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Natalie Maines was good—eventually—but Loudon Wainwright III made history on the last day of the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. “I guess they ran out of excuses,” he said, of his first invite to Jericho Beach in the festival’s 36 year history.

Cat Empire and Tinpan Orange had a much bigger and definitely younger party happening 200 meters and one beer garden away, so there was less of a rush to see the old guy on the Main Stage than there would have been at one time. But for those who witnessed, Wainwright—introducing himself as “the legend that is me"—proceeded to deliver more entertainment than natural law would normally tolerate from one man and his guitar.

Wainwright actually forgot the words to at least two of his songs—and one belonging to Scottish songwriter Michael Marra, “Hermless”—but the wit was sharp as ever on new material like “Brand New Dance” and "Man with a Dog in the City".

Longtime fans were rewarded with “The Swimming Song”; newbies were treated to the viciously funny and wholly un-PC “Unfriendly Skies”, plus the spectacle of Martha and Rufus’ 66-year-old dad, in shorts and stripey socks, taking five minutes from his set to recite a moving tribute to a dead dog written for LIFE magazine in 1970 by his own father.

In contrast to Wainwright’s blast of no-frills awesomeness, Natalie Maines struggled with her solo headlining set.

Maybe it was the confounding sound mix, or bad monitors, or just the fact that Maines and her band only have a couple performances under their belt, but the groove was hit and miss, and the voice—all alone for most of the set—often sounded thin and uncertain.

When she sang Jeff Buckley’s “Lover, You Should've Come Over”, something designed to be a spine-tingling climax was applauded more for its considerable effort than its success.

Meanwhile, the singer—not exactly known for being a shrinking violet—looked uncomfortable and moody, shrugging, “I got nothin’” when somebody from the crowd asked for “a story.” In fact, it wasn’t until she took a break from the material on new record Mother and broke into the Dixie Chicks’ “Not Ready to Make Nice” that Maines finally found her mojo, and the audience audibly got what it was looking for.

After that, with a raging version of “Trained” and the admirably weird choice of the Gossip’s “Dimestore Diamond,” Maines came much closer to what we expect from a talent so inarguably huge.

She certainly looked happier all of a sudden. Not unlike Mike Scott, who—just prior to Maines—flashed his one and only smile at the end of a tense set by the Waterboys.

For the 50 minutes previous to that, it was hard to make out how the vocalist and band mastermind was feeling behind those shades (and beneath a pimp hat with a big feather stuck in it.) It looked like he was giving the other four guys shit for most of the performance, especially when drummer Chris Benelli came in late on “Whole of the Moon”. Or maybe I was seeing things.

There was an apparent meltdown about one minute into the mutant blues of “Still a Freak”, when Scott abruptly killed the song (sadly) and then just stood there for an uncomfortable eternity or two, looking like he was trying not to explode. Finally he rebooted the band with a pile-driving version of “Medicine Bow.”

For those who love the Waterboys—and if you don’t, then you’re dead inside—the veteran rock 'n' roll dandies were as rousing as you’d expect on “Fisherman’s Blues”, “We Will Not Be Lovers”, and especially “Be My Enemy”.

On the stranger end of things, Scott emerged from backstage in a three-faced Venetian mask to recite Yeats’ “The Second Coming” at the end of "Mad As the Mist and Snow".

The line about the best lacking all conviction, while the worst “are full of passionate intensity” got flipped here. Under any other circumstances, Mr. Yeats would be absolutely correct. But in this situation, Mike Scott’s passionate intensity is the kind of thing you might wade through a whole three day festival for.