Riff Picks - 5 Picks for Rifflandia 2016
Marking the end of the summer, Rifflandia is the last major festival on the island. Usually a mixed bag of weather, Rifflandia usually catches a bit of sunshine and sends the summer off with a bang. Dozens of bands play all over Victoria for most of the day, night, and wee hours of the morning. But with so much to see how do you start to make your Rifflandia itinerary? It's tricky business.
Here are our top 5 Riff Picks for Rifflandia 2016.
1) Band of Skulls
Saturday September 17th (6:00pm Royal Athletic Park Main Stage)
Their 2009 album 'Baby Darling Dollface Honey' has a lot of staples for excellent Band of Skulls songs. They are likely going to play a lot of their new album 'By Default' that was released earlier this summer. This new album is a bit softer sounding than some of their earlier work but I'm sure they won't disappoint up on the MainStage.
2) Charles Bradley & His Extrodanaires
Sunday September 18th (5:40pm Royal Athletic Park Main Stage)
Get ready for some soul. Charles Bradley will be bringing strong basslines, some brass, and an old school soul voice that will get everyone dancing. This is going to be one of the best performances at the festival. His debut album, 'No Time for Dreaming' was only released in 2011, but he has a classic sound that feels like he's always been part of our soul psyche.
3) Jurassic 5
Saturday September 17th (7:45pm Royal Athletic Park Main Stage)
This is will be a show and a half. Chali 2na performed with Victoria's Funk Hunters at Tall Tree 2015 and had one of the funnest festival performances I've seen, so I'm sure the full Jurassic 5 is going to take us back to some old school hip hop to take us down memory lane and dance our butts off to.
4) Moontricks
Friday September 16th (12:30am Lucky Bar)
Saturday September 17th (3:30pm Royal Athletic Park Rifftop Tent)
Moontricks combines guitar and banjo with DJ beats live. So if you're listening to it you may be thinking 'dang this would be cool if the DJ and banjo were working together live.' AND THEY ARE!?! They are. Honestly you have to be a pretty special DJ to standout and I don't really understand DJ culture for the most part but Moontricks is something really special. With two performances this year there's no excuse not to see them.
5) Michael Bernard Fitzgerald
Friday September 16th (11:30pm Sugar Nightclub)
Last winter his song 'I Wanna Make it With You' stole our hearts. Michale Bernard Fitzgerald is a Calgary kid that is going to bring a good show. I think he will rip the roof off of Sugar Nightclub and that we'll be seeing a lot more of this guy in the years to come.