Riverfest Elora 2019
Bissell Park // Elora, Ontario // August 16 – 18th, 2019
Review and photos by Karen K. Tran
For a small town in southern Ontario like Elora, a music festival like Riverfest is its biggest event of the year. Now in its 11th year, the three-day weekend festival drew in thousands of festival goers with international acts like headliners City and Colour, Mighty Mighty Bosstones and The Sheepdogs. In addition to the big headliners, the festival lineup is consistently full of Canadian musicians every year and gives many local bands a place to shine.
Kandle Osborne
Weeks before the show, headlining singer-songwriter Jessie Reyez had to cancel due to an injury which led to a last-minute fill in by The Sheepdogs, who had previously played at Riverfest in 2016.
The Sheepdogs
Friday night of the festival was short but sweet, with standout sets by Montreal-based synthpop group, Men Without Hats, who had the crowd jiving to hits like “The Safety Dance,” and Joel Plaskett, the Halifax songwriter. The emcee introducing Joel Plaskett mentioned that the Riverfest team had been trying to get him on the lineup for the last few years.
Joel Plaskett
Day two of the festival saw the most diverse musical acts like the latin hip-hop group Los Poetas, the early 2000s Canadian rapper k-os, the art rock band The Darcys, and the all-female Icelandic hip hop group Reykjavíkurdætur.
Los Poetas
k-os
The Darcys
Only their second performance outside of Europe, Reykjavíkurdætur, or “Daughters of Reykjavik,” were easily the most compelling performers of the night. Although most of the crowd did not seem familiar with their music and could not understand their Icelandic lyrics – in between songs they would give a brief explanation about the meaning of the song in English – the Daughters were able to connect with the audience using their commanding stage presence. In contrast to their k-pop style choreography, the Daughters conveyed real attitude in their rough vocal performance while still being feminine.
Reykjavíkurdætur
Alice Merton
City and Colour closed the show on Saturday with a composed set. During their touching performance of “Sleeping Sickness,” in honour of the late Gord Downie, Dallas Green stopped to let the crowd sing Gord Downie’s verse in the song.
City and Colour
It rained on and off throughout the weekend, with a brief thunderstorm interrupting Sunday afternoon. However, a quick break under the tents and a minor schedule shuffle later, the show went on and every band still got to play their set. Pale Lips and Lowdown Brass Band’s performances were moved to the wrap party at the Elora Legion.
Moscow Apartment
Skye Wallace
What’s most impressive about Riverfest Elora is its sense of community. In a protest against Nestlé Waters’ efforts to establish a well in Elora, the festival was bottled water-free and posted over 200 unique signs around the festival grounds that featured local residents in the Wellington Water Watchers’ Save Our Water campaign.
