6/30: Day 4 of the Montreal Jazz Fest
Cedric Burnside, Butcher Brown, Freddie Gibbs X El Michels Affair and Melanie Charles
Made it in at 6:55pm to Roger’s stage and my feet are tired. I definitely shouldn’t have ran this morning but it did feel so good running along the waterfront. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger! Right guys? Right?
Cedric Burnside goes on at 7pm. Alone up on stage sitting down with his acoustic guitar. “I’m going to play you some funky Mississippi blues if that’s alright with you.” The crowd cheers. I think they are more than alright with that. At 7:15pm, the drummer and bass come out and Cedric straps up electric this time. He opened the show playing some crushing blues on his acoustic. Now, we are rocking, really blues rocking.
The way Cedric starts his intro riffs noodling along sounds a lot like Mdou Moctar’s start to their songs. I just want their drums to come in hearing Cedric do that. I finish my banana and turn around and there are people dancing like well swing dancing. There I was munching on my banana like a lost monkey missing the whole party going on behind me. Such an amazing surprise to get as I turn around. Lit my face up on fire with joy.
Leaving Cedric Burnside and even the drums are teasing me with that doing a slowed stutter start before dropping into a normal 4/4 groove. Gimme that Saharan drum rhythm. It is to die for. It's provocative it gets my hips moving! Alas this is southern blues rock so it’s a different sound and still amazing as you can tell by the people dancing THE dances to it.
As I am walking over to Tim Horton's to meet up with Anastasia. There is this gorgeous mosaic in the entry to the metro. Inspired me to riff off this line “Oi! I love me some mosaics.” in a British accent. It was definitely you had to be there type of situation which I definitely needed because to the average spectator they would just see a crazed me laughing at himself speaking in a terrible British accent about my love for mosaics.
At 7:43pm made it to Butcher Brown on the TD stage. He went on at 7:30pm. I really like the bass their bassist is playing it’s a popular one for this festival. I've seen it pop a couple times. It has a full warm tone. It’s Interesting when the bassist is the farthest back in the stage. Usually it’s the drummer but on this set up the drummer is a little more forward. This set up has me thinking of what Ekep had to say in regards to foundations of a song being a bassline versus a drum beat. That would make sense to have the foundation of a sound be the backstage backbone of a group.
Marcus Tenney out on the trumpet away from the saxophone now. The drums are crushing a dance beat. The bass is going through a little run of itself having fun jumping here and there. It’s good stuff to dance to.
I love when a song really like really dissolves completely. I do it in my head all the time and they just did it up here on stage. Being able to experience my favorite parts of music live is the primary reason why I go out to shows. I love finding a sound through my earbuds and then going to a live show to see how the fuck they made that sound. How do their fingers dance along their fret board, what modular synth set up do they have and in some cases I quite literally have no idea where to start with wherever that sound came from so I have to see it in person.
Anastasia tried looking through the straw and just got my recommended Tim Horton’s famed iced cappuccino on her face. I was questioning what she was doing and then I saw it all shoot out on her face and burst out in laughter. It was one of those funny moments where your friend does something stupid and you reach for you phone to capture it before helping the person. I had napkins in my backpack so I was sure to grab a few after the hilarious disaster before.
This drummer is insane. He is switching up the beat constantly. They literally started a groove that sound like the sampled tracks for UK drum n bass or Jungle EDM music. Even had the dub effects going over it. I could record what they are paying and speed up the BPM to 160 beats and throw a sick as dance party with a remix of this beat they got. Don't get me wrong though, I am already dancing hard I don't need to speed it up to grove to this hot beat.
“Shout out Great White Sharks” - I am pretty sure I heard Tenney correctly. I am not sure if this is a reference to his music or just in general to one of the world's oldest predators. Either way sick as hell. “We are Butcher Brown from Richmond Virginia!” Tenney introduces with the background of DJ buzzer noises. “Www.butcherbrown.com has got all you need to know about us if you like the sound we got. Go check it out. Thank you for coming out today and being present. Something that is truly becoming rare nowadays . . . so that’s why I say thank you because without you we wouldn’t have this.” Then, we hear a studio clapping track play giving us applause. Tenney is so sweet, funny and just amazing vibes around. Chill as fuck but able to just pull out an earth shattering solo whenever he wants but he knows when to do it for us. He definitely had a taste of Canada’s finest kush which how can you blame him. He is having a great time.
“Tell me what you want!” yells Tenney so I respond with the classic Spice Girls line "Oh I’ll tell you what I want what I really really want! I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha) I wanna really, really, really wanna zigazig ah"Anastasia and I start joking about Tenney's chill as outfit with a tan big brim hat, a white graphic T and his ripped black skinny jeans. He looks great but its so laid back and chill. The hat is the best part. "He looks like my dad in the garden with his chill hat." I then add "It looks like he just got done planting tomatoes and walks in through the back door to say 'Good Morning' to you as you start making breakfast for yourself." I would love to catch these guys again. They’re so fun, go through a variety of genres keeping us on our toes, Tenney’s banter and appreciation with the audience, and their overall immaculate vibes. The guitarist goes into one of the best guitar solos of my entire life and then the song just breaks down to some calm yeah, yeah, yeahs from Tenney.
“My goal is to not smell like barbecue when I die and get put into a crematorium.” In response to Anastasia telling me about a story that apparently fat Americans smell like BBQ when they get cremated. Since tomorrow is Canada Day, the grocery stores and a lot of other stores will be closed so in between the acts on the TD stage we go do some grocery shopping. I need food to eat at the hostel tomorrow. Grocery stores in other countries are a lot of fun. It is hard not to want to try everything new to you that you see. I avoid the temptation of getting the minion branded milk. Anastasia wanted eggs but I thought that was ridiculous because how will you carry eggs at a concert and not have them get crushed. We do end up getting some maple syrup flavored lollipops. Which ended up being a good call.
Grocery shopping caused us to get to the stage later than I would’ve liked. We aren’t able to get a great spot. The band comes out at 9:36pm starting the show with some slow moving chords, tuning their way into their first song. At 9:39pm, Freddie Gibbs walks out. He is blinged the fuck out. Every piece of jewelry he has is sparkling brighter than anything I have seen before. His watch is studded with jewels and I mean studded. "Canada n***as! What the fuck is going on! Ten year old anniversary for Piñata. Crazy its been ten years. I almost didn't believe it when they told me it.
Freddie sure does love getting the crowd to yell "Fuck the police" and after one crowd impassioned chant. He goes on to tell a story about getting here and how one of his crew had a bullshit charge so he couldn’t come to Canada. He then goes on asking “Anybody got weed?” saying it to the crowd. He is moving around stage just like “Where’s my weed at man?” Finally, someone from back stage comes out with a blunt already toasting. He takes a pull “Now, Ima fuck y’all up.” with a cheeky laugh and a smile.
This has been the most packed I have seen this stage all festival. The people are out and screaming “Freddie! Freddie! Freddie!” There are a lot of big fans here tonight. He is crushing it and the people love it.
“It’s a mutha fucking Jazz fest and I’m rapping about crack yo.” says Freddie in astonishment. He finds it ironic he is performing at this fest.
Freddie goes on about an anecdote about his boy Leon with his mom asking “Is that Leon from 23rd? No Ma. It’s my white n***a Leon from the movie." to his mom which is mad funny. This guy is hilarious on stage with his anecdotes and crowd banter in between songs.
“N***a, I heard André 3000 was here in this motherfucka. Where the fuck he at? I want him playing some of his flute shit.” says Freddie Gibbs. I think I am here more for his comedy than his music. Freddie is funny as fuck between songs. André 3000 was there that night preforming a ticketed show and just finished as Gibbs started.
Since we didn’t have the best spot for the show, I decide to bounce on over to Le Studio TD and just as we get there the place reached max capacity so a line starts forming. We are about 6th in line or so and after a short couple minutes making it to the front. We are super hopeful about getting in soon but the longer it goes on the skepticism arises. I mean with noone leaving the show in the past twenty minutes we know the show must be good. We get to talking with the door man and he asks if its just us two and we are like "Yes!" he then lets us in and says "Enjoy the show."
We get in after a half hour wait just as the are wrapping up a song and it sounds incredible. We get to a nice spot in the crowd and it is very packed. “That is my little brother on sax!” Melanie Charles shouts giving her brother the spotlight. I always get confused when people on stage get introduced as the artist’s brother because usually there is no blood relation just major vibes. I think this is her actual brother though.
Melanie Charles gives a huge shout out to the crowd for coming out to support her and everyone else at this festival. It is hard to tour as a musician and it really is dependent on the community coming out to support shows, buy merch and tell your friends about it. That is what I love about the Montreal Jazz Festival going on since 1939 the people in this city keep making it happen by coming out. If you like live music especially free live music go out and support the venues putting it on and the artists in the show. We do not want to lose live music and it needs our continuous support. “Music is the magic of a sacred world.”
They are so fucking good, so fun and upbeat. I love being shocked walking into a show blind. You go in with an open ear and get to discover something brand new. I have yet to go wrong here at this fest.. As she transitions from the from the front stage microphone over to the piano, a stage tech comes out perfectly timed adjusting the mic as she continues on her story. I love the Le Studio stage it really provides such an intimate experience with the artist. It is an indoor small theater with a balcony that has rows of seats but the downstairs is primarily an open standing floor. The capacity cannot exceed more than 150 maybe 200.
Melanie Charles. Holy cow! Her solo song on the piano starting “I want my money back!” was amazing. The crowd immediately cackled in laughter. Her sass throughout the song is hilarious but also beautiful. Before she started, she gave an intro behind the intro to this song and she said “So I wrote this about my time when I was going to college”.
People really do love the saxophone it’ll always inspire people to whip their phone out to record it. I think saxophone is overrated, please do not shoot me. It is a fantastic instrument and it is super beautiful but I feel its an ego instrument. “Everybody loves sax.” is true yes but it doesn’t mean sax has to be everywhere we go. James Blake downright hates saxophone’s. When Lil Yachty was talking about adding sax to their new record, Blake was like no way dude not at all. I am not that harsh. I am just critical of when sax is added to a composition and is it added tastefully. I want saxophone player’s to know their place.
For the song that just ended, it brought us to the jungle with a babbling brook and frogs croaking. “This is dedicated for those that weren’t appreciated enough in their last relationship.” says Melanie Charles before entering into it. Someone from the front row immediately screams “HELL YEAHHH!” We all respond in laughter even Melanie giving a nod to the person. It is a common feeling not feeling appreciated and when you just come out of a relationship like that and you get that reminder it deserves a full bellied “HELL YEAH!”
For the show that was a wait to get into was definitely well worth it. She captivated the audience enthralling each and every one of us. The show ended in a feverish excitement with all of us dancing to the last number. They didn’t want it to end and we didn’t want it to end but alas it had to. I will definitely be listening to her studio stuff.