Hillside Inside

Hillside is a Guelph institution, an oasis on an island in the middle of man-made lake at the end of every July. Franchise opportunities were perhaps inevitable, not to mention lucrative, so it was no surprise when three years ago Festival organizers announced that they were holding a winter edition of Hillside whimsically branded Hillside Inside.

For this writer, it was the first time I braved the Sleeman Centre in Downtown Guelph to partake in this indoor, in-city, in-winter version of Hillside. The ice had been melted, of course, but the place where the Storm of hockey play was replaced with two stages. One large Main Stage filled the south end of the rink while the open concept Island Stage sat somewhere around the blue line “down the ice.” Along the perimeter at the top of the stands is where assorted food stuffs and drinks were served, while the community booths and the merch tent waited in the hallway, just outside the main gate.

After doing my traditional “pass” through the venue, I was struck by a number of things about this inside version of Hillside: Where’s the energy? Where’s the enthusiasm? Where’s the community spirit? People were there, often in groups, digging the music certainly, but there was something missing. It was like listening to a favourite song in a completely different arrangement; you know the tune, but it was like nothing you ever heard before.

Once the jarring effect of being at a music festival in a hockey rink wore off, one was able to get into the music. My first band of the evening was The Rural Alberta Advantage, a perfectly pleasant indie-folk-rock band that suited the Hillside brand, perhaps a bit too well. One could easily sense the Prairie influences, but I could have sworn that there was a bit of punk in their DNA too. They played a surprisingly enjoyable emo version of “Eye of the Tiger,” but quickly washed that down with some more uptempo jams remembering warmer weather and sunny days.

Next, the action moved to the Island Stage for Delhi 2 Dublin, an act that made a big impression at last summer’s Hillside at Guelph Lake. I had never heard them before, but if you haven’t either, I can characterize their sound as “hardcore celtic.” Better still, conjure an image of the Sex Pistols incorporating traditional Celtic instruments and dance into their stage act and you have a very rough idea of the energy this band evokes. Alternating celtic, punk and hip-hop – usually in the same song – Delhi 2 Dublin really got the joint jumping with their spirited, high-energy set. Any band that can remind one of Michael Flatley and 2 Unlimited at the same time is definitely worth making note of.

Following the spirited D2D set came the once and former Final Fantasy, Owen Pallet. On the Main Stage, Pallet comes out and casually takes his boots off before settling behind a myriad of musical contraptions and starts plucking away without any preamble. Occasionally, Pallet would get funky with some sounds best placed in an old 8-bit video game, but mostly the artist formally known by the initials FF played, what I like to call, nap time music. It drifts you off to sleep if you’re not careful, and I mean that in the best possible way.

Sticking with the Main Stage, the growing crowd on the floor was there to receive New England-based rising folk star Martin Sexton. Sexton, getting a jump on promoting his latest album Sugarcoating, was probably more interactive than the other musicians, but that could have been the loneliness of being on stage just one man and his guitar. Overall, Sexton traded between jazz and folk inspired riffs, bringing the mood up and down between rock songs and tunes definitely coloured blue. He also occasionally got political with lyrics like “through the dessert runs a money trail.” But considering how he had the floor crowd in his thrall, one can never underestimate the appeal of a one man show no matter how big the venue.

Then, for something completely different, we got Josh Dolgin, the Montreal musician, photographer and musician that goes by the moniker So-Called. Ideally situated on the Island Stage (where a couple of hardcore fans were gathered in wait), So-Called let rip with a groovy combination of music that at times could essentially be called hip-hopolka. His back-up band consisted of a saxophone, a synthesizer, a female vocalist and an accordion. At first, one’s struck with the audacity of the sight on stage, it was as if someone’s dad had pulled out every stop in the book to prove how cool he was. And then, for the encore, he rapped in Yiddish. Try topping that Hawksley Workman!

Well, as if reading my mind, Hawksley really didn’t seem to want to try and top it. By comparison to So-Called, Workman and his band were so mellow that the Sleeman Centre was nearly comatose. Playing many new tracks from his two new albums, the recently release Milk and the soon to be released Meat, it took Workman a couple of songs to get in a groove and pick up the tempo. A lot of Hawksely’s talk with the crowd was kind of a downer, and seemingly in response I noticed a few people on the floor dancing. There we are, I thought, here’s what was missing through this whole endeavour: The interaction by the people.

Hillside Outside is always filled with people on the grass getting up to dance, especially as the night wears on. By the last set, everybody was on their feet because you just can’t deny the vibe. Sadly, at Hillside Inside the vibe couldn’t just be denied, but it felt non-existent. When I’d run into people I know, what we’d talk about is how great the music is, and not about the fun we were having at the Festival like the sights we’ve seen, the places we went and the other people we had run into. It was different, which is where the disconnect might be. This concert was called “Hillside” but it didn’t feel like “Hillside.” That could be nitpicking, or a sign of unrealistic expectations. Maybe Hillside Inside is something different and must be allowed to grow and be treated as such.

But back to the music as the hourly migration moved back to the Island Stage and the band Bahamas. “Hillside loves Bahamas,” artistic director Sam Baijal proudly declared to the crowd. Me? Not so much. Bahamas are definitely a solid band, no doubt about it. They’re easily likeable, and a perfect serviceable rock band, but to my mind there wasn’t much different between them and 90s bands like Barstool Prophets. A lot of slow jams were sown into the set, but Bahamas finished off very strong. Unfortunately, by that point, the larger portion of the crowd had moved back to the Main Stage in expectation of the Fest’s penultimate performer, Ani DiFranco.

Clearly DiFranco was The name on the ticket, and there was no standing on ceremony when she came out on to the Main Stage. She came right out, picked up a guitar that was roughly half her size, and started strumming away. Truly, this was the set that paid for the price of admission by itself, and discounting the music you could almost hear a pin drop in the arena. DiFranco’s set was by far the best at creating that Hillside vibe. The stage lighting created a dusk on a summer night effect as the number of dancing revellers grew larger. DiFranco herself seemed like a jitterbug on stage as she eagerly tapped her foot to her music and throwing some lines to the audience that got big cheers.

With Hillside Inside, what we have here is a new product with a familiar name, like New Coke. Maybe that’s a bad comparison, but New Coke was on my mind as I watched the show Saturday evening. One of the possibilities for next year’s Hillside Inside (if there is one) is that it may unfold over multiple venues rather than being localized in the grandioseness of the Sleeman Centre. But unless they can figure out how to grow grass on the rink and let warm, summer air into the Sleeman Centre, I’m afraid it just isn’t the same. The music’s still great though.

Written By Adam A. Donaldson

Photos By Adam A. Donaldson