One of the greatest weekends in Ottawa just got even better! Ottawa Explosion Weekend (June 12-15) just announced another round of bands coming to rock the capital, and many of them won’t have to travel to0 far. Continue reading
Tag Archives: festival
Westfest Line Up and Schedule Announced
The 11th edition of Ottawa’s greatest street party, Westfest, is chalked full of great talent once again this year. The free festival, yes free, is full of very good bands including Juno nominees and winners.
The festivals is being held the weekend of June 13 to 15 on Richmond road (centered at the Loblaws Superstore at 290 Richmond Rd).Friday night is a blues night, featuring Juno-nominated George Leach, a First Nations guitar man from Saskatoon. Saturday is a Canada centric night, featuring is Cape Breton fiddler Ashley MacIsaac as the headliner. Also Saturday is the aboriginal artist Shawnee and Ottawa’s pop noir sensations The Peptides. The last day is dedicated to local acts, and the crowd is in for a treat. Ottawa greats such as Pony Girl, FEVERS and Good2Go will play before Ottawa’s own international superstars, A Tribe Called Red close out the festival with their only Ottawa appearance of the summer. You can see the complete schedule here.
It is not just about the music, during the day don’t forget to walk around and check out all there is to see. The 14 block street party includes, dance acts, roaming street performers, buskers, a fun and exciting kidzone, as well as local vendors and charities all day long on Saturday and Sunday.
NXNE Second Round Announced
It’s that time of year when summer festival announcements begin pouring out the yin yang, and today NXNE announced its second wave of artists for the June 13-22 festival in Toronto.
First Round: includes St. Vincent, Danny Brown, Run the Jewels, Juicy J, Mac DeMarco, Rhye, Omar Souleyman, Speedy Ortiz, Odonis Odonis, Courtney Barnett, Mas Ysa, the Golden Dogs, the Cliks, and Paradise Animals, and more.
Second Round: includes Spoon, Sleigh Bells, Spiritualized, Swans, A$AP Ferg, tUnE-yArDs, METZ, Ryan Hemsworth, Tim Hecker, Oneohtrix Point Never, the Pizza Underground, Fuck Buttons, Low, Small Black, Eagulls, Perfect Pussy, the Barr Brothers, Le1f, Swearin’, Glasser, Alvvays, Saint Rich, Ratking, Mutual Benefit, Juan Wauters, Kelela, and more.
For more wristband and ticket information, see here. Before you know it June will be upon us, and we’ll be seeing you there!
Ottawa Explosion Weekend Announced – June 12 – 15, 2014
It’s that time of year when things quiet down and we wait for the warmer weather to come back. But it’s also time for some summer festival announcements! Ottawa Explosion Weekend, a.k.a. the loudest weekend of the year, has just announced dates and an artist submission form. No bands have been named as of yet, but you know we’ll give you the low down as soon as the lineup is announced. Just like last year, we’ll be there destroying our eardrums and bodies to keep you in the loop with what’s happening at the festival. More info below.
ELE Fest’s Sean Callaghan opens up about Ottawa’s newest addition
Once in a while, an event comes along that offers up something a little different. Here at Showbox, we fulfill our obsession with music by being shameless geeks who enjoy dabbling in all corners of Ottawa’s music scene. There’s hip hop festivals, indie boutique festivals, large-scale music festivals, and just about anything else you can think of. The newest addition in Ottawa as far as festivals go certainly caught our attention. The organizers of ELE Fest (short for ‘Everybody Love Everybody’) have big goals, all of which seem to be coming to fruition quite successfully. Not only is ELE aiming to create opportunities in the Ottawa music scene and support local, one of its commitments is to engage youth and get them more involved in the blossoming arts community in Ottawa. If that wasn’t enough, they’re also teaming up with The Candelighters Childhood Cancer Support Programs of Ottawa, which helps children and families in the region cope with cancer in a variety of ways. With such a large undertaking in its inaugural event coming up Friday, September 20, I spoke with ELE co-organizer Sean Callaghan to gain a better understanding of what ELE is all about. One thing is for sure – this festival will be a welcome addition to a growing arts community in Ottawa who are craving new ways to express and consume their work. For festival info, see below or visit the E.L.E. website.
With so many festivals in Ottawa, what is it that makes ELE Festival unique amongst the rest?
E.L.E Fest is unique because it focuses on youth and local musicians. It is created, and organized by Ottawa youths, under the age of 25 and will showcase talented individuals from the same age group. We are therefore not competing with larger music festivals in Ottawa because we have set our sights on a different demographic. Also, ‘E.L.E.’ is an acronym for ‘everybody love everybody’ and reflects the positive, communal atmosphere we are working to create at the festival. Through the festival we hope demonstrate the positive impact music can have on a community at large. In order to do so, we have partnered with the Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Support programs of Ottawa. We are raising money at the event through food and t-shirt sales, as well as at the after party through ticket sales.
How did the festival come to be? Where did the idea come from?
E.L.E Fest began as a result of two things. The first being the necessity for a stepping stone event between local bar gigs and some of the city’s larger music festivals. And secondly the prominence of competitive live music events for young musicians, such as battle-of-the-bands. Unlike these events E.L.E. Festival will encourage artists of different styles to take the stage together in one-of-a-kind collaborative performances. Thanks to the University of Ottawa’s generous sponsorship, tickets to the festival are free. The performers aren’t required to push expensive tickets on their friends and family. Alternatively, they’re working together to help promote each other and the Ottawa music scene as a whole.
From your standpoint, how would you characterize the Ottawa music scene?
To me, the Ottawa music scene is a beautiful, budding flower. Our city is rich in talent – untapped potential. Like a flower needs water to grow, so too does our music scene need hard work and perseverance. As budding professionals here in Ottawa, we have to think outside the box, and pursue a career in music with relentless creativity, developing new avenues as we carry the music scene to the next level. We intend to do our part with The E.L.E. Festival. If we can all work together we have the potential to do something very special here in Ottawa. We hope that through our efforts, other young people will be inspired to make a change of their own.
Why is it so important to get youth involved in this kind of event?
Youth are the future. In order to inspire change we have to lead by example and be the change so that’s why it’s so important for the young people of the city to get involved with the festival. We are trying to spearhead a movement. We’re putting the love back in music. With our sights set on the future, what better way to inspire the younger generations than by setting an example for them.
Is ELE going to become a yearly festival? How do you envision the festival a few years down the road?
Yes, our plan is to become an annual event. We will also expand into a full weekend and, further down the road, into a full week event. Ideally we would like to bring in large acts from all over the world to mentor the young performers and show them what it takes to make it in the music industry. Also in future years, we would like to introduce a mandatory collaborative component between artists. Each performer will be paired with another performer from a totally different genre and they will be required to create a one-of-a-kind collaborative piece. In our first year we’re encouraging artists of various genres to collaborate and expand their musical horizons, as we hope to prove this concept to be effective.
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E.L.E. Festival Information
WHEN: Friday, September 20th, 2013 from 5:00pm – 11:00pm.
WHERE: Tabaret Lawn, University of Ottawa Campus. Located at the corner of Laurier and Cumberland.
FREE ADMISSION: $5 donations are encouraged in support of the Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Support Programs.
WHO: We are very pleased to present our lineup of talented young musicians.
The Lionyls | Rock & Soul
Monday I Retire | Rock Blues Alternative
Erich Mrak | New School Hip Hop
StillNative | Raw Beat Rock
13eaudry Muzik | Hip Hop, Beat Box
Go Long (!) | Acoustic Folk Trio
Neegus | Rap, Poetry
Garden of Weeds | Rock and Roll
AkoufèN | French Alternative Pop Metal
Presented by The University of Ottawa Community Life Services.
Prevenge, Dead Weights, Dirty Kills, Robots! Everywhere!! & Benevenstaciano @ Café Luneta (FWYSF)
By Matthew Stella
“Everyone was so posi[tive] tonight,” was how the guy beside me on the stairs outside Luneta summarized the show. “It was weird,” was his analysis.
For about half of what a pint costs in the city of Ottawa (seriously Ottawa, what’s the deal?) five bands, including headlines Prevenge, played on the second night of Finish What You Started Fest. Beginning with an afternoon backyard BBQ/Acoustic show under the sun at Robot House the fest changed venues to Luneta where Prevenge, Dead Weights, Dirty Kills, Robots!Everywhere!! and Benevenstanciano got the party going for local punks, random passersby and anyone who wanted to stare into Luneta’s huge front window from the adjacent McDonald’s parking lot.
The first thing you noticed before entering Café Luneta was a chalkboard sign beside the front steps that read, “no hanging out beyond this point.” Since there was no band playing when I arrived the area was crowded with people, on both sides of the supposed demarcation line. There were even a few people reading the sign and debating exactly what constituted hanging out. The crowd would gather out here after every band to cool off, smoke, chat without music in the background, or in my case takes swigs of whiskey from a flask (see comment about beer prices above). Inside, the restaurant was fairly crowded (the tables cleared out of the way of course) for the entirety of the show. The first act, Ottawa’s own, and surely a top 5 entry in the future Buzzfeed list of The Best 17 Bands Named After Obscure Simpsons References, Benevenstanciano. The crowd seemed a bit timid, or more likely tired from the earlier acoustic show, but the pop-punkers got heads nodding and people moving after a few songs. Also one of their guitarists plays one of those guitars where you put the strings in the opposite way and doesn’t have a head. I thought that was neat.
Next up was Ottawa legend? Institution? Robots!Everywhere!! If you haven’t seen Robots!Everywhere!! yet then you need to get new friends, because decent friends would know about, and tell you about this one man musical high-five. (Full disclosure: I used to be in a band with Phil, the genius behind this project.) Phil took to the stage wearing a black bandana around his head, which made him look like a 1980s Bruce Springsteen if Bruce Springsteen had actually been unemployed throughout the 80s, lived in his parents’ basement and did nothing but eat Doritos and play Calico Vision.
Boldly, Robots!’s set include six songs which were written in the past week for, and about, some of the acts playing at FWYSF. Naturally he had some difficulty recalling the correct words, chords and keys for these songs, fortunately sloppiness is part of Robots!Everywhere!!’s charm. The next three songs he took by request. After dismissing calls for Third Eye Blind and Fastball cover he got the crowd signing along with some of his hits and ended with a medley of sorts which included the theme song he wrote for Ottawa Explosion. Playing the theme for a different festival at a festival show may have been the most punk rock move of anyone on the bill.
Next up was a slightly crusty pop-punk (or what they would call slop-punk) band from Hamilton, by way of Halifax, called Dirty Kills. They played super-melodic, catchy songs with killer bass lines that the crowd was digging, but they also spent a lot of time apologizing for harmonizing off key, which even if it was true, didn’t seem to be a problem with the crowd. The singer also mentioned being a little tired from getting drunk at the afternoon BBQ show, that, I think the crowd could relate to more. They were a really loveable band, their banter was abnormally polite (maybe it’s an east coast thing) and the three members even shared a single glass of water in between their songs as if they didn’t realize they could ask for three separate ones, I found this particularly charming. Anyone who picked up the tape that they were selling to help fund their tour of America, will surely be singing along the next time they roll through town.
Dead Weights announced that their set was brought to us by a lucrative sponsorship deal with Prevenge Inc. They later confessed to being one of twenty bands worldwide that simply play songs written by Prevenge and licensed by these subsidiaries. All jokes aside, there is clearly a similarity between both bands but Dead Weights aren’t simply Ottawa’s Prevenge. Powered by their backing vocals (the lead singer of Benevenstanciano doubles as Dead Weight’s guitarist) and more than a few members of the crowd, Dead Weights growled out fist-pumping singalong choruses that, from what could decipher, were about cops, having no money, and the military. They maybe have been the only band on the bill to have overtly political songs, but it’s hard to tell, you can never really understand the lyrics at shows unless you know them in advance.
Though Dead Weights got people into it a little more I could still hear people commenting on how tired they were from the afternoon (you gotta take a nap before the show people!) but all of that changed when the CEO of Prevenge Inc. took to the stage to commence the annual “shareholders meeting.” Prevenge have played past FWYSF shows and are billed as Montreal-faves for good reason. They are one of those bands where if you don’t know the words to the songs, you’ll pretend that you do and then go home and listen to all of the songs you can find so that you won’t have to fake it next time (wait, that’s just me? Very well…).
They started with a slow one, which didn’t really jazz up the crowd. But by the time they played crowd pleaser “Buried Alive“ off of 2011’s 7” split with Dig it Up the crowd had busted through its sun-induced malaise and everyone joined in on the chorus as the band’s two singers traded lines and the crowd shouted the response “bury us alive.” After this song the pit became pretty rowdy, arms were raised, fists were pumped, people were crowd surfed willingly or not and beer sprayed around the room. In light of the lack of a stage at Luneta the crowd managed to do a good job of regulating its own pit to make sure nobody crashed into the band. Nobody seemed to mind the flying beer except for perhaps security.
Even the band couldn’t escape the flying beer. At one point I saw the lead singer of Benevenstanciano fling beer directly into the bass players face as he approached the mic to sing. It was one of the funniest things I’d seen and all in good fun the singer assured me after the show. Also, shout out to the bass player for wearing a J Church shirt! When the band closed their set with “doublecheeseburgercokenoice“ there were groups of fans crowded arm in arm around each mic belting out “we party with the lights down low!” during the chorus.
The band capped off its encore with a cover of Minor Threat’s self-titled song. Here the bass player passed along his bass and joined the crowd to push his way through and stick the mic in the face of anyone who wanted to sing. After the set the good times continued on the beer-soaked floor as half of the crowd engaged in a massive group hug that swayed around as people continued to yell “we party with the lights down low.” Day two of Finish What You Started Fest came to a sweaty beer-soaked close and the positive vibes were painted on the faces of everyone in attendance which, if you are used to going to a show, listening to the music, ignoring everyone you don’t know and then going home, would certainly come off as “weird.”
Finish What You Started Fest: Get Yer Boots On! @ Luneta Café
If you were wondering what to do with yourself (this weekend or this lifetime) you should take a page from the book of Finish What You Started Records. Energizing, supporting and empowering the local talent is at the core of this hardcore label but what good ol’ Ska Jeff’s really saying is don’t wait around to be what you want to be. Go forward with it! And if you need to create something, do it yourself.
Oh and if you like to mosh, skank, scream, and feel the sweat fly from a musician’s banging head you’re going to have to attend the Finish What You Started Fest this weekend. It starts officially in four hours! It’s a manifestation of the FWYS manifest, a promotion of youth culture & loud music, and one bitching good time.
The 4th annual Finish What You Started Fest from Aug. 16th to 18th, 2013 in Ottawa
Wednesday was the pre-show, getting the masses ramped up for the commotion to come. Three-week-old band Bloodnail & the screaming banshees of Bonnie Doon welcomed Oakland, CA post-punk band The New Flesh to their first-ever Canadian tour. Everyone got their feet under them and swayed. A drummer spat on a chandelier, I saw him. Bonnie Doon covered Kitty by The Presidents of the United States of America. Oh yes. It woke us up.
Tonight continues things in a way Ottawa wants it, with three local bands who’ll welcome everyone in with a few raucous songs. Tropical Dripps, Moon Destroyer & Cryptids! will grace us with their mad bastardry starting at 8PM. The hub of the event is Luneta on Bronson, and we’re please reminded to smoke near the front of the building so the neighbours don’t complain. “We wanna keep this thing going for a long time,” as Jeff says.
Saturday won’t wait for evening to get under way. If you’re quick enough you’ll score some brunch at Robot House after the hour of noon. A small donation is required for grub but it’s also BYOB! No corking fee! Two guys from Ottawa, and three bands from Montreal, London & Pennsylvania will work off the Friday hangover and hustle us over to Luneta for another 8PM start with one my personal favourites Robots! Everywhere! There are five other bands playing that night… Do I have to list them all?!
Sunday (yes, another wonderful day) grindcore from Peterborough, Torontonian grinding black metal, PEI powerviolence, and local band Knives & Forks For Freedom will dot the tees and decapitate the liars to bring FWYS Fest to a wonderfully ringing silence. I can only imagine we’ll be aching for more so maybe next year will be five days of hardcore fun.
Video: Arboretum 2013 – Creative Collaborations
This year, we here at Ottawa Showbox are proud to be media partners with the best new up-and-coming boutique arts festival in Canada, Arboretum. Before we deliver full coverage of the festivities, we’re also really happy to collaborate with Jackpine, a new digital media agency chock-full incredibly talented and inspirational individuals, to bring a series of short video features. The first instalment features the co-owner of N-Product, Dominic Coballe, co-owner of Victoire Boutique, Regine Paquette, and artist Drew Mosely. If you’re wondering what that really great song is in the video, it’s called “Thailand” by Ottawa’s own Boyhood.
There will be more videos to come, and the festival is coming up very, very soon. So get ready! Watch the first video below.
Matias’ Bluesfest 2013 ‘Top 5’ lists
Having covered so much of Ottawa Bluesfest 2013, it’s hard to summarize everything or even narrow down top 5’s. So much happened, and many great memories were made. I’ll do my best to conjure these memories with honesty and (perhaps arbitrarily) rank them, but as Eric said in his post… who doesn’t like lists?
Death Grips performing at the RBC Bluesfest in Ottawa on Saturday, July 13,
2013. RBC Bluesfest Press Images PHOTO/Mark Horton
Top 5 performances (click on the band for a link to the review)
1. Death Grips
2. The Specials
3. Wu-Tang Clan
4. Passion Pit
5. Yukon Blonde
Top 5 moments (personal events, not directly related to a band’s performance)
1. After a long, hot day in the sun and a little bit of grumpiness setting in, a wonderful older gentleman serving beer at one of the tents smiled and asked me how my day was going and engaged in a really pleasant conversation with me. He made my day a lot brighter, and it goes to show how important it is to a) have volunteers, and b) be kind to people. Thank you, random genuinely good-hearted fellow.
2. Dancing (…stumbling…) like an idiot to catchy Great Big Sea songs with my closest friends. Beer may or may not have been involved.
3. During the Black Keys’s set, a woman of larger proportions passed out cold in the middle of the crowd behind me. Within seconds, people were finding ways to create a circle of protection for her until medical staff got there, supporting her head, and eventually helping to carry her to safety. The crowd parted like the Red Sea to let them through, and I thought that was really special.
4. Discovering how beautiful an icy Palm Bay is on a scorching hot day. Life-changing. “Palmed.”
5. Being able to see Rush with a girl that I fancy a lot, albeit from a less-than-ideal standpoint, but it was super cool to be there to catch one of her favourites.
Top 5 things I would change about Bluesfest
1. There needs to be greater accessibility to drinking water. This isn’t even about comfort, it’s a serious health, safety, and security concern. Every beer tent/porta-potty area should have water stations.
2. Ensure that adequate sound testing is done prior to the start of the festival (rigging-wise), and ensure that soundboard is set and ready to go. The sound issues this year were unacceptable and embarrassing. These issues rarely happen at Coachella, Bonnaroo, and Glastonbury, so if Ottawa Bluesfest wants to compete amongst the world’s best festivals, fixing sound issues is a must.
3. I’m not sure, but something tells me that Ottawa Bluesfest is out-growing LeBreton Flats. Especially with the land development taking place, the grounds are seeming to compress year after year as the festival grows. Medium to long-term planning for a new location should start taking place.
4. Not have EDM acts blasting at the same time as other acts that aren’t as prone to dropping the bass. I heard that Los Lobos were pissed about Dog Blood’s set because they couldn’t compete with the massive sound coming off the Bell Stage. Having those acts are fine, just don’t have anyone scheduled to play at the same time. It’s a matter of respect.
5. There should be more shaded area for people to hang out and recharge. Yeah, there are a few trees, but not that many. Tents could be set up with small vendors selling non-alcoholic beverages. Plastic tables and lawn chairs are inexpensive. They could even incorporate Eric’s idea of having misting tents off to the side of the shaded area so that people can cool off however they prefer.
Top 5 things I really liked about Bluesfest
1. Volunteers. These guys put a lot of their own time and effort into making sure this festival stays viable and that patrons have a wicked time. They do a great job every year and deserve a ton of credit.
2. Medical/security personnel. On multiple occasions (4 or 5 at least) I saw medical emergencies happen around me and each time the response teams were on it. It’s some peace of mind knowing that our asses are covered if something bad happens.
3. Spraying water during sets with big crowds in the dead heat of a hot afternoon. It’s almost like taking a dive in a swimming pool, it’s unreal how refreshing getting sprayed is. That, and I think the security guys just enjoy soaking the pants off everyone in the crowd.
4. I like that the festival removed a stage and replaced that area with more vendors. I felt like the former Black Sheep Stage (which is now moved to the far side of the museum) was too much for such a small area.
5. Beer tents (in the end). Once the organizers got the snake lines up and running, problems of congestion and bottle-necking were largely alleviated. While I would like to see an assortment of local craft beers being served, I understand the politics behind sponsorship so I was still happy with what Mill St. had to offer.
Top 5 interesting people
1. The pirate-zombie, whom I’ve seen around Ottawa before in full costume, navigating the tumultuous seas to find his treasure island amongst waves of spectators and lawn chairs for B.B. King.
2. The little photographer with a musculoskeletal issue who had bigger cojones than most photographers I’ve ever seen. He needed help carrying his gear, but he had no problem getting right up beside the members of Wu-Tang Clan while they were on stage to get that one great shot. He also acquired a cherry-picker and harnessed himself in to get an overhead shot (maybe 20 metres up) of the Bluesfest crowd during B.B. King. Crazy guy!
3. The ultimate Rush fan who may have been slightly overweight, but running around, dancing, and gyrating his heart out before the band came on stage. This guy ties with a Matt Good fan who seemed to think he was at a metal show whilst Mr. Good played songs like “Load Me Up”.
4. The Specials’s leads singer Terry Hall, who seems to always have a look of perpetual dissatisfaction on his face, ended up more than dissatisfied at Bluesfest. In fact, he was pissed. Due to crappy sound, he could be seen yelling out sound guys, throwing microphones, stomping around stage in annoyance. I don’t blame him one bit. Still a great show though.
5. The kid (maybe 4 years old) on his dad’s shoulders during Solange’s set who would have gone up on stage and danced his butt off if he could. Happiest kid in the festival for sure. It’s nice to see the little guys get into live music. We must all teach our children well!
Top 5 bands I would like to see next year (A man can dream right?)
1. Arcade Fire
2. Radiohead
3. Toots & The Maytals
4. The Pixies
5. Dookie-era Greenday
Bluesfest Day 9: Björk’s First Time in Ottawa was a Memorable One
Björk performing at the RBC Bluesfest in Ottawa on Saturday, July 13th, 2013 ~ RBC Bluesfest Press Images PHOTO/Mark Horton
Saturday at Bluesfest, or should I say Björk day, was balmy and beautiful.
The day started with the rocking sounds of Roberta Bondar on the Bell Stage. I really have to give it to the organizers for putting locals on the big stages. It must be really cool for them to get a taste of the big times. As always the band blew me away and their sound has a lot more depth on a setup like that.
With Bondar finished and no one I wanted to see until the Mehdi Cayenne Club at 2:45, my friends introduced me to Palm Bay. Laugh all you will, that stuff is delicious. It tastes like a carbonated freezee with liquor in it, perfect on a hot day. Subsequently, the term “getting palmed,’’ was thrown around all day.
The time had come for Mehdi Cayenne Club to bring their dancy energy to the River Stage. I must commend them for staying true to themselves and playing almost every song in French. They played some of my favourites of their first album, including “Je sais pas travailler,” and some great toe tappers of their new album Na Na Boo Boo.
Sometimes as blogger you have to make tough decisions. I left Mehdi about halfway through the set to check out Half Moon Run.
The decision paid off, as Half Moon Run was pretty darn good. The Montréal band have recently toured with Mumford and Sons and opened for Of Monsters of Men. That alone justifies dropping by. Plus, lead singer Devon Portielje is from Ottawa. I really liked their song “Call Me In The Afternoon,’’ for which they had three people hitting different drum sets. They had wonderful energy and beautiful melodies. They were loving the Ottawa crowd, “We won’t forget this, Ottawa!’’ They closed with a bluesy song at the end, considering it was Bluesfest, and they promised to be back to Ottawa asap. I hope they keep their promise, as I would love to see this band in a bar/club setting before they explode.
Not really knowing who to check out next I met up with Kyle Woods (from Kalle Mattson) and he told me I had to check out Phosphorescent. They play smooth, soft folk with some electro elements thanks to the keys and organ. The lead singer’s voice was greatly complemented by the other musicians and this band was a very cool discovery for me. I strongly recommend checking out the song “Terror in the Canyons.’’
Björk, Björk, Björk. What do I write about Björk? Playing her first show ever in Ottawa she did not disappoint. Even before she was on stage she was impressing me, with the video screen displaying a request to not take pictures or video, and enjoy the full experience. She had a 12 piece all girls’ choir in sparkly gowns who sang, danced and had so much fun. I am not sure there is a cooler job on the planet than being in Björk’s choir. The music and sound was great and her voice was impeccable.
With Björk it is always a spectacle and this show was no exception. From the Tesla coil overhead which would shoot purple lightning to the beat of some of the songs, to the video of tectonic plates smashing together as the planet reverted to one big continent. I don’t know how people on drugs could handle this, I had a hard time not losing my mind and I was only a little tipsy. What stole the show for me was at her encore, when just before playing “Declare Independence” she said, “If you feel like singing along, don’t stop yourself.’’ Very few truer words have been spoken, people. Sing like no one is listening and dance like no one is watching. Live free and let the music take you away.
Ottawa Showbox 