Osheaga 2009: The Recap

Posted on August 4, 2009 |

45 000 people.

That’s how many showed up for this year’s festivities. Readily beating the 28 000
that showed up last year.

Coldplay had a lot to do with this number obviously and it’s probably because of
them that we may see another edition next year but I’d like to think the rest of
the schedule was enticing enough for people to get off their asses and spend a
whole weekend on their feet.

Saturday started pretty mellow for me with Jesca Hoop, performing her songs
acoustic style on the Tree Stage, perhaps my favorite of all stages.

It then led me right next door to the MEG stage where UK synth-pop twosome
La Roux, who were recently shortlisted for the Mercury Prize performed
songs from their self-titled debut. I wanted to check them out, especially
singer Elly Jackson and that crazy coiffe of hers to see if perhaps seeing
them perform their songs live might make me change my mind on their debut
which I have not liked but oddly enough, the remixes floating around on the
interweb, those I enjoy.

Well, it didn’t.

As I was waiting for Elbow’s set to start, I watched Jesse “The Devil”
Hughes of Eagles Of Death Metal strut about like a peacock on the River
Stage. A great band to have on the bill for a summer festival such as
this. Just plain ol’ rock n’ roll fun.

The biggest reason for me to go to Osheaga this year was Manchester’s Elbow.
20 years together and 4 amazing albums under their belts, they finally got
their due last year by winning the coveted Mercury Prize for my favorite album
of 2008, “The Seldom Seen Kid”.

Most of their one hour set were songs from TSSK with a few oldies sprinkled
in between. I’ve used this word before to describe a frontman … affable.
That’s what Guy Garvey is. Just a good ol’ bloke. Very friendly with the crowd.
I thought bringing two lovely violinists was a very nice touch as well, giving
them a much fuller sound. Hearing “The Loneliness Of A Tower Crane
Driver” was the definite highlight from this great (and by far) my favorite set.
Hopefully, it won’t take Elbow another 8 years to perform in Montreal again.

After that, I managed to catch The Stills, The Rural Alberta Advantage,
a little bit of The Roots, Lykke Li who handled herself quite well with
a great and very unexpected cover of A Tribe Called Quest’s “Can I Kick It?”,
saw some of Coldplay’s set right at the time where they unleashed big
yellow balloons on the crowd and ended the night at the MEG stage, watching
Girl Talk do what he does best, get the party a jumpin’ with beautiful
fireworks blowing up in the sky as an added bonus, courtesy of
L’International Des Feux.

Sunday started with a torrential downpour. Quite the contrast from the
unbelievably hot and sunny temperature we experienced the day before.

First up were The Honey Brothers on the River Stage with Adrian “OMG
IT’S VINCENT CHASE FROM ENTOURAGE” Grenier on drum duties. You always
think actors and those vanity bands (think Keanu and Dogstar) would suck
Donkey balls but actually, to my surprise they were pretty decent. Just
some straight up, sunny, power pop-ish music. Adrian managed himself quite
well on the kit and even sang lead and played guitar on one of their songs.

Right after the Brothers, it was hip hop ol’ schoolers The Beatnuts on the Mountain
Stage that got us bouncing in the rain, then off to the MEG stage to watch Swedish
electro poppers Miike Snow do their thang.

The sun had just come out when Vampire Weekend strutted on the River Stage. I’m
pretty sure most of their debut album made the setlist and they even threw in 2
new songs from the yet untitled sophomore album coming out in the fall.

Brooklyn’s Amazing Baby, Cursive, Ladies Of The Canyon, Tiga, The Heartless
Bastards were all bands witnessed by yours truly and quite enjoyed which
lead me to the night’s (and festival closers) Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Bumped to headliner status at the last minute replacing The Beastie Boys, they
sure made it worth our while. Karen O is the conssumate performer. She always
gives her all. A lot of the new songs from “It’s Blitz!” made the setlist which
hearing them live, made me appreciate them even more but can’t go wrong with a
few YYY’s classics like “Date With The Night”, “Y Control” and an acoustically
rendered version of “Maps”.

I managed to snap/film quite alot of footage from both days.

Full sets for both days can be seen on Flickr.

Day 1 ( August 1 )

Jesca Hoop, NLF3, Donavon Frankenreiter, Silver Starling, La Roux, Parlovr,
Eagles Of Death Metal, Elbow, The Stills, The Rural Alberta Advantage,
The Roots, Lykke Li, Winter Gloves, Coldplay, Girl Talk.

Day 2 ( August 2 )

The Honey Brothers, The Beatnuts, Miike Snow, Lil’ Andy, Vampire Weekend,
Amazing Baby, Ladies Of The Canyon, The Heartless Bastards, Tiga,
Artic Monkeys, Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Here’s links to the video footage I uploaded on YouTube.

Day 1

Jesca Hoop - “Murder Of Birds” ( Tree Stage )
Silver Starling - “Ghosts” ( Tree Stage )
La Roux - “Tigerlily” ( MEG Stage )
Parlovr - “All The World Is All” ( Tree Stage )
Eagles Of Death Metal - “WannaBe In L.A.” ( River Stage )
Elbow - “One Day Like This” ( Mountain Stage )
Elbow - “The Bones Of You” ( Mountain Stage )
The Stills - “Gender Bombs” ( MEG Stage )
The Rural Alberta Advantage - “Don’t Haunt This Place” ( Tree Stage )
The Roots - “Here I Come” ( Mountain Stage )
Lykke Li - “Little Bit” ( MEG Stage )
Winter Gloves - “Let Me Drive” ( Tree Stage )
Coldplay - “Yellow” ( River Stage )
Girl Talk - DJing ( MEG Stage )
Girl Talk - DJing Some More ( MEG Stage )
Woodhands Feat. Cadence Weapon ( Tree Stage )

Day 2

The Honey Brothers - Adrian Grenier Behind The Kite ( River Stage )
The Honey Brothers - Adrian Grenier Singing ( River Stage )
The Beatnuts - “Do You Believe” ( Mountain Stage )
Miike Snow - “Animal” ( MEG Stage )
Cursive - “Big Bang” ( MEG Stage )
Vampire Weekend - “Walcott” ( River Stage )
Vampire Weekend - New Song ( River Stage )
Amazing Baby ( Tree Stage )
Ladies Of The Canyon ( Tree Stage )
The Heartless Bastards - “Out At Sea” ( Tree Stage )
Tiga - DJing ( MEG Stage )
Tiga - DJing Some More ( MEG Stage )
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - “Gold Lion” ( River Stage )
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - “Zero” ( River Stage )
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - “Maps” ( River Stage )

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Category: Concert Pix, Festivals, Live Shows, Osheaga, Reviews
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Comments

2 Responses to “Osheaga 2009: The Recap”

  1. Ophelie
    August 5th, 2009 @ 7:43 am

    Great recap! It was my first time at Osheaga (… and first time at a music festival!), and I really enjoyed it. It’ll take the rest of the week for my legs to recover from all the dancing, but it was definitely worth it!

  2. dunks nike
    October 22nd, 2009 @ 7:59 pm

    Good post….thanks for sharing.. very useful for me i will bookmark this for my future needed. thanks for a great source.

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