By Tracey Lindeman
What a difference a year makes.
Amnesia Rockfest managed to overcome the major failures of last year’s edition and pull off a massive festival in the tiny town of Montebello, Quebec rather successfully. And so I’m cautiously optimistic about Rockfest, after writing it off last year.
The organizational and logistical components of the festival, the weekend of June 20-21 being its ninth edition, grew by leaps and bounds between last year and this, and it was very noticeable (and appreciated). More food, more portable toilets, more security, more exits and entrances and a bigger and better stage layout were the most notable improvements.
A few minor flaws to point out, if only so that the folks at Rockfest can work on them: festival-organized parking still needs work. The lots are really, really far and while the shuttle is a great service, it was useless during gridlock. Second: merch. Bands were only permitted to bring a small supply of t-shirts and CDs to sell at centralized merch tables. It’d be better to set up a tented area with multiple tables so that more merch can be offered. Third: sound. The sound quality at the main stage was spotty, and its close proximity to the Jägermeister and Budweiser stages made for some seriously disorienting sound clashes when you weren’t up front and centre.
Which brings me to this point: I don’t know how many more Rockfests Montebello can withstand. Every year there are more bands and bigger headliners. While that’s great for fans, I have some serious reservations about how much more Rockfest can grow in the small Quebec town. It’s already pushing double its capacity; the stages were already at the edge of the water, and so there’s nowhere else to go. Booking even more bands and bigger headliners in years to come may push Montebello over the edge as a venue.
But let’s focus on the present, shall we? Rockfest was, in a word, great. There were so many amazing bands packed into two days, set against a beautiful backdrop, with perfect summer weather to boot. There were a lot of great moments.
Here are my top five:
1. Cock Sparrer
My number one, as expected, was Cock Sparrer. The UK streetpunk/Oi! band is 42 years old, yet had never come to Canada before Rockfest. Before the show some of the members of the band expressed concern over their time slot (1 a.m. on Saturday) and whether they’d draw an audience. They were pleasantly surprised. They kicked off their set with “Riot Squad” before easing into a 17-song set (including three encore songs) that was heavy on their most-loved anthems: “AU,” “Working,” “What’s It Like To Be Old?” “Because You’re Young” and “We’re Coming Back,” among others. Cock Sparrer closed out the festival in a frenzy of sing-alongs and fist pumping, as well as with a tentative promise to play in Montreal relatively soon.
2. Danzig vs. Misfits
Both Jerry Only’s bastardized version of the Misfits and Glenn Danzig got booked to play the festival (on different nights), and Danzig definitely won this duel. His performance was fierce and aggressive, taking the stage with surprising and intimidating ferocity. The set kicked off with his band’s heavier material before bringing out Doyle and launching into a series of Misfits songs. I don’t care if Jerry Only’s got the rights to the Misfits name and logo; there’s nothing like hearing Danzig’s voice on Misfits staples like “Astro Zombies” and “Last Caress.”
3. Joan Jett
Holy mother of god, is Joan Jett amazing. Just, everything: her voice, her guitar playing, her incredible level of fitness (shown off in her vegetarian-friendly, fake-leather onesie), the way she wears songs like “Bad Reputation,” “Cherry Bomb” and “Do You Want To Touch Me?” on her face. Jett is a real pro who gives the people what they want.
4. Henry Rollins
Rollins’ Saturday afternoon set of spoken word was exactly what the doctor ordered to break up the eardrum exhaustion. A great and brutally earnest storyteller, an obliging photo-poser and the owner of a beautiful head of hair. He’s the guy all the other musicians want to have a picture with.
5. The people
Like any major festival, there will always be assholes; like those two dudes who were way too aggressive during Cock Sparrer. But the good outnumbered the bad about 10,000 to one. The friendly concert-goers, the generous townspeople, the (mostly) nice security guards, the bands, the festival and hotel staff and the media were all working toward one common goal of making Rockfest as easy as it could have possibly been.
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