Osheaga

As you all know last weekend I was one of the people lucky enough to attend the inaugural Osheaga Music and Arts festival, and let me say this, it was amazing. The festival started kicked off on Saturday with Grace Potter and the Nocturals who gave a Janis Joplin esque performance. After Potter I wondered for a few hours going from stage to stage watching some of the smaller bands play before I went to see Dinosaur Jr. They only had a 45 minute set but it was pretty good. Unfortunately it seemed only half the crowd really knew Dinosaur Jr's stuff. They ran through their classic tunes (mostly from "you're living all over me") such as "Sludgerfest", "Little Furry Things", and "The Lung" before capping their set off with "Freak Scene". I was disappointed that they didn't play "The Leper" and "In A Jar", but what can you do? After Dinosaur Jr I continued to wonder between the two smaller stages before Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Sonic Youth went back to back. CYHSY were good but I was too dam excited to for Sonic Youth to really pay enough attention to their show. Sonic Youth came on only a few minutes after CYHSY on the other main stage (the two main stages were next to each other) and opened with an ear splitting rendition of "Teenage Riot". They finished "Teenage Riot" with near bliss 5 minute feedback solos climaxing with Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo crossing their guitar's in an X. The rest of their set went well, but they played too many songs from their new album. Pavement's Mark Ibold filled in for them on bass and Looked awesome at it. Sonic Youth closed Saturday out with a bang.

Going into the festival on Sunday I had a different approach in mind. As opposed to trying to see every band play I elected to wait at stages for a few key bands so I could get a good view of them. I entered the festival and I went right to the stage where Islands would be playing. I got up to the barrier towards the right of the stage (band's left) and waited for a half an hour for Islands to play. The wait was well worth it. Islands came out on stage with dancers made to look even taller by putting fake heads on their heads and putting sweatshirts on covering their real heads (it seems confusing but I'll show a picture below). Other than the dancers Islands sounded really crisp and just plain awesome. They drew a fairly large crowd and almost the entire crowd was dancing. After they finished up I decided since I would wait for another 45 minutes at the same stage because Wolf Parade would be there. Wolf Parade came on and blew me away. They were absolutely unbelievably good. They were also very loud, probably the loudest band at Osheaga. The only problem with Wolf Parade's set is it started late and they ended on time. After Wolf Parades set was over I headed over to one of the small stages to see Final Fantasy who was pretty good. After Final Fantasy I went over to wait for Bedouin Soundclash. Now I do like Bedouin Soundclash but I had a different reason for waiting to see them. On there stage an hour after they were finished The Flaming Lips were set to play, and I wanted to be as close as possible to Wayne Coyne and the rest of his Lips. Bedouin Soundclash were pretty good and as soon as they were finished I dashed to the front. I was center stage and one person behind the barrier waiting for the Flaming Lips, waiting, and waiting, and waiting. An hour turned into an hour and 15 minutes. at the other main stage Damien Marley ran late and cut it the Lip's time. But it didn't matter because as soon as the show started it was incredible. Before every Lips concert lead singer Wayne Coyne get into a plastic bubble and rolls into the crowd, and festival was no exception (look at the video below). After re-entering the stage and escaping the bubble Coyne and the Lips began their assault on everyone's ear's. They sounded absolutely brilliant. Not just that but their normal stage theatrics (one side of the stage had Yoshimi's dancing, the other had lots Santa's dancing, also cool videos (they were the only band with a screen), dazzling lights, and lots and lots of confettie) were awesome. They kicked out many of their great hits such as "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robot", "Do You Realize?", "She Don't Use Jelly", and "Race For the Prize". But do you remember how I told you Damien Marley went long, well that forced the Lips to finish with out an encore. I know there was supposed to be an encore because I guy near me got their set list. After the Flaming Lips finished I didn't even bother watching Ben Harper close out the festival, the Lips were just to good to follow.

All and all Osheaga was really awesome. You should have been there. I hope there is a second Osheaga so I can go again.

Oh and Sasha I would go to the show but I'm busy. Oh and Bryan aren't you in Toronto?

Wayne Coyne is his bubble courtesy of YouTube


The Islands dancers I was talking about

I have more pictures but I'm far too lazy to put them up.