Sharp’s arrival delayed Popper’s group, Blues Traveler, from hitting the stage until about 10 p.m., half an hour after they were scheduled, but the crowd didn’t seem to mind the wait, as they rose as one to cheer their hometown hero.
Popper, born in Cleveland and raised in New York and New Jersey, broke midway through his jam-based, blue-infused set to comment on his brush with Stanley, telling a packed Marina Park audience that he’d heard horror stories about what went on with the Cup, but it was pretty clear Sharp was taking good care of the trophy.
“It smelled like beer,” Popper screamed into the microphone.
It likely wasn’t what he wanted to scream at 2 a.m., when he and his bandmates arrived at the Canadian border, some 45 minutes from their end destination of Thunder Bay.
While Popper was allowed through and was brought to Thunder Bay by Blues Fest officials, others on the tour bus were forced to wait at customs for several hours and one of the crew ultimately wasn’t allowed into the country.
It was the story of the day for festival officials, who had endless troubles getting musicians and their aides into Canada on Saturday.
Halvorsen, the general manager of the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium, said one entire act, Michael Burks, was denied entry on Friday, forcing schedulers to revamp their lineup at the last minute.
“There always seems to be a glitch with border issues. This year it’s really risen to a new level, even though we took a whole bunch of precautions against having any issues. We contacted the border, we’ve worked with them for months in advance.
“We even went down and delivered packages with everybody’s names and social (security) numbers, proper identification. This year it just seems to have turned into probably our worst year ever in terms of having people turned away from the border.”
In addition to Burks entire band and a member of Blues Travelers entourage, Blues Fest staple Big Walter Smith’s guitar player was also turned back at the Pigeon River crossing.
“He’s come up for the last eight years and he was finally turned away this year,” said Halvorsen, adding that while customs agents haven’t given him any reasons for refusing anyone entry into Canada, he’s been told by the bands that it was mostly old DUI convictions – and at least one careless driving charge – that caused the problems.
“It’s frustrating to have at the 11th hour these issues come up, especially when we try to resolve them ... Actually the indication we got (from customs) was that everything was going to be smooth and fine,” Halvorsen said.
Canada
Border
Services Agency spokesperson Chris Kealey said some of Halvorsen's
complaints are not consistent with their version of events this past
weekend.
"We
feel we've been
very proactive in dealing with the Blues Festival organizers," Kealey
said
Monday from Ottawa. "We tried to accommodate the event and
had an immigration specialist work extra hours (at the Pigeon River
border
crossing)."
Kealey
said their
staff are looking forward to the meeting with Halvorsen later this
week. He says they plan to suggest using the services of
their National Events Group in Ottawa. That group has expertise in
large events, such as the Calgary Stampede, and helps facilitate
large numbers of people crossing the border for such
events.
To make matters worse on Saturday, Eric Sardinas, slotted to play at 5 p.m., didn’t land in the city until 5:30 p.m., leading to more schedule changes. Luckily the other artists obliged. British import Joanne Shaw Taylor filled in admirably, as did Ana Popovic, who ironically enough was turned aside at the border two years ago and had to skip her set.
Popovic, a guitar virtuoso, would later join Popper and Blues Traveler on stage during their closing set.
If Sharp stole the day with his appearance, Popper did his best to make the crowd forget, wading through his band’s catalogue of hits and covers, including the always popular Run Around, and brilliant covers of Radiohead’s Creep and Cheap Trick’s I Want You to Want Me.
The three-day festival wraps up on Sunday, closing with blues legend Taj Mahal in the 9:30 p.m. slot.
