This also meant I had no definite plans of who I would be going with and I ended up spending a large majority of my time at the festival on my own. There is definitely something to be said for attending a music fest on your own though. It meant I could see exactly who I wanted to see, become fully absorbed in the music, and easily sneak up to the front of every stage.
My favourite thing about the festival was the "workshops" that include about four different bands jamming together on stage. A lot of the best and most memoral music from the weekend came from those sessions.
Trampled by Turtles kicked things off Thursday night with an awesome high energy performance. Unfortunately I massively underestimated the amount of people that would show up early at the main stage stage (think soccer field full of tarps and blankets) and was pretty far back for that show. Basia Bulat then put on a stunning performance at a less crowded stage, and quickly won over the audience with her cute stage banter, multi-instrument talent and chill inducing vocals. Then it was back to the main stage to catch the second half of Hey Rosetta!. They played the golden hour with sun streaming through the trees and sounded great. Andrew Bird finished off the night with some beautiful violin and some whistling. Unfortunately he didn't play a lot of his more popular songs, but non the less it was still an incredible performance complete with "Three White Horses" my favourite of his.
Friday I only caught one band; Great Lake Swimmers. And they were enough to make me feel completely satisfied about my night after they closed with "Easy come, easy go". I would highly recommend checking out one of their shows.
Following his performance was the first "workshop/session" that included Typhoon (11 piece complete with a horn section, violins, and xylephone) The Lone Bellow (southern rock trio) and David Birdie (piano). I didn't know what to expect but I was completely blown away by what took place. The bands alternated playing songs, and all coloured in each others songs. They even did a CCR cover (Fortunate Son) that got the whole crowd dancing and finished of their set with a cover of "Don't Stop Believing". Things slowed down a bit with Deep Dark Woods (Saskatoon) who cooled off the hot day with some low vocals, great electric guitar and an organ.
Next I caught a session that included Jaron Freeman Fox and fell in love with him a little bit more as he stole the show again (this time with three other bands on the stage). Typhoon then played a full concert. Their eleven piece band and big sound got the whole crowd dancing again and I was totally blown away, especially when they slowed it down for a moment and played the beautiful and haunting "Possible Deaths".
Sunday I caught a wonderful bluesy workshop with Jaron Freeman Fox, Oliver Swain, The Polyjesters and David Bromberg and stayed for Oliver Swain's show after. I was super impressed by Oliver Swain's dreamy vocals mixing with the fast violin and cello.
After grabbing some lunch I caught another session with Great Lake Swimmers, Andy Shauf and Calgary's Boreal Sons and Astral Swans. Astral Swans made some beautiful music but I was most impressed with Boreal Sons. They sounded amazing live and made me want to go home and listen to their album all over again (I love when a band does that). 
Andy Shauf was an artist I hadn't heard of before but I was pleasantly surprised by his talent (and young age). The next session was by far the strangest one. I went there to catch Jaron Freeman-Fox one last time but stayed for the incredible mix of sounds. There was a band called Geomungo Factory from South Korea with strange string instruments and drums that sounded almost like war music, and Iva Bittova who is a Czech singer/violinist who uses her voice to make all sorts of sounds, and James Hill who is a force to be reckoned with on the ukelele. These four bands created the most unique and wonderful music I have heard in a long time and I found myself wishing it would never end.
Well that pretty much sums up all the great bands and artists I experienced this weekend. What a wonderful festival we put on here in Calgary. I am already looking forward to next year!
