While I wasn’t present for the first Osheaga, I have seen the festival grow substantially over the last 3 years. It took me a while to get over that and adjust to the massive layout, which still needs improvement. On the first day, Of Monsters and Men packed the Scène Verte, which resulted in some crazy bottlenecks to and from the stage. On top of it all, that bridge between the side stages and the main stages did not seem safe. Organizationally, the first day was by far the worst of the 3 days.
However, things got a little better over the next couple days and once I got over all the changes, I was able to really enjoy the festival. There was so much great music happening that I couldn’t possibly have a bad weekend.
Half Moon Run was the best set I saw on Friday. We faced a tough decision choosing between Sigor Ròs and Half Moon Run, but I think I made the right choice. It was great seeing the band play in their hometown, which meant the crowd was singing along throughout the set. Florence and the Machine was also fantastic, of course, and the crowd was absolutely crazy for Justice.
Saturday was full of great music. While I saw Brand New at the Scène de la Montagne, Chiara was over at the Scène des Arbres for Arkells. Garbage was pretty cool to see, but Feist was probably the show-stealer of the night. Oh and I should also mention that Snoop Dogg as Snoop Lion was just crazy (in a good way).
We started our Sunday super early, catching Zeus and then Dan Mangan. Mangan’s set was so heartwarming, as the crowd got really into it, especially for “Robots.” A fan even turned himself into a robot and Mangan had him come on stage, which was really sweet.
The question that was posed to me all day by all the wonderful folks we’d run into was if we were seeing M83 or The Black Keys. We chose The Black Keys, but we left a little early to avoid the lines to get off the island, which was before the “Everlasting Light” magic that happened. Check out Moment Factory’s video titled “Pixels Rain at Osheaga 2012.”
And while the festival was great, my favourite part of the weekend was (hands down) the Arkells’ Motown after party at Corona Theatre with Yukon Blonde on Saturday night. Yukon Blonde played a full set and then it was an absolute party for the Arkells. At one point, the stage was packed with friends, musicians and fans.
We’re hoping that next year Osheaga has its kinks ironed out because we’d love to go again next year. While there were some frustrations, it’s amazing that the festival sold out (120,000 people over the course of 3 days). It is really great to have a Canadian festival get this kind of attention and we hope this continues.
Plus, Montreal is just the best.
buying shots for bands 
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