We went downtown last night for Ron Thompson’s set at the Famous Dave’s BBQ and Blues Festival. Ron’s a hard working man, and we were right at the side of the stage. It was a wildly energetic set with good sound, and he looked great too. I’ve decided that clearly I need to have a suit made just like his.

We were at the same festival last year, and it does all right. It’s a different experience than what I’m used to in a blues festival — namely, King Biscuit, which is a huge, multi-day affair during which one reclines on the Helena levee with other variously-hued blues fans and watches an outstanding string of acts. I don’t think such a thing is really entirely possible up here, although the Bayfront Blues Festival in Duluth probably comes the closest. The Famous Dave’s festival is small, in a tiny concrete park downtown, and showcases very solid but mostly second-tier acts. It draws an almost entirely white crowd that doesn’t seem particularly hardcore. (When Ron mentioned Jimmy Reed, almost nobody cheered.)

Regardless, it’s always a happy crowd, and they get down in a uniquely upper-midwest manner — lots of the best white-people dancing, and the ice cream line always stretches beyond the beer and merch lines. Ron was a blast, and everyone was particularly fun to make pictures of. I like being in the middle of it, and I’m sure we’ll be down there again next year.