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Mac DeMarco-Hozier-Tame Impala-Childish Gambino is the best finish to a festival I’ve ever seen.
Osheaga fun fact: three Indie artists released a song called “Nobody” in the last year. We saw all three perform their version this weekend at Osheaga!
Still a little groggy but here goes the full review now that we are back home in NY.
Montreal, the Metro, the festival grounds, and all the people are fantastic. Inforoo jokes about vibes all the time but wow what a friendly, accepting city. I would like to thank everyone on here for all their tips tricks and hints. They were all very helpful and I’m very thankful for you! We basically stayed on St Catherine so just hanging out there outside of the fest is all you really need. Fun to people watch!
Visited: St-Viateur Bagel Shop (20 min wait, was pretty good), Caffè Italia (best loaded prosciutto sandwich I’ve ever had), Dispensary (25 min wait, excellent quality).
Someone suggested the Sainte Elisabeth bar as a chill place to go. It was indeed. We saw the guitarist for Mac Demarco there by himself. He was on his phone for the whole time but he had a couple drinks. It was definitely him since he had the same outfit and armbands on that he wore for the set!
Friday: JPEGMAFIA – meh, too much yelling. Denzel Curry – Meh, pretty boring. His bulls on the parade cover was just ok since he didn’t do the whole song. Bob Moses & Fisher – Excellent b2b right there. Joji – dug it, will research him more now. Saw the last 30 mins of MSTRKRFT. Very repetitive but could be okay late night. Knew that they’d fill in for someone this weekend. Turned out that J Balvin was stuck in NYC. We actually saw Keeler in the crowd for Vladimir Cauchemar the next day. Was 10 rows back for the Lumineers and saw all of the Flume set from that side. I commented earlier about this but here’s another thought. I’ve seen 100+ EDM sets with someone bobbing away turning dials and pushing buttons. I liked what Flume did and his show was different to say the least. Sounded great too. The Lumineers were top notch and deserving. Loved every min of that set.
Speaking of the sound. If you are close for a headliner, it seems not loud enough. My wife kept saying that she wanted more! (either bass or treble / vocals) But when you go to the middle or back of any stage, the sound usually gets better.
Saturday: Saba was ok. Sales was sweet and King Princess will be a star soon. Young the Giant served their purpose and got me grooving. Sofi Tukker is a party. Got 10 rows back for Logic and he was good. He definitely is corny but when he went to rip it, he did. I was hoping for some guest appearances with all the short-cutoff songs he did. Chemical Brothers were fantastic. If you wanted to get close for that you easily could. I wish I was in the thick of it but I was in the middle and had excellent sound. Place was wild.
Sunday: I love starting the day at the Tree stage since that’s the quickest entrance to the festival. (Not sure why everyone uses the main entrance and waits forever!) Alec Benjamin and CRI were meh. Normani was dope. Mac Demarco was one of my favorite sets. His “getting wasted while I perform” show is very entertaining. Loved every minute. Heard some Boy Pablo and liked what we saw. Got to the first set of secondary speakers for Tame. They are my favorite band and I was only disappointed that they didn’t have the “ring” and were only given 1.15 hrs. Could’ve easily gone for 10 more songs. But I’ll get my fix on 8/22 at the garden. Last was Gambino. Excellent set. Loved the cinematography. His sound was perfect and I really dug that new song that he played. I don’t think it’s available yet but it’s a banger. My hunch is that this is NOT HIS FINAL TOUR. The guy is a superstar and his concert has finally reached that level. People will continue to pay to see him.
The best part about the weekend is that my wife is already talking about going next year! Score!
Pros: Osheaga is a well-oiled machine. Their scheduling, staff, food, and art is awesome. Vendors selling things in the crowd of a set is very convenient. Cons: All their mixed drinks are weak. Only one small food truck for craft beers. Dust outside of the main stage area. Maybe get rid of the festival that occurs right before it?
"Montreal, the Metro, the festival grounds, and all the people are fantastic."
Couldn't agree more! Wife & I drove home to NJ yesterday, and it's back to work today, but still carrying the feel-good vibe. Some final thoughts:
Transportation:
- The Metro is truly top-notch. They allow just enough people on the platform for the next train, protecting against overcrowding or falling on the tracks. Trains are frequent- we spent way more time waiting at US/Canada Customs than waiting for trains over the entire weekend.
- Getting a 3-day pass on Friday is the way to go. We also used it to visit Botanical Gardens and the cafes & pubs in the neighborhood surrounding Berri/UQAM stop.
Facilities:
- Plenty big enough for the growth, but we got good spots for favorite sets by showing up 15-20" early.
- The dust was likely due to ridiculously low (33%) humidity, plus the newly-renovated grounds and turf not having enough time to settle in yet. That should improve. Sunday night we finally retreated to the Osheaga grassy bank at the back of the main stages area, for Tame, and it was really nice! Breezy, very little dust and smoke, great view- especially with the lasers streaming overhead, and they did a great job getting the sound all the way to the back (now I understand and appreciate the large masts).
- Hoses spraying crowds: at first, I resented getting an involuntary shower, but afterward felt thankful and refreshed!
- Open air urinals. Really. Is this a Canadian thing?
Scheduling:
- Great job, allowing us to see almost everything on our list, with out conflict or overlap.
- Saw many talented, breaking acts that we wouldn't otherwise get around to seeing individually. This is why we go to festivals.
- I would've liked a paper schedule and map including food vendors, but this is 2019...
Crowd/vibe:
- Heavily younger-leaning crowd. The wife and I were clearly at the outer fringe, age-wise, but diversity abounds here, with all kinds of people from all kinds of places, Coachella-like costumes and dress, and pretty much an anything-goes atmosphere. We never felt "out-of-place".
Thanks again to those who provided tips in advance. Au revoir!
- Open air urinals. Really. Is this a Canadian thing?
Europe has them too. The USA does not, since whipping out your dick in public like that would get you on the sex offender registry.
"The pee forest" (as my friends decided to call it back in 2014) was definitely a shock to us at the time. But it also makes it super easy to quickly relieve yourself without having to go wait in portapotty lines. I learned to love them, but they're definitely weird and i'm surprised they still exist. They didn't have them at the temporary site in 2017/2018, right? At least not that I remember.
I am so hurting at work today lol. On the strength of Saturday and Sunday alone, I'd say this ranks up there with '16 as one of my favorite festival weekends ever.
Negatives:
The dust, sight lines, new "traffic management" layout, and food options could all use improvement. And by that I mean, they should just revert to what they had back in 2016; move back the sound tents, create more open space, and get rid of the choke points.
Greenery. This place used to have a lot of green space, so I was sad to see how much concrete they laid. Bring back some grass and trees, please.
Positives:
The line up, scheduling, and the facilities were all top notch.
Vibez. Even with the amount of legal weed being smoked, pretty much all of the crowds we were in were great.
In total, we saw 18 full sets and 3-4 partial ones.
Top 10: 1-3. Chem Bros, Tame, and Childish in no particular order. The lights, set lists, and crowds for all 3 were near perfect. 4. Janelle Monae 5. T. Whack 6. Fischer 7. King Princess 8. City and Colour 9. Logic 10. St. Paul and the Broken Bones
Me and wifey are thinking of making babies this year, so this might've been our last hurrah for a while. If it is, it's been a great 7 years
A little late with this, but my Sunday top five: 1. Metric - not seeing much love for them on this board, but this was my favorite show of the day. Helped I was in the 4th row, but this was a much anticipated set as I’ve never seen them before, and only recently really started listening to them. 2. Gambino - truly delivered 3. Fontaines D.C. 4. Tame Impala - have seen this show many times now 5. Sam Fender/Hozier
