Ottawa Bluesfest 2026

My first time in seven years at Ottawa Bluesfest, due to a couple of accidents that left me with two concussions, broken bones and more, I‘ve not been to a Bluesfest since 2019. I decided to try CityFolk last year as it would be a good restart, and it was, I bought a 3 day pass out of 5 days and for the most part it went well. Bluesfest would be a bigger challenge though, as that is where my first concussion happened – long story! Plus, there’s the whole crowd size, CityFolk’s 5 days average about10K people per day, whereas Bluesfest averages 30K per day over 9 or 10 days. I bought a three day pass again, but only ended up going 2 out those 3 days. The first day of my pass the headliner was The Lumineers, on the main stage. I went for a bike ride before Bluesfest started to see where bike parking would be and get an idea of how much the festival grounds had changed since 2019. I didn’t like what I saw, changes that made it clear they were making room for much larger crowds. I ended up selling my pass for what would have been my first day, and after seeing the crowd size for The Lumineers I’m glad I did. The second day, I did try to sell my pass but was not successful and I didn’t want it to go to waste, so I decided to take the bus/train down and go really early and try to see as many shows as I could. It wasn’t easy, and I ended up leaving before the headliner came on, and the trip home wasn’t great. My third day was the one I wanted to go to the most, as it was a special day for Ottawa’s 200th Birthday celebration, with lots of great Canadian talent, so I made a plan! Get to the main stage early enough that I can establish a spot close to the stage and stay there for as long as I can! Guess what… it worked… I saw The Guess Who!! So, who did I see all together you’re wondering…

The first day on my pass would have been July 12th, Day 4 and the headliner The Lumineers was the only band I wanted to see, and I’d seen them before so I wasn’t overly disappointed. My second day was July 16th, Day 6 and I had wanted to see four bands all together (Billy Bragg, Lucy Dacus, Social Distortion and Lord Huron, but I only saw two of those four plus four others, as one does at festivals. So, on Day 6 I saw Nico Little and The North Americans, Royel Otis, Thee Sinseers, Billy Bragg and Lucy Dacus. It was during Lucy’s show that all the walking between stages and navigating through the crowds started to get to me, so I chose to leave. My third day, as I said, I came with a plan! Day 9, the last day of Bluesfest and seeing The Guess Who was a must! So I rode my bike down to LeBreton Flats to avoid transit issues and crowds, and immediately found a spot as close to the stage as I could get. I saw Rebelle, The Sheepdogs and The Guess Who and had only one person in front of me the whole time, well… up until I decided to move back to get some photos of the entire stage and screens. To make sure I had no problems navigating the crowds I brought my light from my bike, which is pretty bright, to make sure I didn’t trip on all those lawn chairs that are not even supposed to be close to the stage! Some people!! And the funny part was I had my bike helmet in case of concussions!! No, I didn’t wear it through the whole show, but I was hoping someone would ask when I came through the gates… “Yes, I’m wearing a helmet, so back off… the last time I was here, well… I’m under an NDA, so let’s just say I would have been safer with a helmet! Oh, and if you watch the slideshow below watch for the bonus from Day 7!!

Anyway… that’s my Bluesfest comeback story, I hope you enjoy my photos and maybe see you next year!

Enjoy the slideshow of my photos from Bluesfest this year below:

There’s a Bonus? If you prefer here’s two links to the individual days, but you won’t get the surprise bonus from Day 7 in these:
Lucy Dacus Day 6 | The Guess Who Day 9
and heres’ two links to a couple of videos I shot of The Guess Who on my YouTube page:
These Eyes | Clap for the Wolfman.

Click here to view the entire gallery or enjoy a fullscreen slideshow experience.

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