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Osheaga, Day 1
What we saw during our trip to Montreal’s premiere music festival
Win & Co. wins the weekend (Photo: Nadia Chaudhury)
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(Photos taken by Nadia Chaudhury)
This past weekend, Encore headed up north for Osheaga Music and Arts Festival in Montreal. The festival consisted of four stages (and a “Piknik Electronik”) and over 60 performers, including Arcade Fire, Pavement, the National and Weezer.
The weather was perfect on both Saturday and Sunday, and while the crowd skewed more to the frat side on the second day of the festival (more on that tomorrow), everyone was still incredibly respectful and there for the music, rather than just to be seen.
I’m not ready to declare Montreal as having better a music scene than New York, an argument I heard a few times during my stay, but I will say that Osheaga was a complete success and I can’t wait until they announce their performers for next year (although something tells me it’ll be hard to top this year’s headliner).
Encore sang the Walkmen’s praises last week, and they didn’t disappoint at Osheaga. Their set was only 30 minutes long and even the band’s organ player, Peter Bauer, was worried about making a connection with an early afternoon crowd. But they drew a relatively large gathering and played the new (many songs off the soon-to-be-released Lisbon) and old (they closed with “In the New Year”). Lead singer Hamilton Leithauser was particularly impressive, showcasing his operatic Bob Dylan voice.
After briefly checking out the “Game of Pricks”-loving Owen Pallett and the nu-hippie ensemble, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, I went to see Jimmy Cliff, one of reggae’s biggest names and a recent inductee to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. Ever hear that old joke: “Do you know that reggae song?” “Which one?” “All of them.” That’s usually how I feel about the genre, but Cliff in person is fascinating to watch. At times, he almost seemed possessed, with odd, herky jerky dance moves, but you’d be hard pressed not to smile when he’s singing and swaying to such classics as “Wild World” and “Many Rivers to Cross.” He also threw in a Cool Runnings reference. Always appreciated.
There’s a lot to like about the Montreal-based Stars: they make catchy pop songs, their relation to Broken Social Scene, singer Amy Millan had a Queen is Dead shirt that she wore at Osheaga…but speaking of Moz. I didn’t realize until the show just how much Torquil Campbell, the group’s other vocalist, is like Morrissey. He throws out flowers, loves showing his anguish to the masses and even sings like the Pope of Mope. Not that I minded any of this. When Stars play their fast songs, like “Elevator Love Letter,” they sounded pretty great, but when things slowed down, so did the band. Or, in Smiths terms, Stars should stick to “This Charming Man,” not “I Know It’s Over.”
For a brief moment, I thought Pavement was going to leave after only one song. They’re one of my favorite bands of all-time, so much so that I bought tickets to see them in Central Park nearly a year ago, months before I (or even they) knew of their Osheaga and Williamsburg Waterfront gigs. And they began their Montreal set with “Gold Soundz,” possibly my favorite songs of theirs, followed by “Stereo.” Everything was perfect—and then some asshole threw a beer at the stage (as seen here), which hit lead singer Stephen Malkmus’ chest. Considering his history of throwing on-stage tantrums, I thought Malkmus & Co. were going to leave after only one song. Luckily, he was in a good mood, though, and just sniffed his shirt and said, “What was that? I think it’s Labatts. Yeah, it’s Labatts. Good shot, though!” (it was actually Bud Lite, I believe). The thrower was called out by the crowd, shown on the giant monitors around the stage and even heckled by Bob Nastanovich, who chanted, “You’re going home in a Montreal ambulance.” Everything was smooth sailing after that, and the band played “Range Life,” “Summer Babe” and “Starlings of the Slipstream.” The only other disappointment: how few people sang along to any song that wasn’t “Cut Your Hair.” Something tells me the band won’t have that problem while playing Central Park—and hopefully Malkmus won’t get hit with a Bud Lite, either. PBR, maybe.
Instead of checking out the National, whom I had seen last Tuesday at Prospect Park, I stayed in place for the festival’s headliner…
I could ramble on for hours about how perfect Arcade Fire’s set was (seeing them in Montreal is like Springsteen in Jersey or U2 in Ireland—or, in my mom’s words, Billy Joel at the Nassau Coliseum), so I’ll just say one thing: If you don’t have tickets to their August 4 or 5 shows at Madison Square Garden, buy them now. You won’t be disappointed. This was the best concert I’ve ever seen.
More Arcade Fire photos:
(Lead singer Win Butler jumped into the crowd and allowed us to play his guitar, which is what’s going on here)
