Chris' Blog

We just got back from seeing K’naan and the Black Eyed Peas at the Festival d’Été. I was fairly disappointed with K’naan and so had low expectations going into the Black Eyed Peas. They were much better than I expected and put on a really good show. The Plains of Abraham were completely packed this time. There were supposedly 100 000 people in attendance. According to the Black Eyed Peas, Canada is “where the love is” and the audience in Québec is the best they’ve ever had anywhere.

I won’t be rushing out to buy an Black Eyed Peas albums anytime soon, but it was definitely worth seeing them live.

We just got back from seeing Rush at the Festival d’Été. I’ve tried a few times to get into Rush, but I just can’t do it. There was no lack of actual Rush fans; however, as the Plains of Abraham were packed with people, many sporting new and old Rush t-shirts. At about 8:30 they took a break “because we’re so old” according to Geddy Lee. That was kind of funny.

I just got back from watching Santana at the Festival d’Été de Québec. It was an outdoor concert on the Plains of Abraham. Definitely in my top ten, it was a great show. Outdoor concerts are always better! Including Carlos, Santana consisted of two drummers, a dude on the congos, trombone, trumpet, bass, guitar, and two singers.

They played a good sampling of the Santana catalogue including ‘Evil Ways’, ‘Jingo’, ‘Singing Winds, Crying Beasts’, ‘Black Magic Woman’, ‘Oye Como Va’, ‘Smooth’, ‘Into the Night’, ‘Maria Maria’. The rest I didn’t recognise or didn’t know the title because it had no lyrics. They also played a great cover of ‘Sunshine of Your Love’.

It also turns out that Carlos Santana is engaged and introduced us to his fiancé who performed a five minute long drum solo. Good times!

Today the Festival d’Été kicked off in Québec. The streets are swarming with people. I imagine it will be like that for the rest of the summer. We walked up to the Parc de la Francaphonie to listen to Bedouin Soundclash. It was so full, we couldn’t get into the park and had to stand in the street along with a few other hundred festival goers to listen. The festival runs for ten days and we’re looking forward to hearing some more great music.