Compared to the Full Flex performance on Wednesday and Chance the Rapper and Kanye West on Friday, Saturday July 11 was a quiet day at the festival for me. The main show I was looking forward to was Alvvays, a Canadian indie-pop band I’m fond of. I decided to show up early and check out some other acts, finally choosing to check out the Bell Stage performance by Allie X.
I showed up to the festival a little while before Allie X started her show, so I decided to wander about the grounds and drink in the scene. After picking up a slice of pizza, I stumbled behind the War Museum to the nicely secluded Monster Stage and found myself in a sea of lawn chairs and sunbathers. I looked towards the stage and saw a small gaggle of people waiting with anticipation for a group I had never heard of known as The Kinsey Report, due to start soon.
A quick Google search told me they were an old fashioned blues band from the ’80s and ’90s consisting of the Kinsey brothers, who hilariously worked their last name into a band title referring to a series of controversial books about human sexual behavior written in 1948 and 1953. Colour me intrigued.
The group trouped on stage and began playing a comforting, old fashioned collection of blues hits, mixing what I believe to be James Brown covers with their own compositions.
This is the kind of show that you go to just to kick back and relax and enjoy some smooth, smooth blues. Alas, just as the lead singer, Donald Kinsey, was calling out to the ladies in audience to shake their booties, I noticed that Allie X would be performing in under five minutes and reluctantly left.
Unfortunately for me, the performance Allie X put on was just not up to scratch compared to the good-natured blues of The Kinsey Report. The first thing I noticed upon reaching the Bell Stage was that I was likely one of the older members of the crowd. Allie X played a show that I was just not able to get into whatsoever—her vocals were uninspired and messy, her two musicians were static, and the music itself truly did not translate well from her recordings.
It was around the third song where, through my oncoming headache, I found myself longing for the soothing vocals and calm sway of The Kinsey Report. Allie X does deserve some credit, however, for her performance of the song “Bitch,” which was much bolder than anything else she had performed. I particularly enjoyed the chorus of, “I’m your bitch, you’re my bitch, BOO BOO!”
She ended the performance with a song that required her to stretch her vocal performance more than she had before, and I was actually impressed by her range—perhaps if she were to diversify her sound a little bit and maybe add more bold performances along the lines of “Bitch,” she could perhaps one day turn into a pretty good artist. As she is, however, I find myself unimpressed.
After Allie X’s short performance, I decided that it was time to start queuing up for Alvvays, particularly because the Iggy Azalea crowd was on its way. Shakey Graves had just finished his show so I had to shimmy my way through a huge crowd walking the opposite direction of me until I emerged, shaken and sweaty, in front of the Canadian Stage. To my delight, Alvvays was setting up their own gear and I think I made eye contact with the lead singer, Holly Rankin, at least once.
This was the show I had been waiting for. Once everything had been set up and the clock struck 8:30, Alvvays came back on stage and performed the kind of set I was looking for—rock solid. As the band played through a set list comprised mostly of tracks from their self-titled debut, Holly Rankin’s angelic voice combined brilliantly with the expertly crafted pop melodies and lovely vocal harmonies resulting in a remarkable live performance.
It was everything I could ask for. There was some lovely back-and-forth banter with the audience and the band looked like one that truly loves playing together, especially considering that they were friends in Cape Breton before starting the band. After a long day of wandering about, catching the Alvvays performance was the perfect way to end my night on a high note.
As I was leaving the festival I caught a few glimpses of the Bell Stage where Iggy Azalea was to perform—however, she was understandably a little late getting on stage, so there was a DJ sent to distract the audience in the meantime. The less said about that, the better.
