After arriving we checked into the site, pulled up our car for the week, the Honda Ridgeline, and started to set up camp. This is definitely one aspect of a Canadian festival that many take for granted, but having attended a number of festivals in Europe, I have always been used to travelling by train and bus, or having to park miles away and walk all the equipment to the campsite. It is just so easy at WayHome, which makes the camping experience much more luxurious!

Once we had unpacked, we entered the festival site and headed straight to the WayHome main stage to catch NoName, a soulful Chicago artist featuring a full live band. To avoid the scorching summer sun, we spent a lot of time roaming the festival grounds on the first day to get our bearings.

After seeing Dashboard Confessional’s set for some early 2000 emo vibes, we were soon treated to a festival highlight in Cage The Elephant. The Kentucky band has never been far from the mainstream since their first album in 2008, released on the back end of Indie-mania. They’re not doing anything particularly revolutionary, but nothing can detract from the animal magnetism of lead singer Matthew Shultz – you can’t take your eyes off the guy as he struts around like a dolphin at a Disney themed water park. Diving into the crowd and ripping his shirt didn’t seem to deter him, and it was the sort of magic that only a festival can provide.

Flume, Australian record producer Harley Edward Streten, headlined the main stage on Friday. The DJ let rip, playing a variety of ‘bangers’ with a big light show and visual display. It seems he’s pretty popular with ‘the kids’, who enjoyed his set.

From there we fled to see Justice, the French electronic music pioneers who had brought a huge show with them. With walls of amps stacked and lined up on either side of the stage, the duo can still create that feel good music that we’ve all become so well acquainted with.

Danny Brown brought the first night’s proceedings to a close, playing material from his recent album, Atrocity Exhibition. With that unique voice that has seen him collaborate with the likes of Kendrick Lamar and The Avalanches, his disposition was infectious and it made for an entertaining set.

Saturday came around with Death From Above providing the first major highlight. I had seen the Toronto duo several times previously, and to be honest, assumed that they had maybe lost some of their intensity over the years. However I can confirm that there is no such problem – they ripped through both old and new material like true professionals, reimagining some of the hooks. With a touch of humour from lead singer Sebastien Grainger, the mesmerizing bass mastery of Jesse F. Keeler and an excitable home crowd, it was another magical festival moment.

We switched over to see another two-piece immediately after in Royal Blood, who hail from my home country of England. Whilst their first album shot them to instant fame, their second has not been so well received and to be honest, I can see why. They were tight as hell, but what’s the use when it’s about as entertaining as a sack of potatoes. I guess it goes to show that the effects of Brexit are far further reaching than we first feared.

During the day, we were constantly shifting between the stages and the campsite to sink a cheeky beer or two. Hell, it’s all so damn close and that’s one of the best things about WayHome. This year’s festival was slightly condensed with only three stages rather than four, meaning that there were more chances to catch some campsite fun if there was no-one playing you wanted to see. For me, the campsite is a key part of any festival experience – if you’re not camping, you’re not doing it right.

We returned to the arena for Solange, Beyonce’s sassy younger sister, who received rave reviews for 2016’s, ‘A Seat at the Table’. I can see why because she is pure class. Dressed all in red alongside a motley crew of backing singers, brass players, guitarists, a drummer and synth maestro, she flew through a set that was captivating from start to finish. Solange seems to have reimagined Motown, bringing it into the modern era with a fresh new feel.

With choreographed movements and the best stage design of the festival, her vocal strength shone through. Even when having technical issues with the drums, she pulled it out of the bag by playing a version of Toni, which was probably the standout moment of the whole set.

Imagine Dragons then took to the main stage to headline Saturday, and while they’re not really my thing, it probably drew the biggest crowd for the entire weekend. The attendance for Saturday in general seemed a lot stronger than the previous day, presumably with the sales from day tickets.

Marshmellow, an EDM artist with a huge light up marshmallow for a head, was up next. It is at this point that I do wonder if I’ve completely lost track of what music is and should be? Am I out of touch with the new generation? The giant sugary treat persisted to remix material from great artists like Oasis and Adele. The formula is simple: start with a popular song, ruin it and then fall into some monotonous half-time EDM with about as much class and subtlety as a chocolate fountain. THEN, alternate between smoke and fire effects to get a cheer from a crowd.

I would just like to take this moment to point out that I am a huge fan of electronic music when it is executed with subtly and class. I can only describe Marshmellow as hell on earth and I was later haunted by confectionary related nightmares.

The final day of WayHome arrived and the sun was again out to play. Begonia brought some soulful vocals to the WayAway stage in the forest (my favourite stage, being beautifully lit at night to give it a paradise feel). After that we caught Tennessee’s Colony House who provided some lively American rock that woke up the crowd, who were probably still hanging from the debauchery of the night before.

Following them came a good feel performance from New York’s The Drums, for everyone that wanted to go surfing.

Alas we were hit by a sudden pang of the blues because we knew that our WayHome festival experience was coming to an end. Charles Bradley hit the WayBright stage in the early evening sun with his Extraordinaires to give us some funky upbeat music as we contemplated life after the festival. For a man that’s knocking on the door of 70, jeez does he rock, swing and wear some fantastic outfits. Charles still has the moves.

Now unfortunately we had to leave before the hotly anticipated performance of Frank Ocean, so I am unable to comment on his performance, but the final set that we saw in was from Virginia’s Car Seat Headrest, fronted by the enigmatic Will Toledo.

In addition to playing some groovy tunes with humorous lyrical undertones, the band played a song about Oro Medonte that they had written that same day, with bassist Ethan Ives holding the freshly scribbled lyrics up for Will to read as he strummed.

And with a wham, and a bam, WayHome Arts and Music Festival 2017 was over for another year. The weather was hot and glorious and many of the issues that I outlined with 2016’s festival had been dealt with. Attendances were not as high compared to the previous two years, which I think can safely be attributed to the lack of any mega, mega, mega stars on the lineup – it was always going to be hard to follow up on Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem and The Killers, and that proved to be the case.

That said it was overall a great festival experience, and one that Toronto really needs close by, so I really hope that they come back in 2018 with a bigger and better lineup. For more information about WayHome, visit: www.wayhome.com

Thanks to Honda for letting us test drive the Honda Ridgeline for WayHome 2017 – it was an awesome ride with tons of space for all of our camping gear and provisions.

The post WayHome Festival 2017: Flume, Imagine Dragons & Frank Ocean appeared first on Toronto Guardian.

The Music

Let’s start by explaining that WAYHOME 2016 had a good variety of music so if you attended the festival yourself, I’m probably going to miss out some of your personal highlights. Indeed part of the charm of WAYHOME was the amount of music catering to so many different tastes. Every time you spoke to someone new, they raved about how great something was that you didn’t even know had happened!

Bombino provided an early highlight on the main stage despite the blistering heat in the midday sun. Their Indian inspired rock has a very original and satisfying feel to it. Aside from the music, they also looked like a really cool bunch, wearing long brightly coloured robes. I enjoyed it thoroughly, even after I retreated to sit in the blissful shadow of a flag fluttering frantically in the breeze.

Foals brought a bit of English style rock music to the WayBold stage with a back catalogue that most bands would envy. The highlight of their set saw them conducting a cyclone of freestyle grooves that span in circles getting everybody way too excited (it’s hard to explain but if you’ve seen them before, you’ll probably understand what I mean!)

Giants LCD Soundsystem lowered a huge disco ball at the start of their headline set, sending shards of light flickering across the audience and creating a veritable visual feast. I feel like their style – dancey electronic music with great percussion – doesn’t always get its dues in Canada, so it felt even more special when they ripped through tracks like ‘Daft Punk is Playing at My House’ and ‘Yeah’ which led to everyone shouting, “Yeah Yeah, Ye, Ye, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” and so on! James Murphy’s band definitely know a catchy hook and it is way more captivating live than on the record in my opinion.

I’ll admit I then snuck off early to catch the start of Canadian treasure, Mac Demarco’s set. Their mixture of music, theatre and comedy is just plain fun and it was hard not to feel elated as Mac flew over the audience to the sound guy, giving him a kiss before crowd surfing back like a true hero. Theatre aside, there was also a lot of light and shade in the music which created some beautiful contrast and sing along moments… just how live music should be.

Down the sun set and up it rose for a second day of music. My Saturday highlight was BADBADNOTGOOD whose musical excellence and improvisation combined with perfectly punchy jazz-rock to create a crowd-pleasing set. That was topped off with headliners Arcade Fire who blasted through the hits, bringing the roof off with probably the longest fireworks display I’ve ever seen. Of the new tracks, ‘Reflector’ stood out, just like it did on the album. It was hard not to get carried away when ‘Wake Up’ came on to finish and boy did it get the crowd going. A fantastic performance from one of the best rock bands of our generation, and that’s why we forked out the cash to attend.

FKA Twigs played a late night set bringing some edgy pop queen vibes that the great Bjork would have been proud of.

The final day arrived with All Them Witches the surprise package, offering a set of a groovy rock with a light progressive touch. Glass Animals also packed an indie punch, which led up to Brandon Flowers’ headline act. The Killers, still riding a decade long wave since their debut album ‘Hot Fuss’, still have what it takes to entertain a crowd. Even if it doesn’t quite live up to LCD Soundsystem and Arcade Fire in terms of class, you’re never going to be disappointed when singing along to their catchy pop tunes. It was a decent end to a decent weekend of music.

The Festival Experience

As a WAYHOME virgin, I could definitely tell that the festival was new and arguably still finding its feet. With the lure of some of the world’s biggest bands in town, the tickets didn’t come cheap, plus you were then expected to pay more for a separate camping pass (a new addition for this year I’ve heard). Did you expect to be able to shower for your $130 camping pass? Guess again, a weekend shower pass was another $30 payable upon arrival for those determined to stay clean. That aside, the camping situation was awesome and you were able to drive your car right up to where you pitched the tents – a first for me, having previously only attended festivals in England and Spain where you’re left to walk everything miles to the campsite.

It was a hell of a lot of fun chilling around a car as you could bring way more stuff for a better camping experience. Our 7 seat Honda Pilot was spacious enough to fit six people and all of our gear, meaning that we were able to fill up our WAYHOME camping spot travelling in a single vehicle.

When you got into the festival site itself, it was clear that the beer companies had spent a huge amount of money on fanny packs, sunglasses and other promotional tat. Perhaps it would be better if a can of beer got you change from a tenner instead? The lowest point of the festival for me was when a few of the bars ran out of beer. Yes, they ran out of beer at a music festival – it’s almost like they didn’t know how thirsty the audience would be!

Apart from the beer, shade was a problem. WAYHOME 2016 started with two days of blistering heat with most punters forced to retreat to the forest stage, which was pretty much the only shade. Those who had upgraded to VIP had shade, which did leave you wondering if shade really should be reserved for those who can afford it? Perhaps they weren’t expecting the heat, but here’s hoping that they learn for next year. Another potentially better alternative would be to program the music to start later and finish later. Again that’s something that they tend to get right at the big Spanish festivals, meaning you’re not forced to watch bands in the midday heat.

For all of the highs and lows of WAYHOME, it’s fair to say that it’s just good to finally have a music festival in Ontario that is capable of enticing some of the world’s greatest acts. I feel like that must be a huge sigh of relief for Torontonians, even if WAYHOME has a way to go before it becomes a truly exceptional festival.

Find out more on their website and remember to save the dates for next year, July 28th-30th 2017.

The post WAYHOME Festival 2016 feat. LCD Soundsystem, Arcade Fire & The Killers appeared first on Toronto Guardian.