Tulip Festival - Ottawa, ON - 05.13.00

Sonia and I get to Major's Hill Park (where the concert is held) about 1.5 hrs early (we are very punctual girls!) just in time for the Punters...sound check...yeah...! Actually it was really cool! There were only 12 people there! A bunch of people had set up chairs but no one was actually interested in the sound check but Sonia and I (well, hopefully Larry, Chris, Rich and Patrick were too!). John Bishop was there and a bunch of other techies....so Sonia and I listened to the sound check...quite entertaining...

Alright, so the day prior to the concert was rather soggy - rained pretty hard off-and-on all day...but when the concert started...sunny baby! Yeah! Damhnait Doyle (DD) started the concert and man...she scared the CRAP out of some of the audience....lololololololol!!! Many people came just thinking it would be a "celtic" evening! I think DD was rather amused! She kept making reference to her "punk" Newfoundland band...at one point she said, "I'm Damhnait Doyle, and we are not celtic at all"... :)...well I thought she sounded great...she has a very nice voice...and her lyrics are very interesting...but most of the audience I don't think felt the same...I'm glad I got to hear her music!

On to the Punters. Ok, I don't even bother trying to remember the set list...all I can say is that you could not tell that the guys were at the end of a 6 week tour...I mean the energy was great! The guys came ready to play! While no one danced to DD, half the crowd was up and dancing with the Punters! Actually, Sonia and I were sitting on our rain ponchos during DD's show but when the Punters started, we moved to the fence (right at the front) and danced our butts off. Larry mentioned that they were headed home right after the show and that they seemed pretty happy about this, and that Chris and his wife had just had a baby (aw......) before the beginning of the tour so Chris was VERY happy to be going home (I guess so!). Of course there were the few mandatory derogatory comments about Toronto...but it was kinda funny 'cause when Larry said one of these comments, I yelled "HEY!" at the top of my lungs (in mock disapproval) and Patrick heard me and laughed...but man, the instrumentals the guys played....geeze...I danced so much that I barely finished my race the next day!

After the Punters were the Celtic Connection....I just don't get it...how could the Celtic Connection "rank" above the Punters? Now I understand that many in the audience were there to hear "traditional celtic music", but the Punters (IMHO) were SO much better than the Celtic Connection. For one thing, the ENERGY just was not there for the CC - the Punters could light a small town for a week with their efforts, not so the CC....I dunno, for my money, the Punters seem to be my fave band...and I know this is blasphemy...but maybe even better than Great Big Sea (I love the electric guitar and drums, so sue me).

Well, that is it...I hope I covered everything...

Smiles,
chriss