Victoriaville Blues Festival 2009

When we arrived in Victoriaville Trevor Finlay was doing a sound check. He was performing with Domenic Romanelli on Bass and Sam Harrison on Drums. Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of him or his band :( After their sound check it was our turn. They had a very nice stage setup. However, we only saw the tip of the iceberg. Things really came alive after dark with their light show and smoke machine.

The lights were amazing!! We were also told by some fans that the sound was great! Victoriaville went out of their way for this show. We were very impressed. Kudos to the city, organizers and all the staff. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate this time. After 45 minutes of our 60 minute set it started to rain with thunder and lightning. The large crowd that had gathered started to leave.

Those with umbrella's remained but then it really started to pour. The sound men had to come and cover everything on stage as the wind started to wet all the equipment. We took what we can and went for cover. The organizers had a trailer home behind the stage reserved for artists so that's where we stayed with our parents for at least an other hour until the rain calmed down. By that time all other shows were cancelled including Trevor Finlay.

Despite what happened we still ended up having a great time. While we were in the trailer home we had the opportunity to speak with our agent, Brian Slack. Sam Harrison also had a chat with us. Angel Forest dropped by to say hello.

Thanks for reading our blog.

Justin, Adam and Matthew

http://www.runawayslide.com/

Donnacona au Rythme de Blues 2009

On Sunday August 16 we were invited to perform at the Donnacona au Rythme de Blues festival http://www.donnaconablues.com in Donnacona, Quebec which is about two hours from Montreal and thirty minutes from Quebec City. It was a very hot and muggy summers day, weather that we haven't had much this summer. When we arrived the festival organizers were very friendly and made us feel right at home.

Before our set, blues guitarist Shawn Kellerman of Hamilton Ontario was performing his set. Shawn blew us and the audience away with his great high energy and powerful guitar playing.

While we were waiting for sound check, Jim Zeller, Harmonica player extraordinaire dropped by to say hello and we asked if he can pose in a picture with us. We've met Jim many times before at other festivals and we also jammed with him last year at the 2008 Tremblant Blues Festival. It seems like he's playing everywhere. Must be a very busy guy.

We couldn't wait to see the last show of the evening with Steve Hill and the Majestics and we weren't disappointed. They really rocked, playing a high-energy rock with a mix of blues. The festival ground was packed with people by the time this concert started.

At our arrival at the festival, a great blues guitarist and francophone singer, Mike DeWay, who we've met before asked if we were interested in jamming with him and his band (Jeff Poirier - Bass and Phil Bernatchez - Drums) at the end of the evening. We couldn't resist. It must of been something like 11:30pm by the time we started to play. Even though it was late on a Sunday night the place quickly got packed with people. Other artists also jammed that night such as Mo Blues on guitar, Rock Laroche - Bass player for Steve Hill, and Clio - a blues singer. We had a great day but we were exhausted. :)

Thanks for reading our blog,

Justin, Adam and Matthew

www.runawayslide.com

Kitchener Blues Festival 2009

The Kitchener Blues Festival was our first performance in Ontario, Canada. It was cool to travel to this part of Canada. The people were very friendly and were certainly blues fans. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. That's been the theme of this summer here in eastern Canada. It's the worst summer ever weather wise. However, it has also been our best summer in terms of all the shows that we have done and have yet to do.

Fortunately for us and the blues fans, we performed under a huge tent for our first show and inside a Pub at our second show. Our first performance, under the Downtown Business Tent, lasted an hour and fifteen minutes. We played covers, all of our original tunes and a little bit of acoustic. After our show we spent some time talking to fans and we were happy to have also sold some of our Runaway Slide tshirts to new fans.

The Kitchener Blues Festival organisation and its volunteers were professional, friendly and supportive. They also had a chef prepare excellent food for us after the show. While we were eating we enjoyed the music of Jordan John and The Blue Angels. Great show.

At our second show, we had the pleasure to perform together with Alex Tintinalli and Colin White. Two excellent young performers. We each played a couple of tunes on our own and then we jammed it out all together. It was a really fun and memorable time. I'm sure we'll get to see them again in the future.

Thanks for reading our blog :)

Justin, Adam and Matthew

http://www.runawayslide.com/