By Dan Laxer
The Suburban

The second leg of this year’s West Island Blues Festival, now in its 23rd year, drew an audience that packed Pine Beach Park in Dorval last Saturday night. Organizers could not have asked for better weather, considering that last year the skies unleashed rains and floods worthy of Led Zeppelin’s When the Levee Breaks.

But last Saturday, Dorval en Fête, which began at 10 a.m., blended seamlessly with the West Island Blues Festival at 3 p.m., and Dorval Mayor Marc Doret could not have been happier, taking in the music with his family for most of the evening.

The Daylight Vampires warmed up the crowd at 3 p.m., with Rachel Dara taking the stage soon after. Those who have attended the last three editions of the festival have seen Dara grow as an artist. She used to strum tunes on her guitar between acts. But Saturday was the first time she played her own set backed by a band. And she’s been watching her dream come true. She recalls sitting in her room playing her songs. “And now there’s people who know my words, and that’s the most insane feeling.”

The main show began in earnest just after 6 p.m. when Jah Cutta and Determination Band took the stage. The “ambassador of Canadian Reggae” has been at it for about four decades, which makes him a veritable Montreal legend. He roused the crowd to their feet with a combination of original songs and classic reggae covers, including some of the most familiar Bob Marley songs. He even had Dara come up on stage to join him for a couple of songs, and at one point he tossed the mic to Johnson to join in.

Then came Sylvie Desgroseilliers. She and her band blew the roof off of Pine Beach Park (or they would have if the park had had a roof). One of this city’s strongest vocalists, she was backed by a fantastic band. Halfway through her set, she and her band had to contend with hundreds of shadflies, moths, and other insects that had found their way into the stage lights. Still, they had the crowd by the lapels with songs like Etta James’ At Last, Aretha Franklin’s Respect and Chain of Fools, Tracy Chapman’s Give Me One Reason, and even Jeff Beck’s version of People Get Ready.

The night’s headliners, Montreal’s own Justin Saladino Band, braved the insects to set the stage on fire with Saladino’s blistering blues-rock guitar. Saladino reminisced about playing the festival as a 10-year-old whose parents cajoled organizers into putting him on stage. And there he was, all these years later, with three full-length albums and another on the way.

Johnson and co-founder Jim Beis – who is also the mayor of the Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough – seemed to take it all in stride, enjoying the event as much as the crowd did. But Johnson admitted to The Suburban how amazed he is at what the West Island Blues Festival has become, drawing audiences from all over Montreal and beyond to the West Island.

The festival also raised money, as always, to support West Island causes like the West Island Women’s Shelter, the West Island Black Community Association (WIBCA), Accompagnement Bénévole de l’Ouest (ABOVAS), the West Island Mission, and Literacy Unlimited.

The third leg of this year’s festival will be in Pointe Claire on September 6, with Dawn Tyler Watson, Steve Rowe, The Sugar Darlings, and others. n