By: Laura Molinaro (@Laura_Molinaro5) –
The Grove Music Festival, which took place on August 3rd, was originally slated to take place at The Commons at Butler’s Barracks in the Niagara-on-the-Lake region but due to significant backlash from the community, the festival moved to a new, all-embracing Toronto location: the historic Garrison Common at Fort York. This location change resulted in a slightly less filled-out lineup with headliners Macklemore and Pretty Lights opting out. On top of that, Icona Pop also dropped off the bill. That being said, what remained was no less a plethora of fun and eclectic artists from all over the globe, including: French Indie-sweethearts Phoenix, England exports Palma Violets and Canada’s own Young Empires. With the single-stage approach the festival took there was no dreadful compromising over double-booked time slots and every act received the crowd’s undivided attention.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Phoenix
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Phoenix opened their triumphant headlining set with “Entertainment” from their latest album Bankrupt!, which came out this April. This was a great tone to set off on and they did just that —entertain. The French alternative quartet performed in front of a massive LED screen which at times displayed a backdrop of the Chateau Versailles of the band’s hometown and at other times was lit up in neon shades. Three songs in, they performed their single “Lisztomania” to a manic frenzy of chanting and jumping from the crowd. The crowd’s high intensity energy levels were kept up for the remainder of the night as they burned through tracks like: “Run Run Run”, “Armistice” and the new single “Trying To Be Cool”. More than once during their performance, frontman Thomas Mars left the stage to perform from atop the barriers to get as close to the ecstatic crowd as possible. Before concluding the night, Phoenix played the fan favourite “1901”, and they closed off their set with a performance of “Rome” which saw Mars crowd surfing through the crowd amidst an exciting instrumental breakdown.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Hot Chip
_____________________________________________________________________________________
During Hot Chip’s set the stage was almost as crammed with synths as the crowd was with people. Everyone began pushing up but it soon became clear this was mainly because Phoenix was on next. The British electronic music act usually functions as a quintet but for this performance, there were seven members on stage. They opened with an impressive instrumental intro “Boy from School”, followed by the darker “One Life Stand” which featured epileptic stage lights. They played tracks form all over their discography including: “Night and Day” and “Flutes”. Their performance of “Over and Over” got the crowd chanting but it wasn’t until they closed with their biggest hit “I Feel Better” that they fully won over the audience.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Girl Talk
_____________________________________________________________________________________
When Girl Talk took to the stage, the crowd was already chanting his name. As the American mashup artist began spinning, confetti shot out of cannons setting the tone for a celebratory experience. Since Girl Talk works alone, he enlisted members of the crowd to jump on stage to increase the hype–not that it was lacking. Giant balloons were let out and men with custom leaf-blowers blew toilet paper into the crowd. Girl Talk spun mashups that put the likes of Kelly Clarkson, Marilyn Manson, 50 cent, N.E.R.D. and Queen head to head making it clear that nothing was off-limits.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
The Gaslight Anthem
_____________________________________________________________________________________
The New Jersey-based band opened their set with “Handwritten” followed by the contemplative “The ’59 Sound”. During the quieter parts of “Biloxi Parish” the crowd helped singer Brian Fallon out with the words. The crowd got even more excited as they began to perform the cheery, “The Diamond Church Street Choir”, followed by their spot-on cover of The Ramones power-pop-sounding “My Brain is Hanging Upside Down”, which appeared on the punkers 1986 album, Animal Boy. Near the end of their set they played the heartfelt “Mae”, and “American Slang”, which capped off an impressive performance.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Earl Sweatshirt
_____________________________________________________________________________________
LA rapper and Odd Future minion Earl Sweatshirt was the first example of how eclectic Grove Fest’s lineup really was. His set up was simply a single laptop hooked up to speakers and a microphone but preparing the stage cut at least 10 minutes off of his already short set. Behind the desk Taco Bennett handled spinning as Earl ran the mic. Earl opened with “Kill” from his debut mixtape Earl and had fans rapping along with him from the crowd. He played the short “Blade” next, and with his debut studio album Doris slated to come out on August 20th he played some new material including his latest single “Woah” and album track “Chum”. He also played the much appreciated Odd Future track “Orange Juice”, which left the crowd wanting more after only a 20-minute performance.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Wavves
_____________________________________________________________________________________
By the time California surf-rock trio Wavves hit the stage, the crowd was substantially bigger and more riled up. Despite having just released Afraid of Heights this March, the band played just as much of their third album King of The Beach. They opened with the fun and sunny title track of that album and followed with “Super Soaker”. Next up they played “Afraid of Heights” and “Sail to the Sun”, which saw the first crowd surfers of the day as well as the first mosh pit. “Post Acid” and “Demon to Lean On” both had the crowd singing along and Wavves concluded their set with 2010’s slow building but explosive “Green Eyes”, which left the crowd crying an unmet chant for an encore.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Palma Violets
_____________________________________________________________________________________
The microphone problems from Young Empire’s set were still present but luckily for the Britpop quartet Palma Violets, they have more than enough charisma and backbone to counteract the technical difficulties. More people arrived and the crowd packed closer to the stage. The band managed to cram their energy into every song they performed, beginning with the easily chantable “Rattlesnake Highway” followed by “Chicken Dippers”. The set’s highlight was their performance of their hit single “Best of Friends” which easily won the crowd over. During “Last of the Summer Wine”, drummer William Doyle took to playing while standing on his seat, and by the end of their set it was clear to see why they’ve received so much hype in North America.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Young Empires
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Young Empires have self-proclaimed their genre to be “world beat haute rock”. If that doesn’t impress, neither will their live act. The Toronto-based trio’s set fell flat for the most part but to be fair, it was at the point in the day that the main microphone began to have issues, drowning the vocals under the mix. They opened with “Against the Wall” which featured clacking percussion and laced riffing. The crowd was small but not really into it, but later in their set during their performance of their single “White Doves” and “We Don’t Sleep Tonight”, they won the crowd over.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Nightbox
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Opening the festival was Toronto’s own Nightbox, who are soon to become the city’s hottest exports. The dance-punk quintet was formerly based out of Ireland but they now suitably reside in Kensington Market. All members were engaging performers and consummate professionals at wreaking havoc while jamming out during instrumental breakdowns. Their brief showcase featured their latest single “Utopia” and tracks from their debut EP including “Pyramid” and “Bears”. They ended their set with all band members aggressively pounding on the drum kit at the end of “Relocate You”. Unfortunately for everyone who came later in the day, Nightbox played a set that you shouldn’t have missed. They will release their debut album by the end of 2013. Be sure to check them out!
Aesthetic Magazine | Album Reviews, Concert Photography, Interviews, Contests 
Discussion
No comments yet.