WARNING - REALLY, REALLY LONG!!Back from Hillside today... what a fantastic fucking weekend. Nice little festival - small enough that it kept that intimate feeling. Not as many hardcore hippies as I expected - think the lineup brought in a lot of indie kids too. No naked ladies running around, which was surprising. Only one we saw was a 50-some year old hippie doing topless yoga in a clearing on Sunday morning. Pretty.
The weather was unbelievably hot and humid... but despite the fact that they were calling for thunderstorms all three days, we got not a speck of rain. It was awesome.
I actually started out trying to do a '10 best musical moments' of the Hillside festival but got annoyed rather quickly. But because I feel suspiciously heatstroke-y and just woke up from a nap rather bored, here's my quick day-by-day synopsis.
FridayGot to the island just in time to see Great Lake Swimmers. Their music was pretty and pleasant but didn't really blow me away. Not that familiar with their stuff, and despite enjoying them well enough, wasn't really inspired to pick up anything by them. Their singer was really cute though.
Kathleen Edwards sounded lovely. I wasn't over the moon about her show (very much your typical folk festival singer-songwriter performance) - but she was incredibly pissed at the sound guy and at one point cursed him out, took a big swig of whiskey straight out of the bottle nestled at her feet and launched into a singalong cover of Only Love Can Break Your Heart. It was truly impressive. Perhaps one of my favourite moments of the festival. Oh, and she's got perhaps the greatest arms I've ever seen.
The Stills kicked ass onstage. I was actually surprised by how much people loved them - I had no idea they were that popular. But they headlined the main stage on Friday night and people went nuts for 'em. Not sure where I should start with their catalogue.
SaturdaySadies and Constantines together were one of the best shows of the weekend. Just a crazy, raucous honky-tonk mashup. Dallas Good is sort of an ugly motherfucker, but I can't help but have a crush on him.
Good times were had by all at the Hootenanny Revue (Carolyn Mark, Luther Wright, Jenny Whiteley, Oh Susanna, Shuyler Jansen and Hank & Lily). Lots of girls hula-hooping onstage. I wish I hadn't heard so much about what a snatch Carolyn Mark is. It makes it hard for me to enjoy her as much.
Jason Collett was amazing and inspired me to not only buy a t-shirt and a CD, but also to make out with him and have his babies. Backed up by random Broken Social Scene-ers. Sang a couple of duets with Amy Millan, which were gorgeous.
Unforunately, I was sort of underwhelmed (if that's a word) by Amy Millan's set. I love her album to pieces, but it doesn't translate all that excitingly into a live show. And she wasn't nearly as cute as I thought she'd be in person. Her duet with Jenny Whiteley on the Whiteley-penned 'Baby I' was lovely though.
Didn't actually pay much attention during Cuff the Duke since I was busy eating pakoras and roasted corn on the cob, but people adored them a huge, huge amount. Think they're local boys too, but they're also awesome, so they deserve to be adored. John Henry live was splendid and made me abandon my pakora to get up and dance, despite the fact that it was about a thousand degrees outside.
And then there was Holy Fuck, who are aptly named. Probably the surprise hit of the weekend. What started as about 150 people lounging around a big beer tent transformed into about four times that, with people stomping on picnic tables, hanging off of posts... first standing ovation and encore I saw all weekend. Fucking incredible.
Lovely Feathers - songs were as much fun live as they are on CD but kicked up even more. Oh, and they were really fucking loud. Steve decided their music was not nearly as gay as their name implied. Their drummer was crazy and had the best posture ever. Their stage banter was a bit weird at times, but overall a super show.
Missed most of Sarah Harmer...
... because we went to see Wintersleep (though I didn't tell my husband or friends that we were going because a strange banker from Halifax swore it would be worth it.)
They were really good but went a bit too jam-band on like three tracks in a row, which got boring. I don't know if it was because the people right up by the stage were drunk, stoned hippies who secretly wished they were at a Phish concert but the 10-minute jam sessions weren't that appealing to me. The songs they kept down to a normal length sounded awesome, especially the one featuring lots of hand claps. I liked these guys way more than the rest of my group did. Good thing I didn't tell them it was your idea, Riley.
SundayDidn't see a lot, since it was soooooo hot that we spent much of the day lounging in the shade.
Jill Barber, whoever she is, pissed me off because she sounded exactly - and I mean
exactly - like Sarah Harmer.
C'mon was the highlight of the weekend and Ian Blurton once again proved that he is indeed the coolest cat in Canada - perhaps even the entirety of North America. Pure, gritty, unrelenting rock and roll that kicked the ass of everyone in that tent (which he commented smelled 'like a fucking gerbil cage.' Haha, hippies.) Screaming, rocking out on tabletops, stage diving, headbanging... fucking awesome. There were a couple of young guys that were sooo into it that he got them onstage where they danced and stomped and shook their asses for the full show... then Ian slung his guitar over one kid's shoulder, Katie Lynn slung her bass over the other's, a third kid got on drums and they just played. Unreal. This show was the best hour of the whole festival.
Festival closed out with Feist, who was stunning and humble and funny and charming and so good in every single way. We were about 20 feet back and as a result, I am completely in love. She's totally turned my list of rock-star girlfriends on its ass.
The end.
They were really good but went a bit too jam-band on like three tracks in a row, which got boring. I don't know if it was because the people right up by the stage were drunk, stoned hippies who secretly wished they were at a Phish concert but the 10-minute jam sessions weren't that appealing to me. The songs they kept down to a normal length sounded awesome, especially the one featuring lots of hand claps. I liked these guys way more than the rest of my group did. Good thing I didn't tell them it was your idea, Riley.
