Dragon Boat Festival: 54-40

"54-40 are one of the most important popular music groups to emerge from the Canadian cultural landscape. With more than 2 decades of performing and recording behind them, the band has an unbelievable catalogue of hit songs. Lead by chief songwriter Neil Osborne, 5440 have carved out a legacy of gold and platinum albums and a outstanding reputation for their live performances that carries through to this day."

For those who are unfamiliar with 54-40, that was a brief description from the band's website.

Steve told me that 54-40 was going to be in town at the dragon boat festival and was wondering if I wanted to go and meet them. Definately.

The Dragon Boat Festival is a yearly event here in Ottawa that sees dozens of race teams compete in dragon boats. Tens of thousands of people visit each year. It really is just a big party. There are various kioks set up and a large beer tent.

We headed down to Mooney's bay to try and meet the band before their concert. Unfortunately, we didn't get there on time and would need to wait until the end of the performance to get our autographs.

This turned out to be very fortunate for us because 54-40 put on a fantastic show. I was suprised how many of their songs I knew. They played all of their hits and worked the crowd extremely well. There were points where lead singer Neil had the audience split in half and each half would take turns singing the chorus. It was great to see.

After their show, the band left the stage and headed back to a trailer that was behind the stage. After the crowd had exited, lead guitar player Dave Genn and dummer Matt Johnson came out to talk to some family and friends that had waited around. We were able to grab photos and autographs from these two almost right away.

There were rumours that the Neil and Brad had to catch a flight and had to leave immediately which would have been terrible for our photos. You can't have a group signed photo without key members of the band....especially not without the lead singer.

Steve and I headed around to the back of the trailer by the gated exit in hopes of meeting the other two members of the band. Eventually, Neil came out the back entrance to talk with someone he knew. He was really a pleasant guy and had no problem signing autographs and taking pictures.

After another bit of a wait, a van pulled up to take the band back to their hotel. The rumours of a quick flight were not true. As Brad came out to get in the van he fired off a few autos and pictures.Every band has a jerk. 54-40 might be the exception. Each guy was really nice.