Osheaga 2010 Day 1 Recap

The day started off with some bad news. As it turns out, Cage The Elephant had to cancel their performance due to border issues which had a lot of people more than just a little upset. But that would all soon be forgotten with the first musical waves pulsing through the many speakers scattered around the Osheaga grounds. Shane Murphy was what most people started they day with, but right away people were lining up in front of the left main stage to see The Walkmen. It almost seemed like people were already lining up for Arcade Fire who would close out the night on the same stage, but that couldn’t be possible now could it?

Either way, there would be many bands to take the stage before the band of the day and The Walkmen were the first. While they only played for half an hour, lead singer Hamilton Leithauser gave it his all, rarely lowering his voice below that nasal scream that pervades on most of the bands tracks. They gave the hungry Montreal audience a good taste of songs from their forthcoming album, Lisbon, which hits stored on September 14th.

Next up for many was what would have been Cage The Elephant but instead was Rich Aucoin, who stepped up to the plate after playing in Montreal the night before at Metropolis opening for none other than Of Montreal as a part of this year’s Osheaga in the City. But while Aucoin was doing his thing, Ingrid Michaelson and Owen Pallett were doing their thing over on the forest stages. Pallett as always did his best to wow everyone packing the Green Stage with his trademark violin looping and vocal combinations. He played a good mix of songs from his entire career as a musician spanning from his Final Fantasy days to his latest full length, the Polaris Prize nominated, Heartland. It was especially nice to hear him play classics “This is the Dream of Win & Regine” (a duo he would soon accompany on stage), “The CN Tower Belongs to Us” from his 2005 release Has a Good Home and “Many Lives -> 49 MP” from the 2006 Polaris Prize winning album He Poos Clouds. Also impressive was one of Pallett’s last songs, a new track that will appear on a new 10″ that he is working on.

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros was a highlight for most people in attendance. Let’s face it, these guys are the perfect summer festival band. Their tunes are happy, sunny and full of life and you can either sing or whistle along to most of their tracks. They rolled quickly through a selection of songs from their debut album, Up From Below including “Janglin’”, “Carries On” and “Up From Below” and ran out of time before they had a chance to play their hit song, “Home”. Fortunately for them they decided to go ahead and play the song against the wishes of the Osheaga staff and the crowd loved every minute of it.

Next up for many was the legendary Jimmy Cliff on the main stage but I went to check out Montreal’s Little Scream who I had been hearing so much about. I was happy I did because it turned out she was one of the more interesting acts of the day. After they wrapped things up it was then time for the wild Japandroids who took the Green Stage at 4:40 PM. They definitely win the award for the loudest band of the day. They were so loud in fact that another guitar/drum duo over at the Tree Stage that go by the name of Bahamas would really have their work cut out for them if they had any chance in matching the volume of the rockers next door. Unfortunately for Bahamas’ leader Afie Jurvanen it was a losing battle. He did however win over the hearts of everyone near the front of the stage with his brand of laid back folk rock (his smile and witty stage banter didn’t hurt his cause either). Highlighting their set was a lovely track called “Already Yours” from their debut album Pink Strat, which you can pick up by clicking here.

At around 5:30 PM the day really kicked into high gear with what was one of the top performances of the day. While K’Naan had everyone waving flags over on the right main stage there were already droves of fans lining up at the left stage for Montreal’s own electro-pop darlings, Stars. Even though lead singer Torquil Campbell was visibly pissed off about his synthesizer not working at all, it didn’t put a damper on an amazing set by one of Montreal’s best and most lasting indie-rock troups. Knowing they were in front of perhaps their biggest fans in the world, the band chose to play songs from their entire discography including “Elevator Love Letter” and “Going Going Gone”. As for new material, the band played some of the best moments from their brand new LP, The Five Ghosts. “I Died So I Could Haunt You”, “Fixed” and “We Don’t Want Your Body”. Torq got a big cheer from the crowd when he replaced the famous quote, “When there’s nothing left to burn you have to set yourself on fire” with “When there’s nothing left to burn you have to set all the greatest petrolium stations on fire”. To everyone’s delight the band finished with “Your Ex-Lover is Dead” the bittersweet opening track from the band’s 2004 release, Set Yourself on Fire.

Next up it was Keane on the right main stage with their anthemic rock songs drawing in one of the biggest crowds of the day, while Jamie Lidell got people moving their feet over at the Green Stage. It seemingly took forever for Beach House to get their set started due to sound issues. Sadly these issues would continue throughout the band’s set but they were hardly noticed due to their sheer amazingness. They quickly cast a spell over the huge crowd that had amassed to see them play (a crowd that included most of the Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros crew). You could almost feel the crowd thinning out as the set went on however. Since they started so late if anyone wanted to be able to catch a little piece of Pavement they were going to have to miss a good chunk of Beach House’s set. Unfortuntely for me I couldn’t quite tear myself away from Victoria Legrand’s gorgeous voice in time to be able to catch any significant part of Pavement’s set.

Seeing The National play live for the first time in my life would quickly erase any sadness about missing most of Pavement’s set, though. They played for the good part of an hour, entrancing the thousands that had ammassed. The band played flawlessly while lead singer Matt Berninger crooned away with his deep, controled voice. I love how at first glance, Berninger appears to be the nicest gentleman in the world; placid and immaculately dressed, but how within an instant he could be on his back screaming at the top of his lungs. It became obvious throughout the set that this, along with Stars’ set, was the best performance of the day. We don’t need to mention that Arcade Fire were up next, but until about 9:15 PM last night, The National had won the day.

Again, this was only until the mighty Arcade Fire took the stage promptly at 9:30 PM, as scheduled. By this time all 25,000 fans that had been buzzing here and there around Parc Jean-Drapeau for the day were all in one place. As expected Arcade Fire did not dissapoint. This was far from being my first time seeing the band play, and while most would agree that seeing the band play in the intimate setting of the Ukranian Federation would be preferable over seeing them play to tens of thousands of people in the open air, this was as good of a performance as you could expect to see. With the band’s new album, The Suburbs, only two days from being released it was to no surprise that they played some new tracks for the salivating home crowd. Among them, “Ready To Start” and the haunting “Rococo”, at which point the fireworks started. Yes, you read right: fireworks. Could this night get any better? Now not only were Arcade Fire blowing people’s mind’s but there was an amazing fireworks display going on that even seemed to be synced with the music at times. During “Crown of Love” for example, when the song begins to speed up at the end, the fireworks seemed to match the pace of the music perfectly. Finally after almost two hours of performing, the band, along with Owen Pallett who wrote the string arrangements for the new album brought the performance to a close with a blast of confetti.

In short, this was arguably one of the best single day Osheaga lineups in this festival’s short history. A good time was had by all, and we are ready to do it all again today. Stay tuned for our recap of Day 2 at Osheaga 2010! – Greg Lozoff

Shane Murphy

The Walkmen

Ingrid Michaelson

Owen Pallett

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

Japandroids

Bahamas

Stars

Photography by Eran Dahan

Tags: 2010, Afie Jurvanen, Amy Milan, Arcade Fire, Bahamas, Beach House, border, Cage The Elephant, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, festival, Fireworks, Hamilton Leithauser, Ingrid Michaelson, issues, Jamie Lidell, Japandroids, Jimmy Cliff, Keane, Lisbon, Little Scream, Of Montreal, Osheaga, Osheaga in the City, Owen Pallett, Parc Jean Drapeau, Pavement, Pink Strat, Polaris Prize, Rich Aucoin, Shane Murphy, Stars, The Five Ghosts, The National, The Walkmen, Torquil Campbell