Rifflandia 2016 - Festival Recap & Gallery
Another summer has come and gone. I know that because Rifflandia is over, which marks the end of summer. Here are some of my favourite moments of the festival, a Rifflandia Re-cap, if you will.
This year the festival felt different from other years. I don't know why or how exactly. One thing that made a big impact, but added to a really fun vibe of the entire festival, was the change-ups and substitutions. It felt like so many bands tapped in for each other, almost as if the announced line-up was just a suggestion.
It ended up being pretty great, since my first act of the weekend was the talented Alexandria Maillot, a pleasant surprise downstairs underground in The Mint (the new CMCT, if you're familiar with Rifflandia jargon). It was a beautiful, calm, easy-to-take-in experience compared to what was next - my first run at Electric Avenue, aka Discover Street, which was closed down for two blocks to make way for three stages (Capital Iron, Phillips Backyard and Anian) with a free-range beer policy and masses of sweaty bodies. I left the sweet-smelling safe-haven of The Mint to brave the crowds, so that I could catch Lovecoast up next. I squeezed between the crowd at Anian to get to the front, but quickly ran out of air so I had to push to the back in order to breathe again. The effort was all worth it, since the sound quality was best in the back anyways, and the best voices deserve the best systems. Lovecoast certainly kicked off the party in the street, and band's tight rhythm, bass, and classic jazz-pop-funk vibes were just what the festival-goers needed.
Friday in the park, the party kicked off in a whole other way. The Elwins played in broad daylight, and they were the perfect pick to warm up Royal Athletic Park. The punchy, poppy, bass-bouncy band was perfectly playful. They were an excellent Friday afternoon combo of being well-rehearsed and on-point, but they gave themselves leeway to fool around on stage. They got the crowed hyped up for the upcoming bands but never under-sold themselves. "So Down Low" rounded off their set, with a full crowd singalong and dance along.
The night was a blur of running between Victoria Events Centre, Phillips, and the Copper Owl. Rifflandia is my favourite festival for musical diversity - if you're tired of one band, pop into the venue next door and I guarantee it's something completely different that you never expected. I made it back to Phillips in time to catch Bomba Estereo, and it was absolutely worth it. Every year there's a few bands that I discover at the festival and fall in love with, and this year it was this four-piece Columbian psychedelic electronic ensemble. The drumming was mesmerizing, I'd nominate the drummer as one of the top acts of the festival if I could. I really enjoyed that the music wasn't in English actually, Liliana Saumet just sauntered around and sang seemingly just when she felt like it, letting the band take the lead. Somehow everyone around me knew exactly what was happening and when to change grooves or sing along to the next bit, which also added to the excitement and made the show a real experience.
Toronto's Keys N Crates were up next, and as a headliner I thought I'd drop in for a bit. I saw them at their mid-afternoon side-stage set a few years ago at Rifflandia, which was overflowing with fans. This time was no different - except they had an entire brewery backyard to fill. The music was definitely as close to the album as they could have tried to make it (save for the interludes to tie the songs together) but it was fun as hell, and it's impossible to not whip out the goths-in-Letterkenny dance moves when KNC play.
I made my way across the street to Prozzäk next, and I wouldn't have traded it for the world. Although I missed the beginning so I could catch some of KNC, and also there was no physical way to get into Capital Iron at the beginning of their set because of the flood of bodies, I managed to squeeze in part way through. Expecting to see two... dolls? video game characters? holographs? sheets with musicians playing behind so we'd never get to see their faces? I didn't know what to expect, but obviously Simon and Milo had to make some sort of appearance. I didn't even expect to remember all of the words to Hot Show, but lo and behold, Prozzäk lyrics are like riding a bike, you never forget them. I don't know if childhood Jess ever would have pictured adult Jess standing in the back lot of a business in Victoria, with high college students in every direction, eyes peeled on the screen projecting the animated band characters ahead, but here I was. The Canadian band (with the misleading fake British accents) are back together for the first time in ten years, releasing new music last year, which is slightly updated from their last big hit, "www.nevergettingoveryou." The music was exactly like I remember it - and for two animated characters personified by a live band, it sounded just as robotic and digitized as you could hope for. The band was flawless in their playing, that is, everything that I could hear. The sound was by far the loudest of the festival, so any intricacies (if there were any, which I doubt given the dead simplicity of the tunes) were lost in the blaring pop being blasted at the audience -the irony being that the founding members, Jay Levine is one of Canada's top songwriters, and James Bryan is one of Canada's top guitar players. The artistic merit of Prozzäk is in the concept, the love lives of the characters, and the pure pop gimmick of it all. Like I said, I'm glad I caught a glimpse of them on their 2016 Canadian Tour, and I think they'd be worth seeing again.
Saturday was a lovely day at the park. The early afternoon was a mix of Colleen Rennisson's wild voice humming along to my trips to the beer garden. Since I'd seen No Sinner and The Zolas so frequently around Vancouver, Band of Rascals was the first band to which I paid a great deal of attention. They roared explosively with their upbeat blues & rock and roll from the side stage. Now, there's a genre of music that we've referred to as "Island Rock" before, which typically encompasses the small town, big sound music of the likes of Vince Vaccaro, Jesse Roper, and the regulars at Vancouver Island's array of festivals. Band of Rascals fits in, but I have to say they quickly became my new favourite band of the pack. They had fun, got the audience involved in loads of call & repeats, and made themselves easy to enjoy. The set was predictable enough - the big kick-off tune to set the high-energy tone, the rumbling finale with a drum explosion, the shout-outs of fan appreciation and hyping everyone up, and especially the boot stompin' rock. But that's the fun of festivals, coming to get your fix of letting loose to loud music, and Band of Rascals was a talented bunch who could provide that service well.
Jurassic 5 were my next pick, and even showing up to the main stage 25 minutes early didn't get me anywhere near the stage. These guys draw quite a crowd, but they're the classic, quintessential act. Now, let me give one disclaimer - I'm not much of a rap aficionado, nor a typical hip hop show goer, so take this as a review from a girl who's main love is folk music, which I think J5 would appreciate, given that Chali2na is a regular act at folk festivals. They were the most fun set of the festival by far - they knew that they're good enough and respected enough to do things differently. From pulling out kazoos, to laughing on stage, and suddenly busting out choreographed dances together, their greying beards were proof that they had been around long enough that this was natural, and that they helped set the precedent for so much of today's hip hop. All six members - DJs Cut Chemist and DJ Nu Mark included, were on stage, and at first I noticed four turn tables and one mystery instrument at the end. About half way through the set, they took a weird interlude to play around with their props - including spinning a six foot tall turn table prop, and revealing what the mysterious instrument was -- kind of. Cut Chemist put on a portable record player rigged up with a guitar strap, and Nu Mark strung a gigantic necklace with a combination of bongo drums and a gigantic bop-it. The pair rocked out on their hybrid monster machine instruments, to everyone's delight. The MCs passed the spotlight baton among themselves the whole evening, playing hit after hit, not stopping other than to bring up some of the kids in the front row, honouring the next generation of music lovers.
My final pick of the day was Groenland, who I had heard great reviews of their previous day's show, so I decided to catch the whole set at Alix Goolden Hall. The Montreal chamber pop outfit was pretty breathtaking, and it was nice to see another female-fronted band in the mix. Groenland aren't unlike Imaginary Cities and Hey Rosetta! Their music was warm, light, and welcoming. My favourite moments were those shiver-inducing parts where the entire band sang into their mics, creating six-piece harmonies in the echo-y hall. The strings sounded beautiful, and the fun synth pop hooked added some extra sparkle to their already polished sound. Their beats were well known to anyone who loves orchestral indie-pop, but Groenland are a gem among Canadian bands right now, and I'd absolutely recommend seeing them if you can.
Sunday was an amazing day at the park as well - we got there in time to grab beer before The Darcy's began, and it was my first time seeing them in their newest incarnation as a duo. The moody music I was expecting made up about half of the set, and the other half was dotted with disco dance beats. I absolutely love their single 'Miracle' which made it onto my running playlist the first time I heard it. If it wasn't the last day of the festival, I may have gotten up to dance, but the sun and the grass were demanding laying down, and the Darcy's suited that just fine as too.
Shane Koyczan was the last act I fully caught of the festival due to the ferry schedule. He's a huge draw for me, but at the same time it's not entirely comfortable to sit through a set of his. His poetry and accompanying music are an absolute joy, and absolutely heartbreaking. He restrained from his saddest poems, luckily. I found, since the festival had loads of people wandering around getting beer or finding friends, I could hear lots of people talk about him as they walked by. I found it almost as interesting as the poems themselves. Everything from "who actually talks like this?" (said by someone who doesn't understand poems) to "I didn't know he could sing," (me neither) and it was a privilege to see the local musicians Koyczan invited with him. Although I would have loved to stay for some of the later acts, this was the perfect way to wrap up the festival.
Words by Jessica Brodeur, Photos by Christine McAvoy