The next generation of Indie Festivals: Hillside

September 26th, 2006 posted by robb

What happened to Edgefest festival..? The downhill started once Hole headlined back in 1999. The two day mudstock happened, followed by a few years of shockingly sad headliners like Creed. The absolute axe to the alt-rock era was Nickelback headlining.

This year's line up on Edgefest II had headliners such as: Yellowcard, The All-American Rejects, Hawthorne Heights, Story of the Year… "and much more!"

Is it me or has Edgefest become Emofest? No offense to emo, but I always thought Edgefest was more about alt-rock, and not emo/pop punk. And this year's Edgefest I day wasn't much better.

The old days of Molson Park in Barrie are over; they've moved back to the Amphitheatre. This year, they srounged old 90s rockers like Our Lady Peace, only to find themselves short on ticket sales and resorting to 2 for 1 tickets promos and even handing out a of FREE tickets at major Toronto intersections a week before the show! This begs the question, where are all the festival goers going?

HILLSIDE MUSIC FESTIVAL
Hillside Community Festival is a weekend getaway of music, community and hippie love in Guelph, ON. Last year marked their biggest year with such acts as Arcade Fire, Stars, Broken Social Scene, Weakerthans and Feist. Course, 3 of those bands are interrelated, but isn't the local indie scene all incestuous? This year included Sarah Harmer, Hidden Cameras, Kathleen Edwards, Final Fantasy, and Broken Social Scene solo acts Amy Millan, Feist and Justin Collett.

This year the weekend passes were sold out in less than 3 days! I was not 'in' on the scene since I could not get tickets in time. The indie scenesters are faster than ever. How do they know when everyone is up for sale? Do they work? More on thoughts about the “indie scenester” to come in the future.

I have to say one thing I love about the Hillside music festival is the lack of head-pounding guerilla marketing and sponsorship. It's a breath of fresh air to see greenery and open areas without dirty flyers, buck slips and 50-cent coupons all over the ground. Perhaps the growth is due to the sudden popularity of the Canadian "indie" scene which has exploded into the maintream.

Hippie love

What's also great about the festival is the lack of waste. There are recycling areas for everything – they even have volunteers who wash the dishes, and smokers are given empty 35mm film canisters to ash their cigarette buts! With purchase of a $2 hillside mug you have access to their beer fill stations. The food was supplied by nearby vendors, selling everything from Butter chicken, Herb & Tofu wraps, Phat Thai to BBQ sausages. Much better than the $8 nachos and Cheesewiz or a plain $5 low-grade burger, that's for sure. There are also marketplace vendors, arts/crafts areas , sessions on organics and gardening – addressing all your hippie needs.

The music

The range and qualty of music was incredible – I was only able to make it to the Saturday show, but my highlights for that day included:

• Visma Mohan Batt – Indian drumming and sitar jam session. True surprise of the day (note: great for stoner playlists!)
• Justin Nozuka – solo w/acoustic guitar. He did a quick 15-min set that blew me away. Justin's got a warm and passionate voice, with a little acoustic hip-hop 'flava'. Great mini-set; be sure to keep an eye on this one.
• “Join the Hidden Cameras” - This great Toronto queer orchestral indie-rock band invited audience members to come on stage to learn a song to be performed on stage the next day. It was interactive and super fun to participate (rather than the usual drone and passive audience)
• Holy FUCK – Wicked electronic dance band, if you've never heard of them. 2 guys go old skool creating beats from without computers, midi, drum machines. They are experimental with toy keys and dancy beats. Great audience participation and stage presence. They were even called for an encore when they weren't even a headliner!
• Mia Dyson – powerful blues and roots singer/songwriter with a heart stopping voice. Although at time she's a bit too earthy alt-country for me, she stopped me in my tracks on my way to get a drink. You know she's gotta be good when that happens!

Hillside is more about enjoying the music and experience of festivals, and less about how you can tell your friends how you saw a “hot” band the next day. I'd suggest checking out the festival next year if you've never been. It's a refreshing change to outdoor festivals you'd normally experience at the Toronto Islands or in the Amphitheatre!

-Robb

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