If you’re even a semi-regular reader of these pages, by now surely we don’t have to tell you about Guelph’s annual Hillside Festival, but to drive the point home (and for the newbies), it’s worth yet another reminder. Though it’s no longer the well-kept secret it used to be, now routinely selling out all its tickets in short order, trying to explain the utopian experience of Hillside to the uninitiated remains a bit complicated. The three-day event held on the last weekend of July on bucolic Guelph Lake Island is the antithesis of most summer rock festivals, boasting an eclectic lineup of music and arts that’s volunteer-run, resolutely anti-corporate, and environmentally conscious. Hillside looks well-poised to head into its 25th anniversary next year, but until then, this year’s edition continued its long tradition of song, smiles, and sun. To quote Memphis’ Torquil Campbell: “Here’s a song for warm summer days with good hippie food and organic beer. If only the world were like this…”
SATURDAY, July 27
Ndidi Onukwulu 3 pm – Mainstage
One of the best parts of Hillside is the rush of discovering a particularly compelling new artist, and blues singer Ndidi Onukwulu had all eyes and ears on her as she gave a master class in sheer stage presence during her mainstage set. Her sultry voice framed by veteran guitarist Madagascar Slim’s swampy licks, Onukwulu injected a bit of rock’n’roll sass into her soulful sound with sly asides (“This is for anyone who ever had a crush on someone, never met them, and proceeded to stalk them for one and a half months”) and a delightfully upbeat rapport with the crowd. By the time she hopped off the stage and into the crowd to dance barefoot on the grass during her final number, she had all within earshot remembering her name.
Memphis 5 pm – Island Stage
“We’re Memphis for some reason, and I love the fucking Hillside Festival.” Oh, Torquil Campbell. While he’s a bona fide rockstar as frontman of Stars, the delightfully profane singer’s dreamy indie pop sideproject Memphis hasn’t really caught on as readily with the indie masses, judging by the decent but not packed crowd that greeted their Hillside debut. No matter—Campbell is always a consummate showman, and as such, his ready banter was equally entertaining as the surprisingly muscular treatment of Memphis’ wistful tunes, which were bolstered by Campbell’s increasingly strong, arch vocals, partner Chris Dumont’s atmospheric guitar lines, and violin and keys sweetening the mix. Campbell’s showmanship (he’s done time as an actor, and it shows) has a way of driving home his thoughtful lyrics (“The skyline is made up of stories/Tell me yours while you’re holding my hand”), but Memphis isn’t above having some fun through all the hearts and flowers: Campbell’s cheeky falsetto anchored the dance-y ’80s vibe of the band’s always-charming cover of Pet Shop Boys’ “Love Comes Quickly” that closed the set. “This is our last show for awhile—we’re going to go make some money and do it all again,” Campbell smirked in farewell. Let’s hope they do.
Do Make Say Think 8 pm – Mainstage
Sprawling Toronto instrumental collective Do Make Say Think need a pretty big stage not only to fit their dozen or so members, but also just to hold their epic, expansive sound, and as such, the Hillside mainstage was the perfect spot for them to usher in the blissful cool of evening with their instrumental soundscapes coloured with washes of brass and Hillside mainstay (there’s rarely a festival where you won’t see her as part of one combo or another) Julie Penner’s sweet violin. Champions of “the build,” where every tune starts off simply before every section of the group chimes in to create a massive, layered swirl of sound, DMST came off as akin to an instrumental Broken Social Scene (the two share members, including Penner and Charles Spearin), replete with full horn section (brass makes everything sound better kids). By the time their set built to a huge crescendo, all the players wailing away on their respective instruments, it was a pretty good reminder that sometimes the bandclass nerds, well, they grow up to be rock stars.
Apostle of Hustle 9 pm – Island Stage
“You guys getting some relief now that the sun has gone? Time to let out all your tension. Maybe you were being very polite to the person next to you all day. Now…” shrugged Apostle of Hustle frontman Andrew Whiteman teasingly to kick off his set, which indeed saw a rammed island tent start grooving to his Latin-flavoured indie-rock tunes. Stripped down to only three players (including always-inventive drummer Dean Stone and redoubtable bassist/guitarist Julian Brown, plus special guest Torquil Campbell bouncing around with a tambourine), the road-hardened Apostle crew took Whiteman’s complex songs into new and interesting territory, including an amazing, Brazilian-esque percussion throwdown in the middle of old favourite “Kings and Queens.” Through endless touring, the band has clearly adapted the songs to their live strengths (“Cheap Like Sebastien” has morphed from fairly bouncy on record to something a little earthier onstage), with a new emphasis on Whiteman’s vocals instead of simply relying on their instrumental chops. Whiteman himself has stepped up in the frontman role—a bizarre tale about Mounties, dope, and the severed heads of George Bush and Stephen Harper that was panned at a recent show in Perth got big cheers from the Hillside crowd (it is Guelph, after all).
Emily Haines 9 pm – Mainstage
Over on the mainstage, Metric frontwoman Emily Haines was doing her sombre solo thing with only a grand piano, collaborator Todor Kobakov cueing beats on a sampler, and Guy Maddin’s eerie film projections in the background. Minus her usual string section, the tiny Haines seemed a bit swallowed up by the massive stage, and the presentation of her material even more austere than usual, but the pitch-black sky and towering pines served as a fitting setting for her stark, poetic imagery and downcast melodies. Without Kobakov’s embellishments, Haines’ dark chords could come off as almost funereal, so his percussive beats were a necessary pulse on gloomy songs like “Almost Waving.” Unable to rely on her shouty Metric persona for this quieter, more personal material, Haines has become a much stronger, emotive singer since her first solo shows, which lets some of her more indelible, quirky lines (“like girls in stilettos trying to run”) resonate with the audience. And by the time she got the crowd to sing along to a poem by her late father, Paul Haines, in perfect, blissful harmony, the line she asked them to sing made sense: “And listeners like you…”
The Dears 10 pm – Mainstage
In contrast, The Dears closed out the night on the mainstage as if they owned it, drawing the emotion out of their newer Gang of Losers material to (melo)dramatic effect under a blanket of stars. Their big sound and frontman Murray Lightburn’s oversized personality has always hinted at it, but The Dears have officially morphed into a stadium act, selling their emotional rock epics with a heretofore unseen style and energy. Pushing through an uneven sound mix that steadily improved over the course of the set, the band mixed in old standbys, particularly the always-popular “22: The Death of All The Romance” duet between husband-and-wife team Lightburn and keyboardist Natalia Yanchak (the song’s “Our love/Don’t mess with our love” mantra took on a sweet new meaning in light of watching the couple run around with their toddler earlier in the day). And how can you not love a band that starts a song with the line: “Every single one of us is getting massacred on the frozen path,” not to mention features keytar as a prime instrument? By the time they got to “You and I Are A Gang Of Losers,” which features the quietly perfect chorus “You and I/We’ve got the same heart,” you got the sense that for all their bombast, sometimes The Dears’ loveliest moments are also their gentlest.
SUNDAY, July 29
Sex, Lies, and Digital Cameras workshop 11 am – Lake Stage
The workshop slots at Hillside either bring together totally disparate artists or likeminded performers under a loose musical theme in the hopes that sonic alchemy will result. Sometimes it works brilliantly, other times it all falls apart, but it’s always interesting. A blissful Sunday morning workshop saw members of several diverse yet simpatico rising indie acts, including Ohbijou, Immaculate Machine, Forest City Lovers, and Basia Bulat’s band putting their own twist on cover tunes with sublime results. The stage packed with 15 musicians—not to mention four violins, several basses, cello, ukulele, even a harp—it was a nice reflection of Hillside’s mix of folk/roots and indie-pop, and also highlighted the current renaissance in Canadian indie-pop. Even when things threatened to fall apart (some players reading off lyric sheets, others trying to figure out where to come in), somehow it all worked, from Ohbijou’s chirpy take on Norwegian electro-pop starlet Annie’s pop nugget “Heartbeat” to Bulat’s full-throated turn on the classic “Stand By Me.” “Supergroup!” an audience member called out. No kidding.
The D’Urbervilles 5 pm – Lake Stage
Faced with a rabid hometown crowd that were on their feet even before Guelph/Oshawa upstarts The D’Urbervilles even took the stage, visibly ill frontman John O’Regan led his quartet through a blistering set of spiky post-punk aided and abetted by snaky synths and a guest turn by Immaculate Machine’s Brooke Gallupe. Getting the audience clapping along from the first song is a feat in itself, but the D’Urbervilles’ managed to maintain that heightened level of urgency throughout their frenetic set, which seemed over just as soon as it had begun. Fresh from triumphantly retiring his Habitat electro- pop sideproject at Hillside two nights before, one quickly understood why that band was no longer a priority for O’Regan— with their noisy (there always has to be at least one ear-bleeding set at Hillside) sound propelled along by an almost disco beat, it’s complex but also catchy as hell. In short, you’ll be hearing more from this band in very short order. Let’s just hope their potential is recognized here at home before some crafty label across the pond snaps them up (a la Born Ruffians, Basia Bulat).
Basia Bulat 7 pm – Lake Stage
The charming Basia Bulat also took home Next Big Thing honours, ably fronting a mini-orchestra (that included no less than four string players) and leaving the crowd wanting more of her warm voice and fablelike songs. Not even blinking an eye at what was one of the biggest sidestage crowds all weekend, Bulat and her seven-piece band (all wonderful singers who complemented Bulat’s undulating, rich voice with their harmonies) didn’t stray too far from the versions on her new Oh My Darling debut, but still managed to imbue the material with a richness best achieved in a live setting. While many others could get easily swallowed up in such a large ensemble, Bulat, ever-smiling, managed to preside over the proceedings with a casual, friendly stage manner (plus, it takes a lot to play harp and still have presence—take that, Joanna Newsom). Bulat’s strongest number, the jazzy, percussive “Snakes and Ladders,” was a smart way to bow out, though it was obvious the enthralled crowd could have gladly stuck around for several more tunes.
Los Campesinos! 8 pm – Island Stage
By the time newest Arts & Crafts signees Los Campesinos! made their North American debut towards the end of the festival, exhaustion had begun to set in, but the Welsh septet not only charmed the pants off all in earshot with their adorably hyperactive indie-pop, but managed to fuel an all-out dance party in the process. Upping the cute factor even before they stepped on stage by engaging in a group hug, the noticeably nervous youngsters clambered onstage amidst a small arsenal of keyboards and gear before unleashing their sugar-rush blend of indie sounds (one of their songs starts off: “Trying to find the perfect match between pretentious and pop,” and really, they nail it) on an initially half-full Island Stage tent. But by the time the Camps launched into their anthem “You! Me! Dancing!” the space had filled nicely with flailing limbs, pumping fists, and wall-to-wall grins. Violin (this really was Year of the Violin at Hillside) and feedback-laden guitars helped temper the twee-ness of it all, and while the set sounded a bit too much the same from start to finish, they’re a brand-new act yet with only an EP to their name. “We’re so happy to be here, you have no idea,” genuinely awed frontman Gareth Campesinos declared. “This is an awesome festival.” Well said.
