Disclaimer: Due to the weather delay many artists had their set lists cut short and moved around. As a result we didn’t quite get to see everything that we planned to. It also prevented me from busting out my camera and capturing some of the awesomeness that occured in the rain.
Hey everyone! It’s Saturday morning (bordering on afternoon) and I’m actively trying to sort out all of the music and madness of Day 1 Osheaga. All day music festivals are kind of an assault on your senses. With multiple musicians playing at the same time that you need to pick and choose from, games and activities set up by sponsership partners and just a generally immersive vibe it can be a lot to take in. Add the mayhem of some pretty severe scattered showers and piecing it all together becomes tricky.
After braving the storm and the walk to the new festival site, we were alerted by the official Osheaga app that there was no music right now due to the weather. We took the time instead to scope things out a little at the main stage area and lo and behold London Grammar took to the stage to serenade us with a shortened set.
Due to some rain that may or may not have happened my shoes were completely slogged with water. Sarah decided that this would be a good opportunity to head to the Vans area to try and win me a pair of shoes. She did not. But imagine if she did? It would have been an Osheaga miracle.
BADBADNOTGOOD delivered their trippy stylings at the Sonnet Green Stage and when asked to describe their music the best I could come up with was “weird experimental electro jazz” and I stand by that statement. Walter, staring off in the direction of the stage nodded and said “yeah, this is really good.”
After that we made our way to the the Perrier green house indoor stage to drink Perrier cocktails and watch Sophie Jones spin while someone, I’m going to assume her friend, danced on stage next to her and was really, really into it. I kind of hope she wasn’t her friend. I hope she was just a really big fan of Perrier. Despite there not being too many people in the “greenhouse”, Sophie was spinning a variety of crowd pleasing jams that had the small dance floor moving.
Now it’s time for a cautionary tale.
Hey kids, it’s me, Keith. From 9t05.cc. I know that it’s the first day of the festival and you’re super hype and you’re ready to have the best time of your life. I know that the rain sucks and having some of the artists postponed or even cancelled sucks even more. But you know what you shouldn’t do? You shouldn’t do all the drugs you have just because you’re bored. Maybe lay off on going too hard on the booze too.
At this point in the day it was around 4 or 5 pm and we made our way towards the Bacardi Island Stage to catch Sam Gellaitry. First of all they have a floating dancefloor. Some kind of interlocking floating magic that is out over the water and moves with the waves. It’s amazing. Second of all, we watched a girl collapse her platform shoes, stumble into the bushes, start crying and then fall over into a flower bed. She was being taken care of by her boyfriend and they were well on their way to the chill zone so don’t worry. But again, it was 5 pm. I’ll bet she was bummed to be taken out before Justice played. Man, she would’ve loved Justice.
There were some adventures that invovled a unicorn tattoo, jumping into a ball pit and being invited up to the Up lookout to watch Maggie Rogers take to the SiriuxXM Tree Stage. She was just one of many up and coming artists that was a delight to see.
After sorting out some food and listening to the end of MGMT’s set it was time to find a good place to watch Justice. There was no way I was going to miss Justice. Despite the fact that their new releases have a slightly “softer” sound than their first album Cross I was pleasantly surprised that they brought that harder edge to all of their tracks for their live show. I have seen them perform a few times and this was hands down the most energetic I’ve seen them on stage.
We stuck around for a bit of Lorde who was sporting some sort of angelic outfit and sneakers while two actors pantomimed drinking (I think?) and it was just wonderful. We headed back over to the floating dance floor to take in a little bit of Zed’s Dead and he rewarded us by seriously playing some Prodigy. Hearing “Breathe” make a dancefloor full of people who were probably about 2 years old when it was released go crazy was its own special reward.
We opted to beat the crowds and head off island just as the weather took another downward turn. Crossing that bridge out of the site was like travelling to Mordor with Frodo.
We made it home, Sarah made some ramen and we watched Big Brother.
Getting ready for Day 2!
Happy Osheaga! Check out the rest of our Day 1 Osheaga photos on our Facebook page (click the FB logo in the top right):
Keith does all sorts of things here on 9to5.cc, he works with the other founders on 9to5 (illustrated), co-hosts our two podcasts: The 9to5 Entertainment System and Go Plug Yourself and blogs here as The Perspicacious Geek.
