Bluesfest Day 8: Talk delivers a love letter to hometown Ottawa

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In the highest profile homecoming appearance of his rapidly ascending career, the artist known as Talk turned his Friday-night main-stage opening slot at Bluesfest into a love letter to Ottawa as Mother Nature showed her approval with an abundance of sunshine and sweltering temperatures. 

Talk’s hour-long set was packed with hometown pride, from an introductory video montage borrowed from the Ottawa Senators to the pizzas from Willie’s, his favourite in town, that he handed out to fans at the end. There was even a surprise guest, the Sens’ loveable mascot, Spartacat. 

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With his curly blond hair tied back, the plus-sized 28-year-old Juno winner, who now lives in Toronto, wore a Sens jersey and Sens overalls for the occasion, too, setting off the ‘fit with a signature pair of size 16 Crocs.

For the Stittsville-raised artist whose real name is Nick Durocher, his Bluesfest debut was a “really big full-circle moment,” he said in a pre-show interview backstage. “My first concert ever was Simple Plan at Bluesfest in 2005. I have core memories of being here with the friends I still have, and they’re here tonight.” 

To the crowd, he said the same thing, bellowing, “I came to Bluesfest all the f—n time when I was a kid,” and went on to list some of the acts he saw, including Black Eyed Peas, Kiss, Rush, Black Keys, Foo Fighters, Jimmy Eat World and more. 

Profanity aside, Talk performed with the passion of someone determined to make an impression in front of a crowd that almost doubled during his set as the plaza filled with country-music fans jostling for space to see the night’s headliner, Tyler Childers. 

In my mind, he not only succeeded, but knocked it out of the park, turning in a performance that ranged from soul-stirring highs to the depths of emotion. It would have been a hard act to follow at any other venue.

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Durocher demonstrated a vocal ability that was almost superhuman in its capacity to soar, as well as a knack for melodies that seem familiar, like they’ve been tucked away in your brain for ages. He was also open about his struggle with anxiety and how songwriting boosts his confidence. 

At one point, he said his song, A Little Bit Happy, which revolves around the line, “If I could see how you see me, I could be a little bit happy,” was written for his “beautiful” girlfriend, who was watching the show, along with his parents, neighbours, cousins, aunts, uncles, best friends, worst enemies and thousands of fans, new and old. 

“It’s a song that means a lot to me,” he added. “It’s a song that keeps me feeling confident when I don’t feel confident in my own heart. I wrote it for anyone that’s ever felt that way.” 

At the other end of the emotional spectrum was the just-for-fun Croc kick, the moment when Talk kicks each rubber clog off his foot as far as he can into the crowd . The catch was that he wanted them tossed back to him on stage because he has a hard time getting his signature footwear in such a large size. The request was gleefully fulfilled.

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Talk performed all the hits of his solo career, which is still in its early stages with just one full-length album, 2023’s critically acclaimed Lord of the Flies & Birds & Bees. Accompanied by a band that supported him with their sturdy backing and brought a sense of rock ‘n’ roll grandeur to the show, he rose to new heights on songs like History, Train, Wasteland and Hollywood, a tune written for his mother. Another highlight was Afraid of the Dark, a sweet song about love he said was written for his grandmother. 

To fill out the set, Durocher tackled a medley of upbeat cover tunes by Wolfmother, Foo Fighters and Jimmy Eat World (the second version of The Middle I’ve heard this Bluesfest), as well as a solo acoustic version of Radiohead’s The Creep that may not have brought everyone together in the singalong he envisioned, partly because it seemed the young country fans didn’t really know the song. 

Rounding things out was a song that everyone knew. The quirky, poignant love song, Run Away To Mars, was Talk’s breakthrough, written in his parents’ house after he moved back home to Stittsville from Toronto during the pandemic. On stage, it soared, rising to the skies as everyone sang along. 

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It’s the tune that made Talk a star almost overnight when a video of him singing it live went viral on social media and changed his life. 

“It’s hard to explain what happened because I don’t really know, but for some reason, everyone sees it at the same time,” he said backstage. “You watch your streams and it’s maybe a couple thousand a day and then it went to 600,000 a day. People took notice. 

“The best way to describe it is, it was the right song, written in the right way at the right time. Everyone was feeling the same emotions that I was. It was the right time and place for the song.”

lsaxberg@postmedia.com

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