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Good2Go at Bluesfest 2010. Photo by Ming Wu.

Ottawa Bluesfest 2012 - July 4-15

Ottawa's biggest and best music festival features 12 consecutive days of programming, from Wednesday, July 4 through Sunday, July 15. This year's event takes place at Lebreton Flats & the War Museum, near downtown Ottawa. You'll find lots of news and links on this page, including a growing list of local blogs covering the RBC Royal Bank Bluesfest.

The 2012 Bluesfest Line-Up

• The headline performers will be announced at a gala dinner on April 24, 2012, to be held at the Canadian War Museum.
• Performers will include: Ottawa bluesfest, music, festival, blues, rock, Lebreton Flats, 10cc, Alan Doyle, Alice Cooper, The Arkells, Beirut, Bettye Lavette, Big Wreck, Billy Bragg, Blue Rodeo, Chromeo, City and Colour, Conor Oberst, David Gray, Dirty Projectors, Down With Webster, Downchild Blues Band, Fishbone, Handsome Furs, Hey Rosetta!, The Hold Steady, I Mother Earth, Iron Maiden, John Mellencamp, Just For Laughs, K'Naan, LMFAO, The Love Machine, Marcia Ball, Mastodon, The Melvins, Metric, MonkeyJunk, Ms. Lauryn Hill, MSTRKRFT, Nickelback, Norah Jones, Our Lady Peace, Paul Oakenfold, The PepTides, Sam Roberts Band, Seal, The Sheepdogs, Skrillex, Snoop Dogg, Thievery Corporation, Tiesto, The Trews, TYGA, The Wooden Sky, Young the Giant, and many many more...

Tickets

• Tickets are availablel via CapitalTickets.ca on sale to the general public at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 28.
• Full festival passports are $375. Youth passports $199 (ages 10-21)
• Day Passes, Full Festival Passports, and VIP Access tickets are available.
• Day Passes range from $40-$65 depending on the concert day.
• Multi-day wristband - pick 4 dates and save 10%, pick 5 dates save 15%, pick 6-9 dates, save 25%.
• VIP Access: Empire Grill Clubhouse $575, Metropolitain Gold Circle - $100-$150.
  
• Full ticket info available here...

RFID Bluesbands

• RFID Bluesbands combine event admission with the ease of cashless payment - all on your wrist! RBC Royal Bank Bluesfest is proud to offer a ticketless and cashless environment at the 2012 festival.
• Here's more information about the RFID Bluesbands...

Recommended Links

• ottawabluesfest.ca (official site)
  The official site of the 2011 Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest includes a full calendar plus an interactive schedule marker to help you plan out your visit.
• OttawaStart Twitter Feed
  Each day around 11:00am we'll post our daily pick, plus we'll point you towards interesting Bluesfest news and links throughout the festival.
• OttawaStart Blog: Bluesfest
  A collection of current & past articles about Bluesfest from our blog.
• Volunteer Postings
  A list of volunteer opportunities for this year's festival.

Blogs and websites covering the festival (from 2011)

• If you're blogging about Bluesfest, tell us about it so we can add you to this list!
• Apartment613
• The Big Beat / Peter Simpson
• Byward of Mouth
• Corner Shop Studios
• The Festival Goer (Ottawa Citizen)
• Front Page Media
• humplik.com
• In The Round
• Labelle Photo
• National Capital Rock (photos)
• Now Open (Denis Armstrong / Ottawa Sun)
• Ottawa Blues This Week
• Ottawa Citizen: Bluesfest
• OttawaJazzScene.ca
• Ottawa Life Magazine
• OttawaStart Blog: Bluesfest
• Ottawa Sun: The Scene
• PhotogMusic.com (photos)
• Sandy Sharkey
  Bob FM's morning host is staying at a hotel downtown so she can be really close to Bluesfest. She's posting daily photos and notes.
• Flickr Bluesfest Group / Ottawa Bluesfest photos on Flickr

Our daily Bluesfest picks:

• To come!
  

Photography rules

• NO Professional Photograph Equipment
  (small hand held cameras without additional lenses are fine). That means if you have an SLR camera, you probably won't be allowed to snap photos during the show.
• You also can't bring audio recording devices or video cameras.
• More rules & regs are on the Bluesfest FAQ.

Site info

• The 2012 RBC Royal Bank Bluesfest will offer a spectacular explosion of Blues, R&B, Rock, Pop, Soul, Gospel, World, Electronic and House music. The festival will feature six stages—five outdoors and one indoor 250-seat, state-of-the-art theatre.
• The beautifully spacious, riverside location in the heart of downtown Ottawa is fully licensed. A wide variety of international-style food is available.
• With vacant neighbourhood parking lots (due to the festival’s evening and weekend schedule) getting to the event is always easy. The festival site is within walking distance of restaurants, shopping, hotels, transit ways, bike paths, and attractions.
  
  
  

Parking & access

• Parking is limited at the site so if you can, take a bus or taxi, walk, or cycle to Bluesfest.
• Cycling: Take one of Ottawa's scenic bike paths, then park in one of the secure bike parking areas.
• Bus: Take OC Transpo to the Lebreton transit station. It's the best way to get to the event. You can also take the O-Train, which stops close by at Bayview.
  

  During Bluesfest, the O-Train will be extended to a 15 minute service, with the last train leaving Bayview Station at 12:00 am midnight, Monday to Saturday. On Sunday, the O-train will be extended to 11:45 pm from Bayview Station.  

  Routes 94, 95, 96, 97 and 98 will be supplemented as needed from 11:00 pm-11:45 pm, to accommodate the crowds leaving at the end of the night. More info...

• If you have to bring your car, the closest parking lots include: Place de Ville (Queen and Kent), Place du Portage (Rue Maisonneuve) and Terrace de la Chaudière (Rue Eddy)
• Road closures:

  Wellington Street between Vimy Place and Booth Street is reduced to one westbound lane and two eastbound lanes between midnight to 3 pm daily. Wellington Street between Vimy Place and Lett Street will be reduced to two westbound lanes and one eastbound lane between 3 and 6:30 p.m. daily.

  Wellington/Ottawa River Parkway will be closed from Parkdale Avenue to Booth Street from 6:30 p.m. to midnight daily. Finally, Booth Street from Albert Street to Wellington Street will be closed from 6:30 pm to midnight daily.

• More info from the Bluesfest official site...

Map of the Bluesfest site

A brief history

The festival started in 1994 with over 5,000 people attending a Clarence Clemons concert at Majors Hill Park. Since then, the festival has grown to feature over a week's worth of concerts, entertaining over 200,000 fans each year.

Related Links

• David Scrimshaw's Bluesfest Schema
  Check out these great tips and strategies to make the most out of your Bluesfest experience.
• Ottawa Blues Society
• Wikipedia: Bluesfest
• YouTube: Bluesfest video
• Flickr: Bluesfest Ottawa

Related Guides

• Ottawa Jazz Festival Guide
• Ottawa Concerts Guide
• Ottawa Festivals Guide
• Ottawa Events Guide
• Ottawa Music Guide
• Ottawa Tourism Guide
• Ottawa Hotels Guide

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