50 Cent Makes Bluesfest Get Up

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Photos by Andre Gagne and Scott Penner

A night of surprises at RBC Bluesfest tonight with some crowd moving acts. There was no shortage of bouncing in front of the stages for the Saturday night as rap and dance respectively had the crowds in full party mode.

50 cent

Taking the stage early 50 Cent was welcomed warmly in his very Canadian looking plaid threads. Bringing his backup crew from G-Unit on stage they knocked "I Get Money" out of the park. Moving to "P.I.M.P." the crowd got intensely rowdy as they shouted so loud that 50 Cent rarely needed to actually get on the mic. Working harmonies with his backup crew, "Magic Stick" was a blast as they continued to raise the crowd into extended shouting, even throwing in some "oohh, eh" shouts for good measure.

As his hype-man on the turntables lifted the crowd up with another chant of "Make some noise" the crowd went ballistic as he started singing "Many Men (Wish Death)." Pausing halfway through an ecstatic rendition of "How We Do" the crowd went wild before 50 Cent said "let's see if this works" dropping into "Candy Shop" to even louder cries from the fans. Dropping the house lights and asking crowd to light things up with their phones, he crafted a unique glow from the crowd as he moved into "Hate It or Love It," basking in the unique lighting.

Closing on tracks like "Disco Inferno" and "Ayo Technology" he worked the stage, moving from end-to-end, raising hands and bodies as he did. As he brought the house down before everyone realized it was only 10:05, the crowd was screaming for an encore before his band could even start working the crowd. After some audience back-and-forth, courtesy of his DJ hype-man he returned to play tracks like "Window Shopper" and "In Da Club." Short of words to the crowd for the night, it was a bit of a shame to have everyone else on stage interact with the crowd. This said it was nice to have him run the crowd through a call-and-response of "Slim…Shady, Dr….Dre, 50…Cent" before walking off the stage on a much quieter note.

Mydy Rabycad

Delivering pounding electro-swing there was no stopping this Czech group from blowing minds. Bouncing around the stage for what felt like the whole set, you didn't even need to know the words to have a good time. Playing through dance stompers like "Just Dance" they told the crowd "It's the name of the song so do it already."

Leading the crowd through the chants of "Rise Up" their grooves were insanely infectious. Dancing in sync all set in their bizarre space-age Euro-wear the whole experience felt otherworldly. Closing on a heavy banger complete with a Billie Jean breakdown, it was one of the most unique sets of the week for the Black Sheep Stage.

Future States

Jangling through their dreamy indie rock, local lo-fi outfit Future States made great use of their enclose space in the Barney Danson Theatre. Never overstating their downbeat music they turned the indoor stage into an intimate club as they moved from glistening riffs to suave solos. The subtle sways and coy interactions with the crowd transported the set from a festival to something more personal.