Tokyo Police Club

Hillside Day 2 Recap: Ohbijou, TPC, SPP and Surprising Dryness

Posted on July 26, 2009 by Brian in Concerts, Hillside | 2 Comments

hillside-sign

Since we have no time this morning to post a full Day 2 recap, mostly because we had no energy to write it last night after getting off the grounds at close to midnight last night and passing out shortly after returning to our hotel after a solid 10+ hours of music festing, here is a quick update on Day 2 and what we’re anticipating as Day 3 begins.

The three highlights from yesterday were far and away Ohbijou, Tokyo Police Club and The Sunparlour Players. Delays seemed to hit all three stages, but Hillside tried their best to keep things moving. As a result, Ohbijou and Sunparlour Players appeared to have their sets cut short, while Tokyo Police Club was told at one point they had ten minutes left, then ten minutes later were told they had another ten minutes. Anyway, despite set delays, all three managed particularly tight sets and great performances. Pumpkin ice cream was again a highlight for Trina, and Sausage Brothers italian sausage and grilled corn on the cob was the height of the food fair.

Also, the lineup to enter the festival was not nearly as long as it was Friday night, though arriving at noon might’ve had something to do with that. Leaving the festival was actually not as bad as anticipated, as we waited around in the VIP parking lot for about 20 minutes listening to the new Sunparlour Players album Wave North, giving the crowd a chance to clear, and our strategy worked out pretty well. There was one big dump of rain around 2, but surprisingly, given the forecast, the day was mostly dry.

If you’re not following me on Twitter, here’s some of the highlights:

– Line for coffee far longer than line for beer right now. Already lightly raining could be wet day #hillside – about 23 hours ago from mobile web

– Dozens of people on stage for bruce peninsula. Bruce is apparently some kind of collective hive mind #hillside – about 22 hours ago from mobile web

– Ohbijou best of the day so far, for sure. Great set #hillside – about 19 hours ago from mobile web

– I think i’ve discovered a fetish for girls in rubber boots. Weird? #hillside – about 17 hours ago from mobile web

– If pearl jam grew up in newfoundland they would sound a lot like hey rosetta i think #hillside – about 15 hours ago from mobile web

My phone battery died two tweets after that. Again, if you’d like to follow me at Hillside again, I’m @brianjpike. If you follow me just for this weekend then unfollow, I’ll understand, I promise.

Today, Trina is most looking forward to Rural Alberta Advantage at 6 on the Lake Stage and Great Lake Swimmers at 7 on the main stage, while personally I’m kind of curious how Dave Bidini’s going to sound (Lake Stage, 3:00) and, as always, am looking forward to seeing Patrick Watson again (Main Stage, 8:00).

Forecast is once again for scattered thunderstorms throughout the day, but hey, those are just the risks we take for you people. The work of the independent blog site blogger that somehow got media passes is never done…

Concert Review: Rogers Picnic, July 20 2008, Fort York, Part 2

Posted on July 23, 2008 by Mark in Concerts | 2 Comments

So as Ricky was saying, Animal Collective didn’t really connect with the Rogers Picnic crowd. Fortunately their set was followed up by Montreal-based Chromeo. This band’s dance friendly brand of electronic & guitar sounds was an immediate crowd pleaser. Even though it was raining pretty hard at this point, it was the first time that I felt that people were acting, well, festive, at this day-long festival. Big ups to the fans that wore rubber boots and embraced the mud and rain.

Tokyo Police Club was up next. I really like a few songs from Tokyo Police Club, like “Your English is Good”, and I was glad to hear it live. I’d say this band put on a pretty good show, and got pretty into it. I was very impressed with the sheer energy coming out of keyboardist Graham Wright. I love it when musicians lose themselves in their music.

But the big highlight for most of the crowd was Cat Power. This woman owns herself in way that is both rare and beautiful. Seeing her sing up close was pretty amazing. She puts so much of herself into her music, she seems so vulnerable, yet at the same time, exudes a “this me, this is who I am, deal with it” aura about her stage presence that was fascinating to see.

So, now let me get to my rant about big-screen TV’s and text-messaging. There were two large TV screens on both sides of the stage showing a live-feed of the performers. I suppose this is a pretty standard feature of rock shows nowadays. What was new to me was that the bottom of the TV was reserved for a stock-ticker type deal where people could send text messages and get them displayed in more or less real time. This made for a weird concert experience. Now I admit that sometimes people had really funny things to say, like “no one is safe until nerd prosecution is over”. But by and large, the screens were cluttered with inane texts from hapless youth.

Unfortunately for me, I am eternally enchanted and absorbed with shiny or moving objects. I was transfixed throughout. I just couldn’t help but be engrossed. This, with the addition of my complete inability to multi-task, meant that I spent more time reading the damn stock ticker than listening to the music. So I would say thumbs down on the ticker, but I would say thumbs up that Rogers Picnic seemed to make efforts to make this a green event.

The last show was City and Colour. Unfortunately, perhaps because it was Sunday night, there was a mass exodus after Cat Power. We joined suit, but I left pretty happy with the live music I had absorbed throughout the day.

Vampire Weekend: 4/5
Chromeo: 4.2/5
Tokyo Police Club: 3.8/5
Cat Power: 4.5/5
Stock Ticker: 1/5
Green Policy: 5/5
Rogers Picnic: 3.7/5

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