The workshops at Hillside are one of the best features of the festival, especially if the musicians work well together. The workshops consist of a few different bands or solo artists being thrown together to play a few songs, most never having played together before!
For this workshop, both bands meshed together well, having a similar sound and all the musicians were very talented. All the members from both bands were onstage and constantly switching instrument roles for each song. Even when they played material from one of the bands' albums, the other was still able to keep up with them. The two also played a few cover songs, including a Tom Petty song which was very well done.
All in all, this was a great workshop and start to my day. Both bands are a must to check out!
Esther Grey are local to the festival, being from Guelph, Ontario. They have a strong garage rock sound, and have previously opened for Cold Specks in their hometown.
I really enjoyed Esther Grey's music. The lead singer, Stephanie, has a unique voice giving the band an edge to their sound. The band struggled with their set, due to the many setbacks they encountered. They were missing their bass guitar and were not able to get a proper replacement in time. They also had trouble with some of their other instruments, but regardless they were still able to put on a good show.
It shows the talent this band has as they were still able to make an impression on me even though everything possible went wrong with their set.
Another workshop that I attended on the Saturday featured Zeus, a band from Toronto with a large following, Rich Aucoin, an up and coming indie-dance musician, and Chris Brown, highly talented keyboardist from Openhearts Society and formerly from Bourbon Tabernacle Choir.
This was by far the best workshop that I attended at Hillside. It was absolutely amazing! All the musicians complimented each other, and worked well together to play each their own material as well as covers, this being due to all the musicians at the workshop were highly talented.
Rich Aucoin did not lead any of the songs during the workshop but was still crucial to the short-lived supergroup. He played mainly percussion but also helped on bass and did an impromptu keyboard solo when encouraged by Chris Brown.
My favourite part of this workshop was how they did a couple The Beatles covers, since The Beatles are my favourite band. My favourite of these songs being their own version of In My Life which is a beautiful song.
This was a fantastic workshop and will prove to be a great memory of the festival.
Later that evening I was able to catch Rich Aucoin's full set to close off the night at the Island tent.
I had been waiting to see Rich Aucoin again, ever since I saw him open for Lights almost a year ago. He put on a great show, even with the technical troubles at the beginning. Though it went much better than the last time I saw him! The tent was packed for the ten o'clock show but he was still able to keep the audience engaged during the setbacks.
His show was very different from any of the other sets I saw during the festival. It had a strong positive and energetic vibe to it. Rich Aucoin was very interactive with his audience, teaching the words to parts of his songs, as well as coming out into the audience and crowd surfing.
This was definitely one of my favourite shows of the summer and I hope to have the chance to see Rich Aucoin again!
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