Hip hop artist Wyclef Jean dazzles the crowd with remixes of his songs and reggae covers on the Bank of America stage at Bluesfest last night. (HARRY NOWELL/SUN MEDIA)

OTTAWA - With Wyclef Jean in the house, Bluesfest saved its biggest party of the 2008 season for its final weekend blowout.

More than 25,000 fans were jamming it up loud at LeBreton Flats last night with main man Jean. The popular hip hop artist, actor and humanitarian dazzled the house with a frenzied live remix of his songs and classic reggae covers.

There was a full party on the Bank of America stage as well, with a full rhythm and production team and the wings filled with hip-swivelling partiers there to watch Jean and his mates create live remixes of We Trying to Stay Alive, Bob Marley's Redemption Song and Million Voices. Jean rapped in English, French, Japanese, Spanish, French and Haitian Creole.

Of course, his linguistic versatility earned him appreciative ovations from his equally-fluent Ottawa fans.

Perhaps the former Fugees member, multiple-platinum-selling recording artist and social activist should run for office in the capital.

With the stage draped in flags from all over the Caribbean and South America, he rallied support for the American Democratic presidential candidate with a chant of "Obama" and later spoke about his world vision of a borderless North America, "if I was president."

Perhaps not.

But there was no denying his massive popularity with festival-goers, perhaps the largest audience Bluesfest has seen this year.

Later, during a cover of Bob Marley's No Woman No Cry, a wet-to-the-skin Jean free-formed a rap on the sudden shower, calling the downpour "a drizzle."

He ramped up the energy with Ready or Not and a sexy Hips Don't Lie which he recorded with Shakira.

A few fans left. Most were having a blast dancing in the rain.

More than a concert, Jean's ground-shaking set was the best party the capital's seen in a long time.

Meanwhile, over at the River stage, Joan Armatrading was performing tunes from her new blues record. Despite the sound bleeding from Jean's set, Armatrading sound was soulful.

And for those who were hungry for some Bluesfest blues, Bill "The Sauce Boss" Wharton was really cookin' last night on the Black Sheep stage at Bluesfest.

And I really mean cooking.

For 18 years, the veteran American axeman has been tearing up the blues while cooking a big pot of authentic New Orleans gumbo live, on stage.

Why not, if it worked for the Galloping Gourmet, why can't the Sauce Boss get into to the action?

Accompanied by his band, naturally called The Ingredients, Wharton, dressed in full chef's gear, ripped through a high-energy set of sleazy Louisiana blues, most of the songs apparently written in the kitchen -- including Let the Big Dog Eat, Digging My Potatoes and Cathead Biscuit Gospel -- before rounding out the musical portion of the show with Old Time Religion. Between tunes, he fixed up a mean looking gumbo.

"Who doesn't like okra, who doesn't like shrimp?" he shouted like a possessed Cajun voodoo shaman, adding that the secret is to "throw in whatever crawls out of the swamp."

Fuelled on all those hot spices, the Sauce Boss ripped it up for a whole hour, keeping fans delighted with an entertaining act that could easily descend into something like Ron Popeil or K-Tel television commercializing and turned it into a piece of weirdly entertaining and even appetizing bit of musical theatre.