Hillside Has It All

well, it's been about a day and 2 sleeps now, so i guess its time to talk about my first hillside experience... hillside being a music and community festival held at guelph lake conservation area for the 24th year. i'd always heard great things from friends who had gone, and every word of it was true. from the quality of entertainment, to the quality of amenities and camping, the world class ethnic foods served on reusable dishes and washed by volunteers, reusable beer mugs that are brought back from year to year by patrons, the size and comfort of the festival, the no hassles vibe and friendly atmosphere, the lack of anxiousness and loads of relaxation. this is a green festival whose engine is cranked by over a thousand volunteers and five thousand attitudes who keep it close to their heart - there is very little, if any, corporate sponsorship, its small, independent, and theirs to share.

it also helps to have a great crew to share in the experience, and this weekend we had exactly that: headed up with scottie and diane to meet with eric and denise in guelph, and some of their friends who were holding campsites for us in the overflow - and once onsite it seemed like there were friends staked out all over the place. its always great to spend time with old friends you rarely get to see.

friday night, after getting set up and settled in we headed down to the island, and it was only a quick 10 or 15 minute walk from the overflow - like i said, very comfortable. started off at the island stage, and barely left the entire evening.

Kick This Thing Workshop w/ Shad and That 1 Guy
No Borders Workshop w/ Rock Plaza Central, Jah Youssouff, Dave Clark and friends
Monsoon Melodies Workshop w/ Dya Singh, Madagascar Slim, Treassa Levasseur and friends
Mike Sharp
Martin Sexton (main stage)
Golden Dogs

really enjoyed what that 1 guy and shad were doing when we showed up, and the no borders workshop was cool, but the monsoon melodies sticks out the most for me from this night, that was a great workshop... east indian trance meets chicago blues, a lot of great energy in the tent and it really felt like the festival had finally kicked off - for me at least. next up was mike sharp, but he looked too much like booche for me to pay much attention to his music - eric had shown up by this point so were likely getting beers and primed for the closers... he and denise were pumped for martin sexton and based on their recommendation i decided to check out the first part of his set and was quite impressed. total one man show with a vocal range that is out of this world - he's good with the vocal trickery, too, to fill out other arrangements within a tune. just a brilliant musician and singer. my veins were starting to boil with adrenaline though, and i needed to rock out, so after 5 or 6 songs i booted over to the golden dogs back at the island stage for the last half of their set. i managed to catch a bunch of songs i love to hear, 1985, saints at the gates, yeah, runouttaluck, and a couple others. pulled up beside this big bearded super dreaded hippie who was just about jumping out of his skin - said he'd never even heard of 'em before that night. i love that shit.

capped the night off back at the campsite where the lovely Anne came to visit and kept us entertained over beers and a smorgasbord of snacks. a pretty good introduction to hillside, i'd say. going to bed, i couldnt wait to wake up for day 2.

saturday started nice and slow with a cool breeze and special coffees... pouring over the schedule, building a plan of attack, mounting excitement... by 1pm we were going to be back at the island stage for the uh huh! workshop with members of apostle of hustle and do make say think. saturday would wind up looking something like this..

Uh Huh Workshop w/ members of AoH and DMST (island stage)
Socalled (lake stage)
Tannis Slimmon, Jude Vadalla and Katherine Wheatley (island stage)
Great Wooden Trio (sun stage)
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life w/ Ron Sexsmith, Lynn Jackson, Melissa Ferrick, Angela Desveaux and Pat Robitaille (sun stage)
Rock Plaza Central (island stage)
That 1 Guy (main stage)
Besnard Lakes (island stage)
Blackie and the Rodeo Kings (main stage)
Do Make Say Think (main stage)
Apostle of Hustle (island stage)
Shout Out Out Out Out (island stage)

saturday afternoon/early evening consisted of a lot of wandering around between stages, stopping here and there to check something out, meeting up with friends here and there and going along with them, trying to find shade, taking pictures, and generally chilling out and relaxing while taking in some fine music... saving up the party for the night time..

the uh huh workshop was really cool, though, it sounded pretty much what you'd imagine it to sound like - its not such an out there combination to throw together, considering some of the other workshops throughout the weekend. nevertheless, a great post-rockin' set. the great wooden trio and the workshop with ron sexsmith at the sun stage was really great to just throw a blanket down, chill in the shade and listen to some well written songs by some great artists. pat robitaille was someone new who caught my ears from that stage. back over to the island stage for rock plaza central and there i met up with my buddy luke and we spent the next few hours splitting time between stages checking out whatever we could. luke's gone through a bit of an ordeal over the last few months, so i really enjoyed hanging out and spending some time with him. rock plaza central sounded really strong, i enjoyed them much more live than i had previously on disc... err... computer... didnt really pay much attention to that 1 guy, as we mostly stayed to the back grassy area, but people seemed to really be enjoying him. we didnt stay long there before we headed back to the island stage to listen to besnard lakes. i had seen that band a couple weeks prior here in london and overall wasnt that impressed - liked the album, but found myself bored with the live show. sitting at the picnic table outside the tent, though, they sounded really good. seemed to be putting on a great show. after a while luke suggested that we go for a walk to check the last bit of blackie and the rodeo kings and stake a space for dmst.. it was one of those things, i went into the tent to tell everyone else i was splittin' for a bit, and was totally taken by the music - the sound in the tent for besnard lakes was so powerful, and the only way to describe it was like a real whoooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa experience.. i kinda fumbled over the words, but eventually we were on the way. DMST put on a strong set as the sun was going down, and again it was really cool to just sit and listen to a band like that. nice and relaxed. i saw most of that set then headed back to the island stage for the rest of the night for what would end up being 2 of my favourite sets of the weekend: Apostle of Hustle and Shout Out Out Out Out. Apostle put on a great crunchy show that really showcased andrew whiteman's raunchy guitar abilities and clever songwriting. excellent set up for the Shout's, which kinda deserves its own paragraph....

this was definitely going to be the heavy party set of the weekend, the hard throw down, and everyone getting themselves involved knew it. scottie says to eric and i before they started that they would have to do something seriously major to fuck up with that kind of energy waiting for them. and waiting for them. and waiting for them. and waiting for them. and waiting for them. and waiting some more for them. turns out, they were waiting for something, too. somehow, they had managed to forget likely the only piece of equipment they would NEED for their show, that they certainly wouldnt be able to borrow off of anyone else on the island. when the announcement came that this piece of equipment was in a cab en route to the stage from the hotel, you'd think the place was going to turn riotous. but this was hillside. some grumbling and groaning, some people went to cry with the dears, but we waited a little longer. and i must say, it was worth every good goddamn second. once this band got going, it was everything everyone had anticipated it to be. they took the stage, announced they were a dance band and said "i see this tent is full, so lets see it." - they saw it alright. a sea of people dancing on the picnic tables, the tent packed to the gills, the band tearing through their shortened set, surely pouring out any and all frustrations, and the audience, forgiving, and giving back, eating it all up. if you can find some youtube videos, its worth having a look just for the room energy alone. a seriously intense throwdown. the 2nd saturday sweat.

good thing we let eric drive the bus saturday night, it was full of laughs and adventures - jaybone had invited us back to his campsite and after a little hike we spent a few hours killing the night with their crew around the campfire with guitars and singalongs. the walks there and back were half the fun, hahah. the clouds formed a jesus fish, the moon made the eye, we followed it back home.

aside - how bout that moon and that sky??? nice!!

for some reason i was up early and feeling refreshed, so i got packed up and left myself with nothing more to do but party the day away. we missed the gospel hour on sunday morning, but had our own little prayer session before heading down to the island for the band tribute hour. looking ahead at the schedule, i dont think i would have predicted that sunday might turn out to my overall favourite day musically, even with 2 slip sets, but, as everyone always says, hillside is as much about the things you dont know, as it is about the things you do.

When I Get Offa This Mountain Workshop w/ Tom Wilson, Ron Sexsmith, Stephen Fearing, Jude Vadala, Tannis Slimmon and friends (island stage)
Angela Desveaux (island stage)
The Slip (island stage)
Gourds and Guitars Workshop w/ Jah Yousouff, Vieux Farka Toure, Madagascar Slim (island stage)
The D'Urbervilles (lake stage)
Slippery 12 Lane Highway Workshop w/ Dave Clark, The Slip, Mihirangi, Lewis Melville and friends (lake stage)
Vieux Farka Toure (main stage)
Los Campesinos (island stage)
Mother Mother (lake stage)
Ani Difranco (main stage)

so sunday started out with music of the band, perfect for the afternoon sun when you've got 5 beer tokens left to use. no keys or bass, but some fun renditions of tunes you know by heart - cant really beat that. i stuck around for angela desveaux more or less because i wanted to stake us out a good spot for the slip - it worked. obviously i was looking forward to seeing my favourite band, and i was really happy to see the response they got - a nice standing O, considering most of the place remained seated for their set, aside from a dozen or so usual rabid followers, ;). i think scottie put it best saying they seemed to play a bit of a reserved set that highlighted their softer side, but may have left a first timer with a skewed impression of the band. i'd say thats fairly accurate. my favourite parts of the set were the broke the promised land opener and happy snails closer - that had a really sweet and clean build to it. next up was another favourite set of mine, the gourds and guitars workshop. it seems like i never left that island stage in the afternoon, haha. but this set was great, some amazing world class musicians on stage, i mean, these guys are HUGE where they're from.. and apparently it was the first time jah youssouff and vieux farka toure had ever played together, even back home in mali - so this was also a bit of a historic jam. when vieux farka toure came out he told a little story of how back in the day at home the farka toure clan were actually slaves of the youssouff clan.. good thing anne was there to translate it for me. the music these guys made together was amazing. with madagascar slim up there as well, they were just a force. some great grooves were laid down, accented by beautiful selfless soloing from all of them. i didnt stop dancing the entire hour. after that, i grabbed some food with eric and it was off to the lake stage for the last bit of the d'urbervilles and to get set up for the slip workshop.

i guess the 12 lane highway is an infamous workshop at hillside. dave clark (former rheostatic) plays conductor and drums, and you have a smattering of musicians going on all cylinders. the cast this time was held down by The Slip, with canadian folk legend Lewis Melville on guitar, New Zealand vocalist Mihirangi, another djembe player, a fellow on stand-up bass, and occassionally more people on keys, guitar and various other percussions. this was certainly the outlet for the slip to play through. this workshop totally delivered and was also a highlight of the weeknd for me. a big sound coming from the stage, these guys locking in like freight trains, and turning on a dime at dave clark's request. the vocalist had an incredible range and she would throw it through these effects and play with it.. brad would take samples and muck around as well, and there was great call and answer, note for note, going on between them. marc and andrew played excellent roles showcasing their chops as well. lewis melville may have been the most surprising one on stage, though - he was all over the place on all kinds of instruments, and he tore it up on each and every of them. never saw it comin'.

the rest of the night would yield some big time world music, the 2 surprise acts of the weekend, and a little bit of the festival headliner. sat in the grass and listened to vieux farka toure at the mainstage and got reacquainted with the sounds of west africa, before heading to the island stage for the first big surprise act of the weekend: from wales, los campesinos. a new arts and crafts signing who were apparently making their north american debut. well, they came out guns a blazin'! some speedy synth pop with catchy lyrics and melodies and a shitload of energy - the crowd totally ate it up. stayed for their whole set then went on to see the next big surprise act of the weekend at the lake stage - man, these came just in the nick of time, eh? haha. mother mother, from vancouver were over there, and they were frickin' fantastic! amazing 3 part harmonies from 2 lovely females flanking the male lead, they showcased some really clever hooks and played a really tight set of bouncy pop. seek 'em out. last up was Ani on the mainstage, and though im mostly indifferent to Ani, it was cool to see what i did of her - she is obviously an important musician to a lot of people for a reason. i did dig what she was doing up there, but after a half hour or so, we split to beat the traffic, and it turned out to be a great decision.

so, thats it, thats how my first hillside went down. it was absolutely incredible, obviously, as you can see from my verbosity, i cant seem to say enough about it. i've already got it marked on the calendar for next year.

honourable food mentions: the african peanut stew, diana's indian, and the spring rolls i had from some place tucked in the corner of the food tent. mmmmmmmmm.....

quotes of the weekend:

"hey eric, are you double fistin'?" - "yep" - "that's a lotta fistin'!"
"dont worry, we've still got enough [supplies] to make sure we dont end up hating life."
"i have a duck."

happy hillside! see you next year!