations. Keep an eye out for my walk through and summary of the event which I will share with  you tomorrow.

Kendall Elise

Click here to contribute to Kendall Elise’s Kickstarter Campaign.

Click on any image to view a photo gallery of Kendall’s Day 5 at Bluesfest:

 

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