Singer and rapper SZA closed the 17e Osheaga Festival with a warm performance, in keeping with the overwhelming weekend we just had. A slightly smaller crowd than last year’s record crowd turned out at Parc Jean-Drapeau in early August.
Before heading to the River stage to end the night, we caught British band Jungle performing at the smaller Valley stage. Aside from their sometimes similar tempos, the band’s disco-tinged electro-funk and SZA’s irresistible blend of R&B and rap have little in common. However, these artists manage to hook us equally with the sincerity of their offerings. Let’s start with SZA.
The St. Louis, Missouri native’s setting resembled a cave or the mines of La Moria for the most part. geeks of you. Behind the stalactites were hidden musicians who approached on occasion. Various projections of scenes from the microcosm, gloomy tales or a spaceship fromAlien ensured a constant change of atmosphere.
Six dancers sometimes flanked the main artist, who demonstrated the breadth of her repertoire despite only two studio albums, Ctrl And SOS.
She dipped her toes into both without any real strategy, offering among other things Love Galore, All the Stars, Prom And Drew Barrymore at the beginning of the journey. Punk rock F2F preceded Forgivelesswhich gave great pleasure to the author of these lines because of the verse of the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Let us note in passing that the inspiration for Solána Imani Rowe’s stage name comes from his cousins, RZA and GZA.
At one point, insects stormed the stage and SZA climbed on a giant ant; surely in homage to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids… Followed Ghost in the Machine, Blind and a version of Kiss Me More which turned into Kissfrom another late legend, Prince.
Many of SZA’s songs deal with breakups and other heartaches. The string of I Hate U And Snooze is worthy of mention. Especially since the singer offered a contact dance to an android with exposed circuits on the notes of the latter… before slitting its throat. Which perfectly set the table for the brilliant Kill Bill which she always performed with a machete in her hand.
Other highlights include his splits to conclude Open Arms as well as Nobody Gets Me And Normal Girl sung from the top of a tree trunk. The recent Saturn has already won over her fans, but it was when SZA performed 20 Something as a reminder that she made their evening unforgettable.
Welcome to the jungle
Without saying that they are unique in causing this sensation, we can call the members of Jungle merchants of happiness. Josh Lloyd-Watson, Tom McFarland and officially Lydia Kitto since last year make some very catchy music. Two percussionists and a bassist accompanied them for the occasion.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Jungle on the Vallée stage, Sunday evening
The musicians offered tracks from their four albums, starting with Busy Earnin’taken from the eponymous album which has just celebrated its 10th anniversary. Candle Flamea huge hit with Erick the Architect, followed without a break. The light shows and projections were simple, but effective. Interspersed with short messages, often in French, were also served The Heat, Heavy, California, I’ve Been in Love, Back On 74 And Casio.
If someone told us that Jungle was their most enjoyable show of the weekend, we wouldn’t have a hard time believing them.
Another very good year
After enjoying its best year ever for ticket sales last year, powered by headliners Kendrick Lamar, Billie Eilish and Rüfüs Du Sol, Osheaga saw a slight drop in attendance, from 155,000 to 147,000 over its three-day run. Far from being dissatisfied, Nick Farkas, vice president of programming, concerts and events at evenko, points out that this is “probably the second best year in the festival’s history.”
“Saturday and Sunday were at full capacity,” he says. “We’re back to the energy we had before the pandemic. The brand image seems stronger to me, too. I think we’re doing a better job on the programming side.”
However, COVID-19 has still had an impact on the festival, Farkas said. Sleater-Kinney, Dominic Fike, Ayra Starr, Byron Messia, and others have canceled their appearances. “Most of it is because of COVID-19,” he said.
Raye and the storms
In the late afternoon, British singer Raye was due to take to the stage at La Montagne. Technical problems delayed her arrival, and then, after one song, she had to leave the stage due to the risk of a thunderstorm. In fact, all activities were interrupted for about twenty minutes around 5 p.m. “If there’s lightning within a 5-mile radius, we have to stop everything,” explains Nick Farkas.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Singer and composer Raye on stage at La Montagne on Sunday
So we only saw a few minutes of Raye, but her jazz that flirts with R&B like Amy Winehouse did so well immediately won us over.
A little earlier, we witnessed a beautiful moment on the neighboring stage: Briston Maroney, singer from Knoxville, Tennessee, invited a fan to accompany him at the microphone for the song June. She did so well that the blond-haired American let her defend the song almost alone. With the generous support of the crowd. It’s these moments of communion that make music festivals like Osheaga so magical.