7/2: Day 6 of the Montreal Jazz Festival
Reaching the half way point! Got to see Mélissa Fortin, Lachy Doley, Baby Volcano, Thee Sacred Souls and LowDown Brass Band.
I get to Mélissa Fortin at the Club Montreal stage at 7:10pm. I really like this stage back here, despite coming here for my second time only so far. It’s good vibes and kinda tucked away plus it is near the giant reflective cubes aka the coolest smoke spot. The drummer has a really cool paisley shirt.
Jazz is wild. I don’t understand it but I love it. All the flavors, renditions, styles, the unique styles, the new ones, and even just like someone’s personality in jazz like the same type of bass player but what different people bring to it. It’s crazy, I’m going crazy.
Her music is really inspiring to write to or I found it easy to write very well texting my friends and catching up to people in the beginning of her act. I’ll definitely be listening to her in the future. I need that kind of inspiration and energy. Their intensity is increasing, along with their spacey funk sound and their danceability. We are out here riding a pipe organ through the cosmos. Or at least maybe I am. Jeez, I am stoned.
It’s 7:30pm walking up to Lachy Doley. He’s like blues funk rock such a cool sound. I mean good foundation, am I right? . He just said he’d keep it cool tonight, amazing. I just heard his accent in the mic and he’s Australian. With that fucking name of course he is, but also I love me my Aussies. He’s a great blues rocker like really killing it but I am also such a sucker for the organ.
Playing what sounds like the intro notes to "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" by Jimi Hendrix my excitement perks up. No way they'll play it and then all of a sudden they send right into it. Doley is on this wild instrument that I cannot even discern what it is. It is embedded in a wooden stand up desk/table. I can see him fingering down into it so it is either some strange lap guitar with an insane whammy bar or something new to me. I can only see the whammy bar which is massive. Turns out after some research it is called a whammy clavinet. It sounds great especially for the insane wah effect that this song has. I love learning new things about music and new instruments. These guys rocked! I met up with Christian for the last song and he’s a big dancer, great vibes. Just stopping through the city on the way back from his trip to Iceland.
Hop on over to the Rio Tinto stage right next door for Baby Volcano going on at 8:00pm. It is a great double stage set-up that is real easy to hop between without too much of a rush of getting a good spot. Today is the first day I skip out on the 7:30 act on the main TD stage. I listened to Baby Volcano a little bit before and she has this crazy production and energy that I am keen to see live. We get a great spot just a couple rows from the front. There are some elderly folks around me and kids. Given the intro to the show I am fairly surprised. Are they fans or just hear for the free music? Sometimes you never know. Her show opens with 2 DJs on the left and right side of the stage opening it up with some crazy layered bass increasing with intensity to the point the hair on my chest is rattling with vibrations. Not many shows have been loud but this is by far the loudest bass I have heard all week. Invigorating but concerning for those without ear protection. Christian offered me some edibles but I already took mine. Always appreciated though!
Baby volcano is really good. She’s coming out super flashy and hard as fuck. She is talking about something she did recently but I do not speak French and my Spanish is terrible. She has this insanely choreographed dance to the long outro of one of her songs dancing around the stage. I am super impressive. Then she runs around and takes off her shirt slowly backing up to turn around and revealed bandages and then blood in the middle of her chest. She’s singing a very emotional song and she has neon ropes around her left wrist and part of it sewed to her black shorts. I am missing a lot of the story she is telling without the language but I emotionally understand the story she is telling. Her performance sways between soft warm ballads and angry hard as fuck rapping. It is familiar of Rosalía but very clearly her own story.
Christian is having the time of his life banging his chest to the music, dancing all around and screaming his exuberant joy. He is pulling a lively energy amongst the crowd around us. These are the folks I love to be with at a show. People ready and willing to lose themselves to the energy of a live show. Too often there is a disconnect between the energy on stage and the audience. I know it is up to the artist to break down the dissonance with their ability to connect with their audience thorugh their music, performance and communication with the audience but I think it is a two way street. When an artist is pouring their heart out on stage or sharing their soul with you respond as you wish someone would with you. At the very least sway a little side to side but do not be afraid to be free and lose yourself to the music, the vibe, the energy or the humanity.
Her performance is incredible she’s put together a production for a big stage. This performance does not have a major stage production though. There are two DJ tables and some lights it really mostly is all her. The way she incorporated her outfit for emotional evocation and her dancing along with the communication she has with the crowd. I would love to see a show with a bigger team behind her to bring her artistic vision to a bigger stage. May someone take her to new heights.
Half way into her set, I made eye contact with her for a while. We shared a smile it was nice moment. Getting recognition for the reflecting an artist’s energy on stage are the types of non-verbal conversations I want to have. I was dancing hard, it was such fun song.
The only part of the show I understand was in her intro to a song called "Swiss Anxiety". It is a song about the cultural differences about living in Switzerland and although it is nicer to live there it is she feels alienated culturally. She is missing her roots, her identity and the cornerstone of people dancing freely in the streets.
She loves shaking her ass for us after jumping down in the crowd and getting us all dancing. What an incredible performance. My documentation abilities fell apart at the end as I lost myself to dance. I hope one day in the future I can see her on a big stage.
As we are waiting at Stage TD for Thee Sacred Souls, Christian fills me in on some of the stuff she was saying in between her songs and one of her songs was about scandalous bodies. Before the song she was asking "Are there scandalous bodies out there?" Then after a short gander, "Not really actually." I find that absolutely hilarious because she wasn't wrong. It is true for her set the crowd as pretty casual and not there specifically for her. She fucking killed it though.
These acts are always coming out on time here. Which is one aspect of festivals I really respect. The timestamps are actually accurate of when things will go on. Going to a show you get when the doors open and when the opening act will start. You'll go in blind of when and for how long the main act you are paying for will be other than the gained experience of what to expect at shows and that changes over time. Thee Sacred Souls start right on time and they sound amazing. We got keys, bass, drums, guitar and two back up singers and then the main man himself, Josh Lane.
I really love his outfit with the loose white button up short sleeve and navy pleated pants with brown leather loafers. He is looking handsome as hell. His intro to this next song starts about talking about summer love. The crowd responds enthusiastically amongst a perfect summer day with amazing music and now the tone of the summer love lots of people are sharing tonight. There’s cute couple slow dancing next to me it’s cute as all hell. Just as I am writing down in my notes about how much love Lane has to share with the world he says "Tell the person that means something to you next to you 'babe you make it easy'" says Lane.
“We are going to keep it going. We didn’t write this song but wish we did.” Lane says introducing the next song which such a wonderful way to introduce doing a cover song. I love when artists have the appreciation and admiration of "Dang, I wish I did this." or a similar vein of I really like this piece of art but I have my own story to tell with its framework.
This guy is dripping with charm he puts the smooth in silk. There is a lot love out and about tonight it’s really beautiful to see. We got a new song for you called “Lucid Girl” “You know what a lucid dream is? A dream where you have control over what happens but you are still dreaming. The song is about a girl that embodies that. She exist in a system but doesn't follow the rules just lives her life the way she does. SO if you are a girl that doesn't let societal norms hold you done then this is dedicated to you."
I like this song a lot the groovy wet funk wash sound of the guitar is out and alive alongside the singers gorgeous warm voice bouncing on top like the sun on your skin on a warm summer day. They were also sure to plug their new album coming out October 4th. Tune in if you care to but also do not worry because I will write about it when it comes out.
This next song is about the contentment one feels when loved well. The song is called 'happy and well'. 10:12pm Wow she looks like a goddess radiating in the light and she sounds like one as I lose myself to her voice. The backup singer trading parts on and off with Lane.
“This song is a heartbreak song but don’t feel bad for the protagonist of this story. It is something we all go through. They found love in the end." He asked for the lights to be blue and to lower them to make the mood melancholy. This intro was for their song “For Now”. Taken from the song “I can’t help but wonder if somewhere things changed for you.” Then, he asks to make it all red to make it a romantic mood for the song “Trade of Hearts”.
“I need you to dance to this song.” Drums and horns start “At least a two step." but nah say less my man. I am always ready to dance so let’s boogie. He came down and joined the crowd at the start of the song opening up a channel for himself and getting us to dance. A whole fucking dance party in the crowd that was fucking awesome. Yes the dance parties are great but the parties that are put on in conjunction with real wisdom are the parties I strive for.
This is one of those as Lane says "Look inside yourself to build bigger container to be able to hold more love so you can give more love to others." Then he leads into his call for a free Palestine, a free Sudan, a free Congo and liberating all oppressed people. Yes, yes, yes. Live for yourself so you can spread love to the world and that is the motto I am trying to live by. I will never get sick of it if artists using their platform for advocating for liberation of the people . Do it over and over again. Do not stop until we all are free. “We do not have the bliss to be ignorant.”
"I think this is the biggest crowd we’ve ever played to."
Guitar went to bass and bass to drums and drums to guitar. We've got a little switch up on the instruments and a little scramble on stage as they move around. "You either have broke someone’s heart or got your heart broken." Lane leads with th crowd screaming in response. They screams from the crowd. The bass line is thick and the organs is shrieking softly in too. Then there is his voice and the background singers.
"Sometimes you forget about how beautiful every moment is. This is ridiculous." We are having the best time and you can clearly see they are having the best of time. "This song is dedicated to anyone called Rose" as they move into their crowd favorite that fills the air with cheers upon hearing him say that. "Can I Call You Rose?" to end the show filled with love. Fucking amazing you can see his appreciation for the crowd tonight he loved it we loved it was all fucking awesome. As you can see, there was so much love in tonight.
I was so tired I sat down and ate my salt n’ vinegar chips for the LowDown Brass Band. They were so much fun though. I was dancing on the ground for them.