OSHEAGA 2012 DAY THREE: ALL KINDS OF MUDDY FUN
On the third day of any festival, or constant partying in the sun, you may sometimes find yourself waking up and wondering why you must endure a third day of the madness. This was kind of the case with me – I’m from Newfoundland, and I don’t deal well with heat exhaustion! Luckily, Sunday morning brought a little bit of rain. It rained on and off all day, but that didn’t stop anyone from coming out and enduring a little bit of water. I think after Friday and Saturday at Osheaga, most people were more than happy to be soaked. Most came prepared – with ponchos and rain boots, but there were still a few who braved it out in sandals. |
My main reason for making sure that and everyone I was with and I were on the island good and early was the fact that Dan Mangan was playing on the Mountain Stage at 2:00 sharp. If you don’t know who Dan Mangan is, take this time to do yourself the favor of listening to my personal favorite album of his, “Nice, Nice, Very Nice”. IT WILL MAKE YOU BELIEVE IN LOVE AGAIN! Dan Mangan’s stage presence is always adorable. Unfortunately he only had a thirty five minute time slot, and he apologized for not being able to chat much or play longer. It was evident when he finished, he wanted to keep playing as much as we wanted him to. During everyone’s favorite song, Robots, he made sure that everyone was singing along, and it was really, really beautiful. He even came down into the crowd to grab a fan with a homemade robot box on his head. Dan Mangan loves his fans as much as they love him, and it really showed. He assured us that he would be back in November, although it wasn’t confirmed yet. Get out and see him on this tour! You will not be disappointed!!
Although I was devastated over such a short set, Aloe Blacc played the smoothest and sexiest set to begin a party that erupted on the main stages throughout Sunday afternoon. Due to a conflict, Passion Pit and Tame Impala switched set times, so I was a little thrown off when Passion Pit started playing right after Aloe Blacc. But when they played, I think anyone who was near or around the main stage area can tell you something magical happened during that set. Everyone stuck through the rain and ran to the stage, the entire gravel pit was a big gigantic colorful dance party, thanks to the dollar store ponchos that most were smart to pick up en route. At some point during the track I’ll be Alright, the sun burst through the clouds, it immediately got hot, the ponchos came off, and every single person within my eyesight was amazing. It was a truly magical moment.
Sunday afternoon’s party continued with sets from Common, Santigold, and Tame Impala. It was just a constant back and forth dance party and each of these sets brought a great vibe, especially with the unexpected reappearance of the sun. A personal favorite was Santigold – that girl is wild! Her backup band and dancers all had matching lime green and white outfits, and she, of course, is beautiful with a great stage presence. She even had a costume change mid set. Like I said, she is wild; her outfits matched her music and presence. She played a great mix of songs from her two albums, and incited a fabulous “no pictures, just dancing rule”. I am short and always end up watching shows through the iPhone screen of the dufus in front of me, so this was a very welcomed change. This woman reeks of girl power, and I love it.
The next set I caught was Bloc Party. This was again, a tough call. They were right after The Shins, and from my previous experience of getting over the scaffolding stairs, that it was going to take a long time. After catching a song or two of The Shins, I left with the droves of people who were also making the early pilgrimage to ensure a good spot for the much-anticipated performance from these guys. I managed to land a good spot just in time, because shortly after we arrived at the Green Stage, the area filled up quickly. While I was not a fan of the placement of this stage, it is clear that this change was to ensure that they could accommodate the mass amounts of people that would be attending these stages. The rain came back, they began their set, and inspired the most unexpected mosh pit of the festival. Bloc Party’s set was beyond wild, I have never seen so many crowd surfers in one set, and some of the people dancing were really throwing down. They played some new songs which were heavier than the typical Bloc Party sound, and they sounded fabulous. They also played the old favorites, with the fans getting particularly wild during songs like Helicopter, and Banquet. I saw a guy get dropped while he was crowd surfing and he looked like he really hurt himself. So to the guy who smoked his back, I hope you’re okay!
As expected, it took about a half hour to get back over to the main stages, so I only caught the last few songs of Metric’s set. But from what I could tell, they delivered one hell of a show. They captivated everyone’s attention, and rocked so hard. A personal highlight of the set was Gold Guns Girls and Dead Disco. Delivering intense live renditions of their songs, Metric showed us why Osheaga keeps bringing them back.
The festival ended with a bang from The Black Keys. This was another band that I was introduced to during Osheaga in 2008. My friends made sure that I got to see their set because they know that I love a good raw rock band. And I’m so glad they did. My mind was blown when I saw that there was only two of them, they had the biggest sound for only two people. So, since their sound has changed a fair bit since then, I was interested to see how their live set has changed. The set still featured the two original members, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney; however, their newer material was assisted by two studio musicians in the background. I don’t know if it’s because I prefer their older sound, but I was way more impressed by the energy that the band had when it was just the two of them playing their older material. The Black Keys are not suited to play crowds of 100,000 people, but they made the best of this set that they could – they had sparkles flying from a crane, and a great light show. But I think that their energy is best when it is a more intimate set, because they definitely have great musicianship and stage presence.
All in all, all three days of Osheaga were successful. I didn’t see too many disastrous situations, and it had an all-around great vibe. Unfortunately I have to say that each of the headliners were overshadowed by many of the musicians in the daytime slots who had better musicianship, stage presence, and more intriguing performances, but it was a great balance of a variety of great music all weekend. I heard from a lot of old favorite bands as well as discovered new ones. Osheaga music and arts festival always proves to be a great time, and this year was no different. Highlights of the festival for me were Franz Ferdinand, Sigur Ros, Brand New, Dan Mangan and Bloc Party, but I’m definitely glad to have seen everyone I got to catch this weekend. Thanks to Osheaga and evenko for organizing another fabulous year. Now to wait until next year…
(All photos from official bands’ websites)
Category: Photo Updates, Reviews
