Do you remember that day in gym class where you all got under the giant, rainbow-coloured parachute and shut out everything in the world except that immediate, specific, fun-filled moment? Rich Aucoin recreated that feeling for the people in Market Square who came out to see the first act of Saturday night. It’s not an enviable position to be in, especially when you are a solo artist with no backing band, but Rich came out at full throttle, dressed head to toe in white and literally draped in colourful lights.
Rich’s first album was Personal Publication which he toured by himself from west to east crossing the entire country by bicycle. His second release Public Publication saw him head west from his native Halifax, retracing the steps and collecting the voices of people he’d met during his first tour. These voices made up the many choruses throughout an album that is entirely dedicated to positive energy and having a good time. When live, Rich teaches the attending audience a few lines before every song starts. In most cases this would get a little tiresome, but Rich’s energy is so genuine and infectious that Market Square was happy to oblige and belted out every word he asked for. Complete with a synced up video display, his laptop and keyboards, balloons, confetti and yes, an actual giant, rainbow parachute, Rich Aucoin put on a show that was 100% fun.
Written by: Patrick McKenna – Program Director at CFUV 101.9fm
And so another night of Rifflandia concludes and we find ourselves at the halfway point of the festival. I began the second evening much like the first, with a couple beers in the Market Square Beer Garden. I was excited to see that the Digital Screen Projections of the stage were running properly this time around (they weren’t up when I was at Market Square on Day 1). The organizers also changed up the beer garden lineup system. So far this year I have been impressed by the superb organization of the festival. In my travels this weekend I have yet to hear any major complaints and hardly anything about lineup issues. It seems that everyone’s getting to see the bands they want to see, myself included.
Photo by: Johnnie Regalado
Before arriving at Market Square I poked my head into Lucky Bar to see how things were shaking down in there. A lot of people had noted to me that Lucky Bar’s lineups seemed to be just their regular weekend showcases with a special headliner. The emptiness of the narrow bar seemed to also comment on this. I wasn’t in quite the right head space to be one of only a handful of people at a dub step show so I headed over to Market Square where I was able to catch the tail end of the set by Maurice. From what I heard they were pretty solid and the crowd was digging it. Afterwards, Yukon Blonde took the stage and continued the good times. Everyone at the venue was in high spirits and excited to see Jets Overhead and the legendary Gord Downie perform.
I will admit that I have never really listened to The Tragically Hip. I must have just missed out on them. I ended up leaving after Yukon Blonde and making my way up to Alix Goolden Hall. One of my favourite parts of the festival so far has been listening to locals and out-of-town bands alike struggle with this venue name. Two of the better misses so far: “Alex Golden Hull” and “Alex Goulash Hall”. Name aside, this is one of the most beautiful, visually and acoustically, venues in all of Victoria and it seemed much more inviting than the cold outside of Market Square.
The Wooden Sky were on at 10:30pm and they played to a full venue. At 800 seat maximum capacity, this was no small feat for the Toronto indie folk group. Friends of CFUV, these guys have performed live and been interviewed on air a few times over the last couple years. The group was geared up, even sporting an eyeglasses headband lent to them by Forestry’s Blake Enemark. They played to an enthusiastic crowd who reveled in the wholesome Canadian rock songs that the group hammered away. If anyone this weekend has deserved some extra time on their set it was them.
The evening concluded with The Great Lake Swimmers who picked up right where The Wooden Sky left off. As heavy a hitter as there is in Canadian indie folk, the group picked up a Juno nomination and the Polaris Prize Short List for their 2009 album Lost Channels. These guys are what good Canadian music should sound like, the kind of country music that doesn’t make you cringe. Their songs have an identity and it’s a plaid shirt. Even on this far west island their songs sound like home. Singer Tony Dekker had no problem filling the venue with his exquisitely crafted songs. They brought a perfect close to solid second night at Rifflandia 3.
Tonight: another night at the Metro Theatre with Chad VanGaalen and Frog Eyes or a peek at the mysterious Ariel Pink… only time will tell.
And so begins Rifflandia music festival. After picking up wristbands from the Rifflandia HQ (which is surprisingly hip and posh), I stopped in at Market Square for a little visit to the beer garden. I won’t lie, one of my favourite parts of Rifflandia is Phillips Rifflandabrau, if you haven’t tried it yet get on that tonight. Seriously, they only make this beer once a year and I look forward to it every time.
Local group Sunday Buckets kicked things off at the Market Square stage. The crowd was modest but growing. Everyone was in good spirits and seemed to be enjoying the set. Especially when they threw some unreleased CDs out to the audience. The band acknowledged Rifflandia as ‘probably one of the biggest shows’ they had ever played and were genuinely excited to start it up. As the rain began and my beer ran out, I decided to head up Johnson St. to the Metro Theatre where I would spend the rest of my evening.
As I traveled across the downtown core, I was surprised that none of the venues I passed had too long a line-up. I stuck my head into the Events Centre to see who was on, but they were inbetween sets. It was only 8:30pm, but I couldn’t help but think about last year’s line troubles. It seems that so far the honchos at Atomique smoothed out the multi-venue concert situation. They even went so far as to provide Facebook updates on venue lineup situations throughout the evening. Haven’t heard any complaints yet.
I arrived at the Metro Theatre just in time to catch most of the set from The Sentimentals. This is another local band out of the Old Life Records crew fronted by Dreamboat/Colourbook/Nail Salon member Aaron Bergunder. They reminded me of The Dead Milkmen and had one of the most entertaining sets I’d seen in awhile. Clearly a new band, they invoked audience participation to help them complete their 40-minute-set. This included having the audience text message Bergunder possible new names for the band (audience & band favourite: The Condimentals) as well as some cheeky comments too. The first song I caught was a little gem called “Dildo in a Free Pile” sung about exactly that. This was followed up by a song about John Goodman and then Victoria’s top 3 burritos. All this ridiculousness on top of a solid rock trio. I can’t wait to see them again, whatever their name might be.
Lily Fawn’s Brightest Darkest was up next. I had always enjoyed the Hank portions of Hank & Lily so I wasn’t sure how to feel about her solo endeavors. I was excited, though, to see Matt Skillings from Run Chico Run on stage and with a deer mask and tuxedo no less. Lily was center stage and told the audience to expect sleepy songs which she did deliver on. I’ve always been impressed by the sweeping composition, stage decorations and costume work that go into a Hank & Lily show. On her solo work, Lily seems to be channeling her inner Joanna Newsom and that’s just fine by me.
Last of the openers, Forestry took the stage at 10:30. Having just returned from their tour with two less members, it was a bit of a new day for the band. They were clearly excited to be opening for Lee Ranaldo who is an obvious influence on their guitar work. Something I’ve always enjoyed about Forestry’s live songs is that they sneak up on you. One second Blake Enemark’s crooning and the next thing you know everyone’s thrashing the hell out of their instrument. The songs slip in and out of Canadiana folk and shoegaze noise seamlessly. They were excited to play and you could feel it in their music. They were determined to show one of their idols that they knew their way around the guitar too.
The evening was headlined by Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth fame. In the end, I had opted not to see Aesop Rock or JFK. The openers at Metro Theatre made it worth it, and here I was ready to watch a set from one of the most influential guitarists in music history and founder of one of my favourite bands, Sonic Youth. I knew Lee was probably not going to play anything like his Sonic Youth tracks but did not expect what I saw either. The set began with his guitar hanging in a little noose from the ceiling. The entire Metro Theatre stage was spread bare except for a pile of tools and pedals.
In that 40-minute set, Lee Ranaldo showed the audience the utmost potential of the guitar as an instrument. He didn’t play the guitar, he played with it. With his hands, a drumstick, and a bow, as well as some electronic devices I’ve never seen. At the beginning of the piece, he played recorded music through his guitar strings. With the guitar suspended from the ceiling, Lee would strike the guitar and send it swinging across the stage, over the head’s of the audience. This was not exactly what some Rifflandia goers had in mind for their evening, and many people did not stick around. Those of us who made it through to the end met him with great applause.
This morning while cashing in on my delicious 10% off Mo:le breakfast and filling out WinLandia raffle tickets, I continued to contemplate what I witnessed the night before. Here was one of the greatest guitarists in history, playing a guitar like I had never seen before. He hung it from the ceiling as a symbol and absolutely destroyed everyone’s conceptions of how to play this instrument. I will never forget this evening. A haunting lesson from a guitar god.
Metro Theatre where I would spend the rest of my evening.
CFUV @ Rifflandia 2014 