I saw 200 concerts in 2024. These were the best shows of the year

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I saw more than 200 concerts in Ottawa in 2024, and none of them involved Taylor Swift. 

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While her Eras tour was setting records around the world without the bother of having to stop in secondary markets like Ottawa, promoters in the nation’s capital still managed to pull in some big shows, and keep the calendar full on the club scene. 

According to year-end data provided by the Ottawa website, ottawagigs.ca, there were 1,700 musical performances in the city in 2024. Although pre-pandemic numbers are not available for comparison purposes, it sure feels like a rebound for a sector of the economy that was battered by COVID-19 shutdowns.

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Whether it proves to be a full-fledged comeback or a one-year blip, my audiophile companions and I took full advantage of it. We were out there supporting our friends’ bands, following our favourite local artists, checking out newcomers, trying to catch the legends before it’s too late and cramming in as many summer festival gigs as humanly possible.

2024 will be remembered as the year that Jelly Roll surprised us, Neil Young ghosted us and Pokey LaFarge turned up in a log building in the middle of the Greater Madawaska highlands. 

Lynn Saxberg’s short list of 2024’s best concerts 

I rocked out at a long-awaited Springsteen concert, witnessed the Ottawa hitmaker Talk deliver an exuberant and emotional love letter to his hometown and danced my face off to Thievery Corporation.

I saw some fantastic Ottawa Jazz Festival performances, including Ottawa singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards and Gen-Z jazz phenom Laufey. 

I was an enthusiastic regular at the monthly Irene’s appearances by the Prime Rib Big Band and country stalwarts the Telegrams. Monday nights were split between Jazz Lundi at Minotaure and the 5 Star Monday Band at the Laff. We went to almost every Original Soundtrack show at Avant-Garde Bar, plus a wide spectrum of Bronson Centre dates, from GWAR to Nick Lowe. 

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As for my best night out, if I had to pick just one show, my vote would go to Jelly Roll, the Nashville artist who was added to the Bluesfest lineup less than a month before the festival started. The show was part of his first excursion outside the United States, and spirits were high, both on stage and in the vast crowd packed on the plaza of the Canadian War Museum. 

After a surprise afternoon gig at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, the charismatic, larger-than-life star came prepared to rock, with a full band, explosive effects and a setlist that not only included his hits but also paid tribute to his influences. He connected with the crowd by talking openly on stage about his struggles with addiction and mental health, building to the fire-and-brimstone intensity of a sermon as he encouraged fans to be their best selves. 

On a warm summer night, with a firecracker of an opening set by Shaboozey, a Nashville star with a massive hit called A Bar Song (Tipsy), the entire evening felt like a rare moment of togetherness for several generations, not to mention a collective mood-lifter for more than 25,000 fans.

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How to find live music in Ottawa 

There’s never a lack of shows to see in Ottawa, but it can be a challenge to find out what’s happening. 

At the beginning of the year, staying in the loop required searching across multiple platforms and following numerous social media accounts (shout out to Live Music Lovers Ottawa for their work in compiling daily weekend listings). 

By June, however, the revamped ottawagigs.ca was on the scene, and a buzz was building around it. It turned out the creator, Will Stockdale, was a newcomer – a techy British ex-pat who moved to Ottawa with his Canadian-born partner in 2019.

Stockdale first launched ottawagigs in 2023 because he wanted to get back into seeing live music. 

“I was feeling like I wasn’t getting out enough into the world,” said the 36-year-old in an interview. “My headspace was still in my house and I was thinking, ‘How can I change that?’ One of the things I loved back in the U.K. was live music. But then you go online and try to find out what’s going on in Ottawa, and answering that question was incredibly difficult.”

Stockdale had a lull in his career as a tech founder and decided to build a website to aggregate the show listings he collected. The first iteration listed gigs for the next two weeks. 

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In 2024, Stockdale decided to tweak the site to include more listings further into the future, and add a section of newly announced shows to his weekly newsletter. He relaunched in June, and it was a hit, largely propelled by word of mouth. 

The new version of ottawagigs.ca currently attracts more than 1,000 users a week and is growing fast. About 1,300 people are newsletter subscribers, the majority of whom open the email blast. What’s more, about 500 folks click through to see the ticket details. Although the data doesn’t show how many people actually buy tickets, Stockdale estimates it’s likely around 40%, or about 200 people.

He says he built the site for casual music fans like himself, and has plans to expand it by adding more venues and a category for electronic music. 

“It’s for those who might not go out all the time. Maybe they have a Friday night free in a month and they want to do something. If you don’t give it to them when they want it, they might go to a movie or do something else,” he said. “When a person is thinking about going to a show, it’s important to make it easy for them to find them.”

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One of his best nights out in 2024 was prompted by a listing on the site. It was a triple bill at the Brass Monkey featuring the U.S. indie-rockers Durry, and two Ottawa-area openers, The New Hires and Rebelle. 

“I didn’t realize you could see a show like that in Ottawa: an international headline act popular on TikTok supported by two fantastic local acts,” he said. “I took two friends who had never been to Brass Monkey and hadn’t seen any of those bands, and everyone left with big bags of merch and a huge smile on their faces. 

“That’s what you want for people who are newer to the music scene.”

Lynn Saxberg’s long list of best concerts of 2024 (in chronological order):

• March 1: Thievery Corporation, Bronson Centre
• March 27: Crop Circle Catalysts, Queen Street Fair
• May 31: Bruce Cockburn, National Arts Centre, Southam Hall
• June 16: Funk Yo’ Self with Dank Aspects, Live on Elgin
• June 25: Kathleen Edwards, Ottawa Jazz Festival main stage
• June 27: SuperBlue: Kurt Elling & Charlie Hunter, NAC Azrieli Studio, Ottawa Jazz Festival.
• June 28: Laufey, Ottawa Jazz Festival main stage
• July 9: Jelly Roll and Shabouzey, Bluesfest main stage
• July 11: Steph Strings, Barney Danson Theatre, Bluesfest
• July 12: TALK, Bluesfest main stage
• Sept. 12: Fred Eaglesmith and Jacob River Milnes, CityFolk
• Sept.15:  Alejandro Escovedo, CityFolk
• Sept. 29: Daniel Lanois, Bronson Centre
• Oct. 6:  FemmeVox 6, Great Canadian Theatre Company 
• Oct. 9: Graham Nash, NAC Babs Asper Theatre
• Oct. 20: Pokey LaFarge, DACA Community Centre, Dacre, Ont.
• Nov. 1: The Sadies and the Surfragettes, Gavan’s Hotel, Festival Fantome, Quyon, Que.
• Nov. 7:  Danny Michel & Steve Poltz, Shenkman Arts Centre, Orleans
• Nov. 16: Joe Grass Trio, NAC 4th Stage.
• Nov. 30:  Sue Foley, NAC Azrieli Studio

lsaxberg@postmedia.com

What was your favourite show of 2024?

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