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OTTAWA - Blues fans were few and far between at last night's Main Stage gig with power-pop teen idols Simple Plan and Go.
That was much to the relief of an estimated 12,000 teenaged girls and their parents who jammed Festival Plaza for the chance to see the high-energy boys in black melt hearts and mascara.
Regardless of who headlines, the city's largest music event seems to go through an identity crisis every time out. After 12 years, the debate over how bluesy Bluesfest is has become an ongoing and comical festival tradition.
If head honcho Mark Monahan ever decides to write a book about the festival, reputed to be the second-largest blues event in the world, he might call it Get over the Blues and Get on with Your Life.
You can't really fault him for building audiences for the future. That being said, masses of wide-eyed, bopping teens had the same reaction to Simple Plan that I do to too many espressos. Hyped on hormones and a machine-gun setlist, the closest Simple Plan gets to the blues is backstage at the beer tent.
Meanwhile, the 90-minute gig only added to Simple Plan's own identity issues as to whether vocalist Pierre Bouvier, drummer Chuck Comeau, bassist David Desrosiers and guitarists Sebastien Lefebvre and Jeff Stinco are second-generation punks or power-popsters.
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It's a moot point, given their phenomenally successful run with their 2002 disc No Pads, No Helmets, Just Balls and their 2004 sophomore album Still Not Getting Any... .
Really, the gig was everything a bad-boy band fan could ever want. The tousled mohawk hair and black eyeliner, the trendoid black wardrobe and just a hint of bad-boy attitude but with the terminal cuteness of, say, The Beatles in their prime.
Their tightly choreographed set of 15 songs of sugar-coated teen angst such as Crazy, Perfect World, Welcome To My Life and Shut Up! were all played with aggressive precision and ear-blowing decibels without compromising any of their bubble-gum sex appeal.
Bouvier was all over the fans early and often, encouraging them to jump on Jump, wave arms on Worst Day Ever, kick it up on Me Against The World and God Must Be Crazy and wave glowsticks for their encore set of Darkness, I'll Do Anything and Perfect.
In the end, Simple Plan lived up to its name, playing slick and non-threatening pop for the masses.