The biggest problems that the organizers of Victoria’s Rifflandia fest have faced while doing the annual music to-do have been good ones, as far as problems go. Past Rifflandias brought complaints and dissatisfied festival-goers when venues reached capacity and long lines caused people to miss concerts, but that was smoothed out with the introduction of the Royal Athletic Park as the fest’s main stage.
As the festival, now in its fifth year, got bigger so did the acts that played, with groups like De La Soul, Broken Social Scene, and The Cave Singers playing Rifflandia last year. This year, with The Flaming Lips, Sloan, Cake, Mother Mother, Dan Mangan and Fucked Up, among many others, playing, it’s clear that Rifflandia is definitely not slowing down, and has hopefully put its problems in the past.
“It’s moved to several outdoor locations while also filling every available venue around the city,” says Ghosty of local roots rock band Current Swell, who played in 2010 and who are playing this year at the main stage. “We’ve seen it grow to bringing in both national and international touring acts.”
The acts playing this year range from Reggie Watts, with his bizarre and seemingly bipolar looping a-cappella musical comedy, to chill indie pop groups like Australia’s The Jezebels. The festival’s eccentricities will surprise unsuspecting folks who unknowingly find themselves watching, say, local weirdo rap group Hundy Thou, whose shows seem a lot more like a metal concert.
And it doesn’t end there. The Flaming Lips, for example, are one of the most surreal touring acts in decades. In the past they have descended onto stages in a giant UFO, and lead singer Wayne Coyne often crowd surfs in an inflatable hamster ball while Teletubbies lookalikes dance on stage and confetti endlessly rains down upon the crowd.
Though many of the more notable acts (there are 117 in total) are international, and some seem like they’re from other planets, the festival thrives symbiotically with Victoria’s vibrant music scene.
“Rifflandia gives Victoria something we can call our own,” says Ghosty. “We have our own unique creative culture here, and this event provides a platform to showcase that. It strikes me as a union of Austin’s South by Southwest fest and the classic Canadian folk festival. Our streets and venues provide an atmosphere that is distinctly Victoria. It’s something we can get behind as a community.”
Victoria is brimming with talented artists who don’t normally get to be in a festival scenario, so Rifflandia really provides an interesting opportunity for some local artists.
“Festivals afford small bands the opportunity to be a bigger band for a night,” says Oliver Brooks, frontman of Victoria post-punk/shoegaze band Leisure Suit. “We’d have a hard time drawing a large crowd to some of our own shows, but at a festival you’ve got a huge pool of people who are already hanging around looking for their next music fix. The exposure of our name, and potentially our music, to so many people is invaluable.”
But that exposure is worthless if people can’t get in to see the band, which has been one of the biggest drawbacks of the fest. But at least if a venue is full, there’s probably another venue to go check out, which can actually work out great in the end, exposing concert-goers to new sounds.
“One of Rifflandia’s greatest assets is that, as a smaller festival, it can trick you into broadening your musical horizons,” says Brooks. “The Music Conservatory, for example, hosts three night venues. When you’ve got three completely different sets going on literally down the hall from one another it’s easy to get up and walk over to another amazing show on a whim.”
Rifflandia
Thursday, September 13 to Sunday, September 16
Various venues
2012rifflandia.com