The Squamish Constellation Festival has returned! After the inaugural edition of the festival in 2019 (and missing the last two years for obvious reasons) Constellation returned for the weekend of July 22 - 24 at Hendrickson Field up in Squamish, BC.

Before getting into the breakdown of bands, I will point out how smooth the entire weekend felt. With two stages at either end of the field, there was nearly no waiting between bands; as soon as one ended, Tamara Stanners was introducing the next. And just about everything ran on time, too. As for the bands themselves, there was a decent mix of genres, as well as representation. I think out of the 20 or so bands I saw this weekend — either actively watching or passively listening to across the field — there were only three that appeared to be all male, which is something that most festivals can’t even come close to.

With that said, let’s get down to a quick recap of each day (or I’ll try to be quick, you know how I can ramble…)

Day One

The first band I saw for the weekend was Blonde Diamond, who were an excellent band to kick off the day/festival with their high energy, especially from lead singer Alexis Young as she strut the stage. Their set mixed new songs from their upcoming album -- like the recently released “In the Dark” -- and older tracks, like hard hitting “Better When You’re Close” and "Easy Nothing", a great showcase of Young's incredible voice.

For the next bit of the day I was checking out the festival grounds, the local vendors, food trucks, and artist galleries, so I only caught bits and pieces of the bands. Jessia had a fun pop sound, and included a cover of Avril Lavigne's "I'm With You". Piqsiq featured Kayley Inuksuk Mackay and Tiffany Kuliktana Ayalik on stage alone with just a looping pedal and their Inuit style throat singing, Moontricks had a bit of a "dub-folk" or "electro-country" sound.

Soon after, Yukon Blonde hit the stage wearing their summer best. Always a strong live act, the band's harmonies shone on "Crazy" and “Love The Way You Are”. They rocked out and had the growing crowd moving with the aptly-titled "Summer in July", before ending the set with the slightly less aptly-titled — but no less danceable — "Saturday Night".

Then it was over to Lights, who I was only somewhat familiar with, but looking forward to as I had a feeling she would have a fun live show; and I was right. Clad in bright yellow, with gear to match, Lights was a ball of electricity, bounding around through the billowing smoke onstage. When not on the move and/or playing guitar, she would occasionally slow down a little behind the keys, but always had a high energy that matched the synthpop of songs like “Salt & Vinegar” and “Okay Okay”.
As a side note, while introducing her band, Stefan Tavares (doing double duty with Dear Rouge) and Brodie Tavares, Lights mentioned their song "February Air" was written for Brodie's previous band, The Februarys. At which point I had a mild freakout, because I absolutely loved their 2005 album The Brighter Side of Things, but hadn't thought about them in years, and had no idea what (if anything) any of them were up to.

Back to Squamish though, with Dear Rouge headlining the secondary stage. The band kept up the same kind of vibes as Lights, with their indie-dance-rock, as singer Danielle McTaggart stalked the stage while Drew McTaggart ripped it up on guitar. Highlights included their takedown of influencers in “Fake Fame” and the frantic “Boys & Blondes”. Near the end of the set, there was a bit of technical difficulties, and after some on-the-fly changes, Danielle improvised by picking up her guitar for a mostly acoustic singalong of Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time”. Luckily, things were fixed in time for the big finish, a love letter to the best movie theatre in Vancouver, "Meet Me At The Rio".

And finally, July Talk rounded out the first evening of the weekend. The group hit the stage hard with “Picturing Love”, and barely slowed down, hitting favourites like “Lola + Joseph” and the newer “I Am Water”. Peter Dreimanis' rough growl and Leah Fay’s smoother vocals blending together perfectly, as the chemistry between the two of them is nearly unmatched, as they played off each other. And they brought the crowd into it as well, for songs like the chaotic “Guns & Ammunition”, Leah leading the crowd singing along, as Peter crowd surfed while playing guitar. The main set came to an end with “Push + Pull”, but the band was out soon after for their encore, the raucous “Summer Dress”, a fantastic (and unexpected) cover of "Girl Like You" originally by Edwin Collins, and finally sending people home with “The Garden”.

Day Two

Day two of the festival started, for me, with Ashleigh Ball. The Vancouver singer switched between playing the flute, piccolo, and kalimba, while hitting the poppy grooves of songs like "Topanga Canyon" and “Love It”. She ended the set with “Lavender” my favourite off her latest album Before All The Magic’s Gone, even handing out actual sprigs of lavender throughout to the crowd (which I saw people hanging onto for at least the next few hours).

Hotel Mira was up next, getting the energy (and possibly the sexual tension) going and people dancing. On the precipice of a big American tour, the band tried out a few new songs including the recently released "Fever Pitch", which saw Charlie Kerr going right up to the barricade and into the crowd. They also played some familiar songs, like the hit “This Could Be It For Me” and reaching back into their catalogue for “Southern Comforting”.

Following them was Haley Blais, as she began the set with "Rob the Original". The set included a very charming cover of "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None the Richer, and built in intensity until her voice soared through the field on "Firestarter". Blais closed out the set by somewhat sheepishly apologising for the title of "Coolest Fucking Bitch In Town", but nonetheless building to a fun singalong of the title.

Some of the acts for the day I only caught bits and pieces of, while grabbing some food or running into people I hadn’t seen in a while (and there were a lot of familiar faces over the weekend). William Prince had a rootsy, country jam going, while — jumping ahead a little — Black Pistol Fire, gave a southern, garage-rock vibe.

But to jump back a moment to the band that between those two, one of the acts I was most excited for over the weekend, Whitehorse. Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland came out in matching jumpsuits, launching right into "Baby What's Wrong", immediately showcasing their incredible chemistry, as they played with, and off, each other. Their voiced blended together perfectly for “Emerald Isle” and “Sweet Disaster”. Part way thought the set, they talked about recording four(!) different albums over the last two years; two of which had been released, and the next was more of a country album, as they showed their influences by playing a cover of “We'll Sweep Out the Ashes in the Morning” by Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons. From there they closed out their set with the killer combo of “Devil’s Got a Gun” and the anthemic “Downtown”.

Closing out the side stage for the evening was Andy Shauf, who may have suffered a bit due to timing. Coming off Black Pistol Fire, and right before The New Pornographers, he seemed a bit too chill for that spot on the Saturday night. I don’t know if the schedules would have aligned, but it felt a Sunday evening would have been more suited. But backseat festival booking aside, Andy and his band did put on a strong set. His soft vocals driving his melancholic song, backed by a band that included woodwinds and keys, giving a lush and rich sound to songs like "The Magician".

And capping off Saturday night was a last minute replacement. After the advertised headliner Black Pumas had to drop out literal days before, the stellar team at the festival managed to pull out a headliner that I, personally, was much more excited about: The New Pornographers. The group took the stage (sans Neko Case, which wasn't too surprising given the circumstances) starting with "Falling Down The Stairs Of Your Smile" off their most recent album In the Morse Code of Brake Lights, then went on for over an hour, from the dizzying “The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism” to the bouncy “Dancehall Domine” and Kathryn Calder’s incredible vocals on “Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk”. Dan Bejar also popped up on stage when needed, for songs like the eclectic "Jackie", "War on the East Coast", and personal favourite, "Myriad Harbour". The band played right up until the night's curfew, not bothering with the encore fakeout, and ending the evening with another of my faves, "Testament to Youth in Verse", the voices of the entire band melding together for a fantastic ending to the day.

Day Three

For the third and final day of the festival, I got to the grounds early, as it seemed like the acts I most wanted to see were all up in the first half of the day (and all in a row, too!)

First was Miesha & The Spanks, the duo of Miesha Louie and drummer Sean Hamilton (aka The Spanks), to start the day off hard. Hamilton’s frantic drumming backed Miesha’s gritty guitar & vocals, as they rocked out with "Lost Boys" and "Unstoppable", as well as their newest song, the absolute summer jam "I Can't Wait", before closing out with the very personal "Mixed Blood Girls".

Skye Wallace was up next, hot off the plane from Ontario, where she played a festival the previous night, beating cancelled flights made it to Squamish an hour and a half before taking the stage. And I was glad they did make it, as Skye and her band launched into her dark-folk songs like “Death of Me” and “There is a Wall”. The set also included a very fun cover of The Killers’ “Somebody Told Me”, as well as a few new songs; a dark jam, a stripped down chill one, and the latest release, the raw & vulnerable “Everything is Fine”. Their time came to a close with Skye’s dad's favourite song of hers, “Reaper”, dedicated to her entire family standing front and center.

I feel like every festival has at least one “oh wow!” band, that you may not have been expecting, and this weekend I think that was Old Soul Rebel. I remember catching the tail end of one of their sets a couple years ago and liking it, but I was not at all ready for the rock show they put on Sunday afternoon.
The duo of Chelsea D.E. Johnson and Lola Whyte started with some banjo-infused blues rock, joined by their drummer and a small horn section, and just kept on ramping up the energy through the entire set.
Midway through the introduced Katisha Paul, an Indigenous dancer who wowed the crowd, and then later on two other dancers joined singer Lola for a choreographed number. The three dancers returning at the end of the set for the eponymous song "Old Soul Rebel". If the reactions at the end of their set were any indication, the band had made an entire field of new fans that afternoon.

And for me, the final artist of the day -- and weekend -- was iskwē. She was another of the artists that I was most excited to see at the festival, and that was before I learned she would be joined only by a string quartet. Last year she released the album The Stars which was a reimagining of some of the songs from her previous album acākosīk, done with strings, so I was very happy to see that was the case as I walked up to the stage and they started the set with a couple powerful songs, "Little Star" and "Night Danger", iskwē’s amazing voice mixing with the beautiful strings. She told stories between songs, introducing each with an anecdote, or joking about how she planned to do nothing during the pandemic, but somehow ended up recording multiple albums. She played a song off the recent collaboration with Tom Wilson, “Starless Night” from their new album, Mother Love, and then ended off the set with a preview of even more new songs, from yet another upcoming album, once more showing off her vocals and the amazing string quartet.

As just about every band for the weekend reminded us, it’s been quite the last couple years, and a weekend like this felt incredibly emotional. Happiness, relief, maybe a little trepidation, but also the feeling that a weight might be starting to lift. Seeing not just so many wonderful bands, but also the people running the festival, helping the festival, working with bands, or just there to enjoy the show.
I enjoyed the first year of the festival, and thought this year’s was even better. I already can’t wait to see what’s in the stars for next year.