Even though there was intermittent rain all weekend, Rifflandia 2015 was a success. The festival, now in its eighth year, brought 230 musicians to the city for four jam-packed days of music spread throughout Victoria from September 17 to 20. Orchestrated by local production company Atomique Productions, Rifflandia transformed 22 locations around the city—from parking lots to sports fields—into festival stages.
The lineup this year included something for almost everyone, hosting hip-hop, EDM, country, folk, rock, and pop shows. The addition of the BreakOut West festival and the West Coast Music Awards brought a truly national focus to the event. And, as usual, Phillips produced their signature festival beer, Rifflandabrau.
The festival’s musical nerve center, Royal Athletic Park, had the nice, family-friendly atmosphere typical of an outdoor music festival. Dozens of vendors and food carts filled the playing green; during the sunny breaks there were barefoot kids and families galore.
The weather was only partially cooperative, and Friday in the park was a bit soggy. Add to that the fact that Chromeo, the Friday-night headliner, took sick and cancelled at the last minute, and it wasn’t the greatest Friday ever.
On Saturday, however, the sun was out and so were the fans, an estimated 3500 of them. A big hit was Calgary-born Kiesza, who commanded the attention of the crowd from the side stage with a high-energy set. She was outdone only by the evening’s headliners, Modest Mouse, who thrilled the audience.
Out of respect for the North Park neighbourhood, the park stage finished by 9:30 and crowds of music-lovers spread out across the city. They were undeterred by the rain, which began just as Modest Mouse finished up. An especially popular location was the Phillips Brewery yard, where hundreds lined up to see Kytami’s wild electric violin. The Capital Iron parking lot next door had DJs spinning electronic dance music all night long, and, in a more intimate setting, local boy Mike Edel played a max-capacity show in the Northern Quarter.
The festival wrapped up on Sunday evening with headliners Mother Mother. The performance was energetic but a day of intermittent rain seemed to have dampened some of the enthusiasm of the crowd from the night before.
Rifflandia is great at making the festival an integrated part of Victoria’s cultural scene. There are Victorians who resent the crowds and the noise, but noise levels are carefully monitored and kept in check.
The family-friendly nature of the festival is appreciated, and getting my groove on next to seven-year-olds riding mom’s shoulders made dancing to Modest Mouse and Mother Mother all the more enjoyable.
While Rifflandia is a festival that’s all about the fans, BreakOut West is as much of a music industry festival as it is a music listening festival. Now in its 13th year, BreakOut West visits a different city annually, hosting workshops, performances, galas, and culminating in the West Coast Music Awards.
This year the musical performances were sprinkled throughout the Rifflandia lineup. Several special genre showcases highlighted jazz, country, classical, and children’s musicians.
The festival also includes several days of conference workshops and industry meet-ups, where producers, agents, and musicians rub shoulders and talk about the state of the industry. Conference topics this year included social media, touring, and running your music as a business.
Alvin Jahns, one of the partners of Stony Plane Records from Edmonton, was in town to discuss the future of music sales.
“The whole world of the music business is changing so fast these days,” says Jahns. “The technology changes, but so do the fans. CD sales were down, and now downloads are down, too. In fact, CD sales have once again surpassed downloads, because everybody is moving to streaming music. The question for us is, how do you make money off of streaming music?”
BreakOut West culminated Sunday night with the West Coast Music Awards gala, hosted this year by CBC’s Grant Lawrence. Lawrence came onstage dressed as Captain Cook; his jokes were a little awkward at times, but the lineup of performers sprinkled throughout the ceremony was excellent. Thankfully, all the recipients kept their speeches to a minimum.