The Hillside music festival appears to have a very low profile in the blogosphere… curious, because it’s one of the best I’ve attended. I suspect it’s just a way of keeping a good festival for the locals, and fending off the Toronto hordes. A very low-key festival, a great lineup and a nice location on an island in Guelph Lake. The only trick is getting tickets – they sell out of weekend passes in a matter of hours, and tickets sell out in under a week. And that’s in April, two months before they’ve even announced the lineup.
Anyways, my highlights from the festival this year:
- woodhands. Great electro, playing to a thrilled and bouncing crowd. Watching the geeks crowdsurf was well worth the time
- patrick watson. An intriguingly loose and brave rock crew, fresh from a Polaris prize win. Very interesting sound, and great percussion.
- the clues. This Montreal group played a super-tight, slick rock/pop set, but were clearly off-kilter from the weather. A massive thunderclap/lightning strike forced the stage crew to power everything down minutes before their set, and the reboot clearly harmed the band’s polished sound setup and cut a deep hole in their playlist. Too bad – they were excellent.
- great lakes swimmers. I’ve heard the buzz, but never seen these introverted folkies. Nice, sweet, and a little reminiscent of Sufjan Stevens.
- the tallboys. You won’t find a disc in the name of these jazz profs and studio musicians, but they played a great set.