Baie Saint-Paul – Pianist Edis Evensen was not too flustered during her first visit to the festival! By the end of the morning, on the Quay stage, she had the impression that she had found herself at home in Iceland.
A show performed under a blue sky and accompanied by a good wind.
“I brought the wind with me from Iceland. I suggest you take a short trip to my country. Close your eyes and imagine in your head the glaciers, volcanoes and beaches of Iceland,” she said in her first words.
Winds, including a strong gust, broke a tree branch at the Parvis site in the city center. Three people were injured. Two adults suffered minor injuries and a teenage girl was seriously injured and taken to the Baie-Saint-Paul Hospital Center. The exact nature of her injuries is unknown, but she was conscious when treated by paramedics. Festive! is in touch with this family.
On the pier, a large crowd gathered to listen to the intimate, instrumental music of Eddis Evensen, a pianist from Bløndøs in North Iceland. Among his influences are Nils Frahm and Ólafur Arnalds.
Reeh did not make his job easy, as she later recounted in an interview. We also saw him wipe his eyes on several occasions during his 60-minute performance.
“I couldn’t see anything with the wind blowing directly into my face. I had trouble hearing my music through the screens. I had to trust my visual memory,” she said.
The audience had very nice reactions to his music. People were listening faithfully to the arrangement of the notes and the occasional rise in intensity like that in a protein piece.
“My heart is full of emotions. Receiving applause and seeing so many people on my first visit to Baie Saint-Paul, I couldn’t have asked for anything better. It’s so special,” she said.
Photo courtesy of the festival! Baie Saint-Paul (Ludovic Gautier)
It was Eddis Evensen's 60th concert and her second visit to Quebec, after a trip to Montreal last October. On Friday she attended a Ghostly Kisses concert and met up with the band members, whom she met in November at a festival in Iceland.
Edis Evensen, who will be playing a few small concerts here and there this year, is working on her third album and wants to return to North America for a future tour. Great find.
Cheers to Karl
At lunchtime, on the rue Saint-Jean-Baptiste, near the church, Mara Tremblay, Catherine Durand, Yves Lambert, Franny Holder, from the groups Random Recipe and Dear Criminals, and Emile Bilodeau, paid tribute to Karl Tremblay from Cowboys Fringants. We were able to listen to On My Shoulder sung by the audience, Tant qu'on aura de l'amour and Les Étoiles filantes during a surprise event revealed 30 minutes before.
Photo courtesy of the festival! Bay Saint Paul (Samuel Gauthier)
Celebrating its 15th anniversary, Vincent Vallière, a regular at the event, showed up at the Garage du Curé, around 2:15 p.m., to perform On va s'aimer in front of General Manager and Program Director Clément Turgeon and Co-Founder and Production Director Anne-Marie Dufour. The festival team! I booked them this little surprise complete with cake.
Photo courtesy of Festival! Bay St. Paul (Jay Kearney)
As always, on Saturday, when the temperature was right, the streets of Baie Saint-Paul were invaded and vibrated to the rhythm of the festival! There were a lot of people in town.
A few hours later, before Galaxie and the Quebec Redneck Bluegrass Project were due to perform, the rain suddenly and unexpectedly called itself into the festival! The rain that was supposed to end for the evening's shows.
