Last year, Montreal’s Osheaga Music Festival reached the top level of North American music festivals with an indie fan’s wet dream (QRO recap). Rather than try to repeat that trick, Osheaga 2011 went wider, both in terms of acts – everyone from Eminem to Elvis Costello (and that’s just the letter ‘E’…) – and days, expanding to a third, now Friday-Sunday, on July 29th to 31st.
After the main/side stage divide of Day One, and ultra-eclectic line-up of Day Two, the third and final day of Osheaga was the most indie-rock-friendly, from headliners Flaming Lips (playing 1999’s The Soft Bulletin in full) on down. It was also perhaps the best day for seeing strong acts on side stages, even if the main stages were a bit more challenging for some bands:
The Sheepdogs
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Saskatoon’s The Sheepdogs opened the final day of Osheaga with a lot more buzz than most bands playing at 1:30 in the afternoon, thanks to a little magazine called Rolling Stone. The band was down to the final two in a contest for an unsigned band to be put on the cover of Rolling Stone, to be announced the Tuesday after Osheaga [update: they won].
And, like so much hype, hearting that made one like the band a whole lot less. Their seventies guitar-grit rock wasn’t bad, but was hardly inspired – one could think of a million better unsigned bands (half of them in Brooklyn…). In the case of The Sheepdogs, they’re unsigned because they’re from the middle of nowhere, not because they’re ‘underground’ – literally labels don’t have someone scouting in Saskatoon. If they were from New York or Los Angeles, they’d have been signed and opening for some Kings of Leon (QRO album review) at stadiums. One could say that Rolling Stone was correct in putting them on the cover in the ‘this unsigned band will be successful’ way of looking at the contest, but this kind of contest shouldn’t just be doing a label scout’s job.
Elephant Stone
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The side project of Rishi Dhir of Day Two’s High Dials, Elephant Stone is most notable on record for employing the sitar, yet live, is more of a rock band – though Dhir still brought out the sitar (including sitting cross-legged) at the end of the Trees Stage set.
Typhoon
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A large ensemble that still fit comfortably on a main stage, Typhoon‘s more orchestral rock (including cellist, violinist, horns, and two drummers) was lost a bit in the air & sun.
An Horse
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If Canada is the Wales of North America (QRO interview with Welsh band on Canadian label), then Queensland is the Canada of Australia – big and windswept, but people only ever visit the cities in the south, seen as an adjunct to their more populous neighbor. Queensland’s An Horse are reminiscent of Wales’ The Joy Formidable (see below), strong female-fronted indie-rock that’s energetic and raucous while also being skilled. This two-piece still need to develop their stage show a bit more, but thankfully don’t sound like just another two-piece.
Frightened Rabbit
QRO’s review of Frightened Rabbit at Ansom Rooms in Bristol, U.K. on November 20th, 2010
Photos of Frightened Rabbit at Paradise in Boston, MA on October 29th, 2010
Photos of Frightened Rabbit at 2010 Haldern Pop Festival in Rees-Haldern, Germany
Photos of Frightened Rabbit at Music Box in Los Angeles, CA on May 23rd, 2010
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The somber Scottish tones of Frightened Rabbit always sounds good, but also always is a bit of an odd fit for an outdoor, daytime set on a large stage. Their Osheaga set couldn’t help but lack for the intimacy of a regular FR show (QRO review) – captured in the live acoustic Liver! Lung! FR! (QRO review), but did get people to jump during “Living In Colour”, the songs of theirs that most fit the time of day.
Eels
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A bearded man called E – a.k.a. Mark Oliver Everett – came out with his bearded band – a.k.a. Eels. Unfortunately, E & co. stuck mostly to newer stuff (QRO review of latest album) from the prolific singer/songwriter, when his older material (QRO greatest hits review) might have been better received by a crowd that probably didn’t know a lot of his stuff.
Smith Westerns
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Despite some abominably pathetic stage humor from singer Cullen Omori, Chicago’s Smith Westerns managed to thrill the Green Stage for the first time on Sunday. Playing mostly off of Dye It Blond, sharp guitars and the occasional burst of keys led songs like “End of the Night” into a of fantastical-yet-grounded haze of solos, gang vocals, and all around tight instrumentation. The band was kept to just the right set-length, and…
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
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Surprisingly, the Green Stage crowd thinned out big time for the start of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Thankfully, the New Yorkers did not let it faze them – save for bassist Alex Naidus shooting QRO a glare for getting too close with a flash. Regardless of the hellish humidity and some major overlap with Cypress Hill’s main stage slot (QRO photos), the band played through a seamless set list that drew fans in and held them tight. The very modest Pains let loose on fan favorites, though no song was met with such delight as “Young Adult Friction”. “Say No To Love” was a close second, and the five-piece ended with their fans in the palm of their hand.
The Sounds
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Singer Maja Ivarsson of The Sounds might not be quite the showwoman that Emily Haines (QRO solo album review) of Osheaga 2010’s Metric (QRO photos) is – and The Sounds certainly aren’t as good as Metric – but she’s coming close. The Sounds played extra-long, probably to cover up Cypress Hill starting late (no surprise – but they had been scheduled to start at 4:20 PM!…), and were more than up to the challenge. A particular crowd favourite was “Living In America” and its chorus line, “We’re not living in America / But we’re not sorry!”
Malajube
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For a band with two Polaris Prize shortlistings, several international tours, mass public and private airplay, a gig at the Olympics, and slots in a handful of commercials under the belts, Malajube was rather… bleh… on Sunday. Worse still, the quartet was playing a main stage in their home province, to a crowd of over a thousand fans. While their recorded material (QRO review) is among the best of francophone acts in North America, the set simply came down to poor sound quality and non-engaging material.
Ellie Goulding
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England’s Ellie Goulding has gotten quite successful, quite fast. Maybe that explains Osheaga putting the songstress at a side stage, because the crowd at Green Stage was massive (and there was a tight fit in the photo pit, photogs only getting one song a piece, but it was better run than when similar overflow occurred there on Day Two). You perform at one little royal wedding… Yes, it was a mostly female crowd, but there were a fair number of XY in attendance as well, including one who rather absent-minded sung to himself while waiting for the show to start, “I love Ellie Goulding so much… I am going to make out with her…”
Beirut
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If a crowd of a couple thousand insanely expectant fans was meant to intimidate Beirut‘s Zach Condon, the mob failed miserably. By opening on his most popular song, Condon only upped the ante with “Nantes” – quite thankfully, all five musicians performed intricate and wonderful harmonies on it and throughout. From impeccable accordion to a sweeping trio of brass, and with ukulele sprinkled throughout, Beirut eased their way through forty-five minutes of remarkable musicianship. Not even a broken instrument mic or a poorly timed crowd hosing could slow them down; in fact, things only got better as time went on. “Postcards From Italy” featured a mind blowing instrumental, while many others from Gulag Orkestar as well as The Flying Cup Club were given new life live. Overall, Beirut performed one of the all around best sets of the festival.
The Joy Formidable
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Tech problems delayed the start of The Joy Formidable‘s set, and they never quite ironed out a background noise that sounded like, “A squirrel on a pogo stick” – but those are the kind of things that can bug artists, but the crowd never notices (indeed, a crowd can get annoyed at a band for delaying or interrupting their set for tech problems no one not on stage notices, but TJF weren’t that bothered).
But other than that, and the still-daylight taking away a bit of the band’s drama, The Joy Formidable put on one of the best sets at Osheaga. The group brings it from start-to-finish, fronted more than ably by Ritzy Bryan (and her great faces), and they’ve also got the music to back it up.
White Lies
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One great band that you’d fear might wilt in the daylight would be White Lies. They tap into that grand, Anglo-tragic vein with epic force, and while they bring a hell of a light show on tour, the daytime might just be too darn sunny for them.
Thankfully, that was not the case at all (though the band had to come out without their handsome blazers). Their sound has a serious size that works well with a large outdoor crowd, and doesn’t rely on just doom & gloom, but also that spark of fun as well.
The Tragically Hip
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Clad in one heck of a sharp outfit, Gord Downie led The Tragically Hip on stage in style, before diving into a set list that didn’t shy away from the swagger, either. The iconic Canadian band breezed through an hour of hits from Phantom Power, “Up To Here” and “Fully Completely”, while also sprinkling in some well proportioned newer material as well. The band clearly showed that they’d learned a thing or two in the twenty-five or so years they’ve been around – the highlight of their set? Hearing “Bobcaygeon” & “New Orleans Is Sinking” back to back.
Death Cab for Cutie
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As the sun set on Montreal, Death Cab for Cutie erupted onto Osheaga’s other main stage… er… rather tried to erupt. Plagued by some technical difficulty – brought on by eccentric guitar changes – Ben Gibbard’s axe cut out a couple of times, forcing the band to come to a standstill. When they came back together, Death Cab burned through a strange, albeit sonically pleasing set of material both new and old. While they played primarily from Transatlanticism and Plans (with some new stuff off of Codes & Keys – QRO review – as well), the band’s best song was still Transatlanticism‘s “The New Year”.
The Flaming Lips
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And then the show really started. A quaint, normal-seeming Wayne Coyne strolled onto the adjacent stage with a warning. The singer modestly told the crowd of an impending light show and his tendency to do strange things during Flaming Lips show (as well as getting an introduction by comedian Jeff Ross – who’s also opened for Charlie Sheen ‘My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat Is Not an Option’ tour…). He then turned and walked back, but just as quickly as he’d gone offstage, the whole band, a handful of mascots and a dozen cheerleaders, kicked off Osheaga 2011’s last set with “Race For the Prize” and several hundred dollars worth of effects.
The band were in Montreal to play iconic album The Soft Bulletin, which Coyne told the crowd of a two or three thousand could be the last time such a show is performed. From “The Spark That Bled” to “Waiting For Superman”, and everywhere in between, the Flaming Lips played their most cherished record seamlessly, and with the help of an insane projected show, lighting, streamers and confetti cannons. A fair bit of the crowd couldn’t handle the show – and their respective drug concoctions – so it was actually quite easy to advance. Try as we might though, QRO could not get close enough to shove Coyne, upon the front man inserting himself into a bubble and rolling around the crowd.
As both “Feeling Yourself Disintegrate” and “Sleeping On the Roof” elegantly wound down, an air of ‘What’s next?’ was omnipresent across the Osheaga festival grounds. As Coyne set down his strange, theremin-like object, and the band disembarked the stage, the crowd was a still as the Montreal night. They returned and proceeded to marry one of the cheerleaders to one of the mascots – both having never met and allegedly doing ten hits of acid each before the show. As he read their vows, Coyne asked his faithful keyboardist to play a bar or two of FL’s trademark song, “Do You Realize?!?”, which resulted in blissful pandemonium. And as one of the saddest, most beautiful songs of a generation wound down, the crowd, still singing, gave The Flaming Lips a monumental and entirely well deserved ovation.
