Outdoor festivals...

are great! If you ever get the chance to experience one, go no matter who the musicians are. You just never know when you are going to be pleasantly surprised.

Last night, my home town began it's annual Hot Air Balloon festival. Each year it runs around this time and for the 3 days and nights it is on, you get to see many hot air balloons take the sky, as well, a variety of local and radio playing Canadian musicians. Previous years have included shows by Glass Tiger, David Wilcox, Denis DeYoung, April Wine, and Theory of a Deadman. For last night's headliner, we had Amanda Marshall. It has been some years since she release a top 20 song, but none the less, she rocked it out and I was very impressed with the fact that I knew most of the songs she performed. Let's just say the lady has some pipes and puts on a decent show for all ages. Well worth the time spent watching her. Prior to Amanda hitting the stage, local favourite Graham Greer played for the couple of thousand people on hand. Graham used to be part of The Barstool Prophets who had some radio success several years ago, and now he's doing the solo (now with a full band) thing. I really enjoy his music, so any chance I get to see him play, I usually do.

The reason I say you should try and take an outdoor festival in is because they usually showcase local talent and are a great experience for the whole family. I know for us, we took our 3 kids and they were enjoying the music well past their usual bed time. Because it is outside, the music is not too loud for their young ears, and the content is usually g-rated. Finally, many of these festivals are fairly cheap. Last night's show was $15, or if you wanted to see all three nights of show, you could pay $20. You do the math, $15 for 1 night or $20 for 3.

Now tonight's headliner is Finger Eleven. I'm really looking forward to this show, and tonight the kids are staying home. Hopefully tomorrow I will post some pics from the shows.