Meet the crew who always race to the front of Bluesfest's main stage
Usain Bolt ran the 100-metre sprint in a record time of 9.58 seconds. To get front row seats for the main stage at Bluesfest, you'll only need one minute one second.
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For decades, a group of hardcore music-lovers have been racing and perfecting their methods to catch one of the best views amongst the crowd.
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Donald Neville, a public servant with the Department of National Defence, has been going to Bluesfest for roughly 20 years. He started going to the festival on his own, but that changed after he began noticing the same people attending the same shows every year.
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'Over the years, different people have joined our group and we've all just kind of morphed to each other,' Neville said. 'It developed friendships.'
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The core group has about 10 members, with a couple of others flock in and out during the festival. They're always together to catch the main headliner on the RBC Stage, and security guards exchange inside jokes with several of the group's veteran members.
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The group is always there to catch the biggest names of the festival, such as Lainey Wilson, Shania Twain, Def Leppard and Sean Paul, which means they have to forego seeing other acts to secure their spots in front of the RBC Stage.
'In order to save your spot for the headliner, you have to be there for the first show,' Neville said. 'If you think you're going to show up at 8:30 p.m. and be front row, forget it, it's not going to happen.'
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Neville arranges to start his work day start earlier so he can leave the office around 3 p.m. and drive straight to the Canadian War Museum to try to catch a parking spot there. Then he'll usually wait inside the museum, alongside other group members, until Bluesfest gates open at 5 p.m.
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He always aims to be one of the first to get through security. To facilitate entry, he doesn't bring a bag.
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Some members of the group are already retired and can get right in front of the gates to begin the race to the RBC stage, a distance of about 250 metres. 'There's no real big secret behind it,' Neville said. 'Having a network of friends that (can) be there at one or two in the afternoon to make sure they're right at the front of the gate helps.
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'It always kind of works out that we have enough room for our gang right up front.'
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Jennifer Diotte, 48, and Julie Hanes, 63, met at a Bluesfest concert around 12 years ago and have been close friends ever since. 'It was like, 'I'll meet you there tomorrow,' and it never stopped,' Hanes said.
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Wednesday evening marked Diotte's first Bluesfest concert this year. In April 2025, she was diagnosed with bone cancer in her spine, and she spent the past month in the hospital while recovering from surgery. She was previously diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021.
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Ottawa Citizen
3 days ago
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Vancouver Sun
3 days ago
- Vancouver Sun
How Bluesfest became one of the best music festivals in Canada
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'We don't have the hot tub anymore,' he said, smiling at the memory, and clearly delighted to welcome a third generation to the festival family. 'But it feels like a full-circle moment.' For three decades, Ottawa Bluesfest has taken over the city for two weeks in July, featuring major concerts on multiple stages and attracting tens of thousands of music fans of all ages. It has grown into one of the biggest summer music festivals in the country, generating a buzz for being well-organized, multi-generational and diverse — with a picturesque location on the grounds of the Canadian War Museum at LeBreton Flats Park, next to the Ottawa River. The biggest shows this year saw crowds of 30,000 or more turn up for Green Day , Lainey Wilson and Hozier , and total attendance is expected to surpass 250,000 visitors. With all those people spending money on restaurants, services and often hotels, the economic impact for Ottawa-Gatineau is estimated to be in the neighbourhood of $40 million. But what is it about Ottawa that allowed Bluesfest to flourish? How did a government town come to host one of the biggest parties in the country? The answer lies in the combination of timing, talent and a multi-pronged connection to the community. When the festival started in 1994, nothing much happened in the city in July. Colleges and universities were on summer break, Parliament was adjourned, and many Ottawa-area residents flocked to their cottages. The addition of a blues festival to the July calendar was a welcome development, and prompted a flurry of media coverage during the slow summer news period. The low ticket price encouraged the curious to take a chance, and within a few years, Bluesfest was bursting at the seams. It moved several times in the early years, from Major's Hill Park to Confederation Park to city hall. It settled in its current location at LeBreton Flats Park in 2007. As it grew, the festival dealt with some serious setbacks, including an ill-fated attempt to expand to other Ontario cities in 2005, the tragic stage collapse in 2011, and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 edition of the festival was called off because of the global health crisis, but a drive-in version of it took place that summer. Through it all, the festival's legions of volunteers remained its most steadfast supporters. The volunteer program started with 200 bodies in 1994; this year, volunteers numbered more than 2,300. 'Volunteers have always been some of our best ambassadors,' said Monahan, noting that about 70 per cent of them return year after year. One woman, Nicky Swift, was given an award last year to mark 30 years of Bluesfest volunteer service. When asked why they keep coming back, several volunteers who crossed my path this summer told me they liked meeting people and seeing concerts for free. Of course, Bluesfest is not free for most people to attend, but it's worth knowing your ticket dollars have a purpose beyond the festival operations and talent budget. The festival is a non-profit charitable organization, with a volunteer board of directors made up of local professionals and business owners from different walks of life. Its mandate as a charity is to bring music education to children and youths through the Blues in the Schools and Be in the Band programs . These programs not only help the festival cultivate new generations of live-music fans (and performers) but also build anticipation in the weeks leading up to the festival. Bluesfest's last day is devoted to showcasing the kids' hard work on the LeBreton stage, a finale that attracts dozens of family members and friends . Another factor that differentiates Ottawa's Bluesfest from other festivals is its commitment to local and regional artists. 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3 days ago
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