Despite bumping his set up by three hours, Paul Rodgers shines at Blues Fest

Not even the threat of rain could spoil the fun on Sunday, the final day of the 2015 Thunder Bay Blues Festival.

With nasty storms on the way, the weather did force organizers to shift their schedule a little bit, bumping headliner Paul Rodgers from the closing spot to 6:30 p.m., giving the former Bad Company and Free singer a three-hour head start on Mother Nature.

Instead the rains came during Walter Trout’s set, fizzled out and returned in spurts during Doyle Bramhall II’s closing set.

But the crowd, which mirrored last year’s attendance, had already gotten what they came for, a 90-minute sing-a-long filled with some of classic rock radio’s most well-known and beloved hits from Rodgers.

Nestled between Mavis Staples and Luther Vandross on Rolling Stone’s 2010 top 100 list of best singers, Rodgers could have time traveled straight out of the seventies, his voice was that good on Sunday evening.

His set, dominated by his Bad Company days, started slowly but ended with a flourish, starting with its eighth track, Ready For Love.
“Nineteen-seventy-four – who remembers 1974,” he asked the crowd, who quickly adjusted to the scheduling change, though were slow to jump to their feet for most of the day.

“Well you can’t have been there. Just kidding.”

He closed with a bang, rolling through Feel Like Makin’ Love, Movin’ On, Shooting Star before tossing in a little rock-and-roll cheese to introduce the band’s 1979 hit Rock ‘N’ Roll Fantasy.

“You’re a big part of my rock and roll fantasy for tonight. Now there’s a cue for a song,” he said, grinning all the while.

British-born, but now a Canadian citizen, Rodgers closed with Can’t Get Enough and briefly left the stage before returning for a brief encore, belting out Bad Company and seeking audience participation to help him sing his best-known song, Free’s All Right Now.
“Thunder Bay lived up to its name,” said Rodgers, referencing the pending rainstorm.

Rodgers may have topped the Sunday bill, but by no means was he the only act to get the audience to their feet.

The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer were well received in the 1:15 p.m. slot, the start of a steady stream of great performances that included the Bruno Mars-inspired Jordan Johns, Winnipeg’s The Brother’s Landreth, Saskatchewan’s The Sheepdogs and Trout, who filled in for Lukas Nelson after Willie’s boy dropped off the bill to tour with Neil Young.