At the time executive director Mark Monahan said he felt the excitement of a crowd that hadn’t seen live music on this scale at LeBreton Flats since 2019. “It was just such a big ask for them,” he said. “You just felt the excitement as you walked through the gates that this was going to be something really special.” With the likes of The National and The Beaches closing out the 10-day Bluesfest schedule on Sunday, Monahan summed up his feelings about seeing the festival play out in one word: relief. “We’ve planned a lot of things over the last couple of years, a lot of which we haven’t been able to do,” he said. “So planning our regular event and being able to pull it off was just a huge relief.” The festival was canceled in 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, then revived in a much smaller, all-Canadian format at Lansdowne Park in 2021. That break led to some early bumps, Monahan said, including long lines and the need to get new volunteers up to speed. “The only advantage is that we planned this event for 2020, so we had three years to plan it,” he said with a laugh. By the time ticket sales are tallied, Monahan estimated the festival will have drawn between 250,000 and 300,000 fans, comparable to previous years. We’re still a little speechless, so suffice it to say tonight was one for the books. We will look back on this day for many years to come! Thanks for sharing it with us 🙌 More photos to come, but it’s just a small sample pic.twitter.com/HeD0iHpnei —@ottawabluesfest About 30,000 of those tickets went to Rage Against the Machine fans, according to festival organizers, including some who kept tickets they bought in the spring of 2020. Attendees waiting to enter the grounds Saturday night said they were excited about the festival, the food and the screaming fans are back.

“Calculated Risk”

Rob Bennett was among those who attended, although he is more used to being on stage with his band The Bushpilots. A Bluesfest regular, Bennett said he’s been coming out for more than 20 years and rarely misses a day. “It’s amazing, it’s like it didn’t miss a beat,” he said of the 2022 edition. “It was really great hanging out with my friends… enjoying beers, enjoying the afternoon sun, just enjoying the warm glow of the festival.” Despite the fact that COVID-19 is still prevalent in the community, Bennett — who said he’s had four shots of the vaccine — didn’t hesitate to come out. “We’ve been partners for a long time and we’re picking up where we left off,” he said. “It’s a calculated risk to enjoy life.” Rob Bennett says he’s been going to Bluesfest for more than 20 years, both with his band The Bushpilots and as an audience member. (Dan Taekema/CBC)

The festival comes as several COVID-19 indicators are on the rise in Ottawa, including hospitalizations, cases and levels of the coronavirus in the city’s wastewater. The region is in its seventh wave of the pandemic, and health officials said last week, as Bluesfest kicked off, that it was “strongly recommended” that people wear masks in crowded outdoor spaces like the festival. Due to high levels of COVID-19, mask use is strongly recommended in indoor public spaces and crowded outdoor gatherings. If you’re attending a summer event or festival this weekend ( —@OttawaHealth Monahan said he and other Bluesfest organizers have followed public health and provincial guidelines closely. They set out to organize an event where people could feel safe listening to music from wherever they chose, he said, and asked spectators to moderate their risk level. As Bluesfest 2022 winds down, Monahan said his thoughts are already turning to next year and what it will look like. “The fact that we were able to pull it off and come back is just a huge sense of accomplishment,” he said. “And it kind of leads to … trying to get back to normal, hopefully, in the next couple of years.”