The 17e edition of the Osheaga festival kicked off on Friday in the middle of a heatwave, and all things considered, young Vermonter Noah Kahan and his rustic pop proved to be the obvious headliner, his easy-going choruses creating the kind of air we were looking for in the humidity and heat. However, it was the English artists who left their mark on the first day: Arlo Parks in the sunshine, the electronic duo Overmono at dusk, the veteran rapper Skepta in the darkness.
The journey to Île Sainte-Hélène, then to the accesses to the park requisitioned by the Osheaga organization, was done calmly. The heat has the effect of slowing down the pace, but at first glance at the main plain where the stages of the River and the Mountain are erected, the festival will not be sold out on this Friday. We circulate between the stages slowly and sweatily, but without stepping on each other’s toes.
On the stage at La Montagne after 4pm, Mannequin Pussy is taking on the Celsius degrees – the band should have played earlier, but to our dismay, the feminist punk duo Sleater-Kinney let the festival-goers down, thus promoting the Philadelphia quartet. The only male member of the band, the imposing bassist (nicknamed the Bear) Colin Regisford has left his shirt and tank top behind the scenes, revealing the beads of sweat running down his glorious belly. Missy Dabice in her red dress, sunglasses welded to her nose, harangues the crowd, but without raising her voice; the concert will be short, but varied, going from aggressive garage to thoughtful rock songs, like their excellent fourth album I Got Heavenpublished last March.
Without rushing, we then cross the site to reach the Green and Valley stages, getting lost for a moment in this maze of paths created due to landscaping work in the undergrowth separating the two main festival sites. Singer-songwriter Arlo Parks is already at work, simply accompanied by a drum-bass-guitar trio. The place, the time (the aperitif time), the atmosphere irradiated by the sun’s rays, the musician is in her element with her pop songs tinged with R&B and folk. They stream like sweat down your back, and even the orchestra plays more calmly – the drummer gives less spring to the rhythms of his hit Carolineexposing the pretty melody in a different way.
After a few songs by American Teezo Touchdown who then occupied the neighboring stage (alone, singing and rapping on pre-recorded tapes, nice but nothing more), we headed to the Île stage to see what Romy has to offer. The female voice of the excellent London trio The XX launched last fall Mid Airhis first solo album, transposing his desperately melancholic timbre into the context of a dance floor.
Accompanied by a multi-instrumentalist busy fiddling with the buttons on her arsenal of sequencers and synthesizers, Romy Madley Croft stood straight at her microphone, delivering her pretty choruses over house, trance and disco rhythms. The first half hour seemed a bit contrite to us, the two musicians contenting themselves with delivering the songs as heard on the album; the second part of the concert rose better thanks to a few different interpretations, starting with her reinterpretation ofAngels (from The XX, taken from Coexist), supported by a catchy house finale.
British duo Overmono, on the other hand, offered a master class right after, after 8 p.m. The Russell brothers – Tom and Ed, the same first names as the members of The Chemical Brothers, to whom one wants to compare the onstage approach – dissect their repertoire live (an excellent album, Good Liesreleased last May, numerous singles and EPs) and reassemble the rhythmic and harmonic elements to create a long and captivating performance, without any downtime. Condensed from the best flavors of theunderground English, the duo played UK garage, house and techno bass lines, transforming the stage floor into a famous dance floor.
Finally, London grime icon Skepta returned to headline the Valley stage shortly before 9pm, eight years after his first visit to Osheaga, which was in the middle of a sunny afternoon, if I recall. The crowd was mostly made up of curious onlookers, forcing the MC to whip up those who didn’t know the rhymes to his classics by heart. Accompanied only by a DJ, Skepta and his imposing stage presence also relied on studied visuals and pyrotechnics; at the end of the concert, he invited his colleague R2R Moe to perform his most recent single, Miss Independent.
The Osheaga festival continues Saturday and Sunday, counting on headliners Green Day and SZA to fill up the festival crowd. Note however that several artists on the program had to be replaced: we were hoping for the young South African star Arya Starr on Saturday, but that will be for another time. Similarly, musician (and actor) Dominic Fike will be a no-show, which will cause much disappointment. Eight months after his concert at the Olympia Theatre, Moroccan rapper ElGrande Toto was due to have his first experience at Osheaga; he will be replaced by young Nigerian singer and rapper Victony.