Country’s current queen, Ella Langley, attracted the biggest crowd of this year’s Bluesfest on July 17, with an estimated 40,000 people filling every corner of the site at LeBreton Flats Park.
It was one of the rare occasions a Bluesfest show has sold out in advance.
“I’m so grateful,” Langley said of the massive turnout on an idyllic evening, holding it up as a reward for working hard and following your dreams.
“I just always believed it was my calling,” she explained. “If you feel called to do something in your life, do it. It’s gonna be hard but it pays off. Stick with the thing that makes you who you are.”
At 27, the Southerner described herself as a small-town girl with a big dream and a “thing” for being on stage. She is blessed with a copious amount of personal charisma, in addition to her musical talent, and showed a remarkable ability to connect with the vast audience in front of her.
In her cute, sparkly dress, dark-haired Langley sounded a bit like Loretta Lynn as she kicked off with Dandelion, a sweet song that revels in the summer mindset. The upbeat rockers I Gotta Quit, Bottom of Your Boots and Gretchen Wilson’s Here For The Party soon followed, with Langley encouraging everyone to sing along. “We are in a concert,” she said. “Don’t you forget that.”
The Alabama native also revealed an emotional side with ballads like You and Me Time, Broken and Somethin’ Simple, relatable relationship songs that carried the high-lonesome sounds of pedal steel and mandolin.
Throughout the jam-packed site, spirits were high and rowdiness was rampant. Moving through the bodies was like swimming upstream, a constant struggle, and fights kept breaking out at the beer tents. In the aisle at the main stage, security kept an eye out for people needing a quick exit out of the mayhem.
Before that, one of the festival’s most head-spinning genre U-turns took place on the main stage as the prog-rock weirdness of Angine de Poitrine changed over to the breezy melodic fare of hitmaker Sheryl Crow.
Angine de Poitrine performs during Bluesfest at LeBreton Flats on Friday, July 17, 2026.
Sheryl Crow performs during Bluesfest at LeBreton Flats on Friday, July 17, 2026.
With Ella’s Fellas outnumbering the polka dudes by about 10 to 1, Crow was the perfect bridge between two wildly disparate but hugely popular acts.
The country-rock hitmaker wasted no time in jumping on the Angine fan bandwagon, too, declaring them to be her new favourite group after watching the show from backstage. She even promised to learn how to pronounce their name properly.
Accompanied by her own top-notch band, Crow doled out a greatest-hits show, reminding folks of the depth of her catalogue. The solid-gold nuggets included My Favourite Mistake, If It Makes You Happy, Steve McQueen, First Cut is the Deepest, If It Makes You Happy, All I Wanna Do and more.
At 64, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s voice rang strong and true, and she held her own on guitar and harmonica as the band rocked out behind her.
Sheryl Crow performs during Bluesfest at LeBreton Flats on Friday, July 17, 2026.
The sturdy melodies sailed over the throngs that were trying to eat a meal, find their friends and get settled for the main show. There was a big lawnchair section, the street was packed, the main bowl was impossible to get through and the two bleacher sections were full. Long lines formed at every food vendor, bar tent and porta-potty zone.
The majority of the crowd arrived in time for the Ottawa debut of Angine de Poitrine, the Quebec rock duo that performs anonymously in black-and-white polka-dot costumes with elaborate headpieces. Wisely, Bluesfest organizers had moved the band from the Hard Rock stage to the bigger RBC Main Stage to accommodate the expected crowds, many of whom arrived in polka-dot attire.
It was interesting to note the demographic differences. Ella’s Fellas and the rest of the country contingent was made up of youthful fans, in their 20s and 30s in cowboy boots and hats, while the Angine fans in polka dots consisted of parents, children and rock-listening elders.
Most of those early-arriving festivalgoers were curious to see Angine, but some were scratching their heads. “I don’t know what the heck is going on here,” one attendee concluded after watching a few songs.
For their part, the two Angine musicians, in head-to-toe costumes, waddled on stage like penguins, and spent a few minutes tinkering with their gear. The audience waited patiently.
Angine de Poitrine performs during Bluesfest at LeBreton Flats on Friday, July 17, 2026.
The first song sounded like a warm-up, but they soon ramped up to warp speed, taking the Bluesfest population on a trip to their alien world. The two band members, who make non-verbal guttural utterances when they’re in character, flashed their triangle sign at the crowd in the same way a normal star would say, “Thank you, Ottawa.” The crowd flashed it back.
The band’s microtonal, instrumental compositions, created by a fleet-fingered guitarist on a double-necked instrument and a loop pedal, with a thunderous drummer, became increasingly intense and groovy. The buildup inspired some carefree head-banging and crowd-surfing up front, but also prompted stage-front security to cool down the crowd with a hose.
I saw this band in a Gatineau club just a few months ago, and am not surprised they’ve continued to capture imaginations. The dizzying riot of polka dots combined with the hypnotizing effect of the music was just as engrossing on Bluesfest’s big stage as it was at the bar.
Angine de Poitrine performs during Bluesfest at LeBreton Flats on Friday, July 17, 2026.
This time, it was even more fun because it’s no longer a cultish fad. Everyone in the bowl was into it, from the kids on their dads’ shoulders to the grizzled blues fans who wandered over from the LeBreton stage.
By the end of their set, even Ella’s fellas were making the triangle sign above their heads and and doing the signature wiggle-waggle arm motions. Khn and Klek responded to the outpouring of love by circling their arms as if to embrace the entire planet.
Bluesfest continues until July 19 in and around the grounds of the Canadian War Museum. For more information, go to ottawabluesfest.ca
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Lynn Saxberg is the arts reporter at the Ottawa Citizen. For years she has been covering music festivals like Bluesfest, performances at the National Arts Centre and Canadian Tire Centre, as well as art exhibitions, comedy shows, the club scene and more. Sign up to receive weekly updates from Lynn Saxberg
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