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justine lord

March 19th – Wakefield – Black Sheep Inn

I’ve never been to Wakefield before. This very small town is just north of Ottawa but is actually across the border in Quebec. After maneuvering our way out of Ottawa, we found ourselves traveling through a mountain forest reminiscent of northern Ontario. We arrived to an already full house at the Black Sheep Inn, which is THE place to play in Wakefield.

Justine Lord - photo by Shannon Lepere

Justine Lord took to the stage first, doing a lot of vocal looping and sampling in a way that sounds like the more experimental side of Bjork. After 20 minutes, I entertained for 25 minutes, but not in a similar way to who was next. That 1 Guy is from California, and his one-man show lasted for almost 2 hours. He can entertain and leave an audience enrapt for such a long time that people were so tired from the late evening, but couldn’t break away from the performance. That 1 Guy has a unique instrument that he handbuilt (twice, the first one was built in 1998, and stolen along with his van in Montreal just 2 years ago) using piping and bass strings that he then plays with his fingers, drum sticks or bows.

Jean-Paul De Roover performing opposite the set-up of That 1 Guy - photo by Shannon Lepere

The show then proceeded to incorporate magic, a lightshow, laser beams, manic dancing, and every time that a song would finish the entire audience would howl like a unified wolf pack at his command. Beyond being a world class entertainer, he’s toured all over north America and Australia (where he toured with one of my new favorite bands, Karnivool), but he brought the party to Wakefield that night, and was a really engaging and down to earth person to talk with after the show.

fresh bread! - photo by Shannon Lepere

That night Shannon and I crashed at the Black Sheep Inn, waking up the next day just in time to get some fresh baked goods at several of the cute café’s and bakeries literally just a short stroll down the main street.