OTTAWA -- After 11 nights of fireworks and pyrotechnics, Bluesfest 2005 shut 'er down for another summer last night with a whimper, not a bang with John Prine.

The venerable American folk singer wrote himself into music history with his 1971 album John Prine. More than 30 years later and despite being ravaged by cancer, an ebullient Prine proved he still had the licks to turn out a great set.

Many of the virtues that made Prine such an eloquent spokesman for America's counter-culture in the 1970s when the U.S. was involved in an unpopular war in Vietnam and then-President Richard Nixon was the scourge of civil liberties were just as resonant last night.

It's the mantle that another generation of socially conscious songwriters such as Rodney Crowell and Steve Earle now carry.

Dressed in black and accompanied by guitarist Jason Wilber, Prine opened his 75-minute set with Spanish Pipe Dream and the rambling Fish and Whistle.

Despite his ailing health, or perhaps because of it, Prine seemed positively energized by the closing-night audience. Clearly showing the ravages of his bout with cancer and surgery that's left him without saliva glands, he appeared in a guardedly sentimental mood -- as sentimental as he gets, anyway.

As likely to tell you off with a big toothy grin, he covered a wide range of love songs such as Angel From Montgomery, Lake Marie and a pair from his new Fair and Square record, The Glory of True Love and I'm Taking a Walk. For his encore, he performed his hit Illegal Smile.

Prine's bite remains every bit as sharp as his bark.

What was most surprising, given his current state, was his impish sense of humour. "This is a good song to sing at your ex's wedding," he joked dryly before singing All The Best.

Later, while introducing She Is My Everything, a song he wrote for his wife, he joked, "I hum it when I get into hot water with her."

After nearly two weeks of top-notch talent, eclectic audiences, unpredictable weather and breathtaking musical jams, all in the name of good summer fun, Prine's performance was a delightfully low-key but heartwarming affair for a particularly unpredictable Bluesfest.

From rain-outs and reschedulings to lightning storms replacing the storms of protest that the festival isn't "blues" enough, Mark Monahan's outdoor party has been a wild ride.

Wednesday's storm turned Michael Franti's gig into an unscheduled wet T-shirt party. But 300 fans managed to get their Franti fix when he did a spontaneous midnight gig at Babylon on Bank St.

Meanwhile, Tex-Mex bluegrass jam-band Calexio turned many heads with the kind of music you'd expect to hear on a Quentin Tarentino film soundtrack. Very cool.

Diversity of talent

The one-man orchestra C.R. Avery dazzled fans with his processed guitar on the Black Sheep stage. Local punk band the Million Dollar Marxists tore up the stage in a strange combination of unbelievable musicianship and Olympian-level gymnastics.

That diversity of talent translated into a dramatically different audience base for the festival. From tween punks doing their first concert with A Simple Plan and Franti's radiant hippies to ZZ Top and Kid Rock's hardcore rockers and even the New York Dolls' glamour fans, the festival in 2005 was many things to many people.

And that's nothing but good news for artistic director Mark Monahan.

Attendance was up again this year by 10% to 230,000, driven primarily by park-busting audiences for the pop acts Black Eyed Peas, ZZ Top, K-Os and Kid Rock.

But tapping into non-traditional markets came at a cost this year. Surprisingly, the festival's biggest disappointment was lower attendance for its Main Stage blues acts such as Michael Powers, Daniel Lanois and David Lindley.

This year's success means that Monahan will more than likely book big pop bands for the Main Stage while traditional blues talent such as the Neville Brothers, John Hammond and John Mayall will be relegated to the peripheral Black Sheep and Grassroots stages.

Fans drive programming

"The Grassroots is our blues stage now," Monahan insisted. "The fans drive the programming. The goal here is to have a festival the artists and the fans want to come back to every year."