Ottawa Folk Festival Day 1: Rain does little to dampen spirits

The highly anticipated 2014 edition of the Ottawa Folk Festival kicked off this evening at Hog’s Back Park with another stellar line-up featuring a variety of local and international music genres spread over the five-day celebration of music, dance, visual arts and community.

First up was an alt-rock outfit called We Are Monroe, followed by Portland, Oregon-based singer/songwriter M.Ward before co-headliner Blues Traveler took to the stage, featuring infamous harmonica virtuoso John Popper on lead vocals.

This is one of those legendary touring bands that are so prolific, having performed more than 2000 live shows over their 27+ year history, it’s hard to believe they have only nine studio albums to their credit.

Despite the rain that gradually joined them on stage, it was clear from the start that it would take more than a little weather to slow them down, and they certainly did not disappoint, performing a selection of hits past and present before making way for indie rock trio Foster The People on the main stage.

This Los Angeles band lead by multi-instrumentalist singer / songwriter Mark Foster, are famous for their melodic atmospheric dance-oriented pop sound and dynamic live shows, that seemed well-suited to the dramatic backdrop of the evening’s weather in the park. Mother Nature only enhanced an already phenomenal set featuring tracks from their self-titled EP, and 2014 release ‘Supermodel’, finishing up the night with their single “Pumped Up Kicks” and “Don’t Stop”