Osheaga was a success all around. Two large stages for main attractions with two smaller stages for the lesser known groups. We saw the best bands of the weekend on the smaller stages. Jam packed with people at times, they provided the best entertainment value. I’ll run through the days separately and follow up with a rant I’ve been saving for a while now.
Saturday: We arrived near the beginning of the stage performances at 1pm. We caught a bit of Thunderheist on the small stage and quickly left the scene. We heard a good chunk of Jamie T, which was a great and welcomed surprise. Another UK group, so I was of course hooked. We followed this up with some Editors, which didn’t fail to entertain us. I cant’ seem to recall what we did for next hour or so, but I wish we had seen some more of Blonde Redhead. Patrick Watson, a home town hero (at least in Montreal), was a hit among everyone who knew him. A complete bewildering experience for the rest of us. Experimenting with throwing a balled up necklace at your guitar strings may be neat in the studio, but you just look like an idiot on stage. In the past, playing the guitar well has been described as having sex with it. The lead guitar in this show could only be said to have raped his guitar. Feist did a good job of relieving me of the previous annoyed attitude, only to have it replaced with CPC Gangbangs again. But then, despite sound check issues, Ohbijou once again entertained the hell out of me. What a wonderful band. Next up, best in show. During Ohbijou, we noticed a young lady in the back wearing deer antlers on her head. Not wanting to miss the chance to see Smashing Pumpkins, who should have gotten back together 7 years ago when they would have still been relevant, we opted to wonder away from the small stage. Hearing Billy slowly kill his own fame, we opted to see what the young lady in the antlers was up to. We were greated with the Hank and Lily Show stage scene. The description of the band suggested we would see more of stage/puppet show than a rock band, which intrigued us to no end. What an amazing show. I just can’t say enough about it. It was suggested in the preview that Lily played the drums like a sledge hammer. No other words could have described it better. She did hammer those drums, all while standing and singing. Just check them out, you won’t regret it.
Sunday: We didn’t see anyone in the lineup that interested us until later in the day, so we arrived around 4pm to catch a bit of Au Revoire Simone, which worked out nicely. We didn’t catch the whole show, as I wanted to see some Pony Up as well, so we headed over to the other small stage to see them. Good stuff. Next up was Sam Roberts over on the main stages. Though I’m not a fan of Sam Roberts, I can’t think of a single reason why. Great show and well played. We stuck around for a bit because the friend we were with knows everyone, and ran into the bass players mom in the crowd, so we had to wait for bass player himself to come out and say hi. Arctic Monkeys were next up, and although we didn’t see much of the show, we heard every beat and enjoyed each one. Macy Gray apparently doesn’t have any songs of her own, but managed to put on a pretty good show anyway, which surprised me, not expecting to care at all. Gotan Project could only be enjoyed live, with the massive screen playing stock videos and psychedelic patterns along with an orchestra style stage scene. Good stuff. We saw a bit of the terrible M.I.A. and then some Interpol, then left before Block Party came along.
Sound Guys. What the hell is your problem? Your standing out front of the stage. Can you not hear that the base is louder than anything else? Or that the drums are smashing all over the vocals? Does it amuse you to make as many high pitched squeals as you can before finally coming to rest with ridiculously high levels? See that line of LEDs where the top 4 red ones are all lit up all the time? Maybe that needs attention somehow. Honestly, I love loud music. But I love hearing ALL the music, not just whatever channel can be turned up the highest without causing feedback. Open your ears, if you can still hear, and fix it!
