Hillside Saturday Day - ALX, Imaginary Cities + (July 28/12)

Birds of Chicago/Open Hearts Society workshop
Birds of Chicago were already back to warm more hearts. Technically a Chicago band they have Canadian roots that brought them to Hillside. First though were the Open Hearts Society and their female vocalist plus a new guy on electric guitar. The lady bird was flashy in her orange dress and large hair while her male counterpart played an acoustic. As a throwback to their roots in the 90's alternative band they pulled out a countrified version of.. no not their hit Two Princes but another gem in Little Miss Can't Be Wrong. Fun thing to do in a workshop and a fun thing to see for nostalgia sake.

Deep Dark Woods/Wooden Sky workshop
Forest in the Sky was not only made for the fantastic mash-up title but also because the two bands paired quite well. Both the Deep Dark Woods (forest) and The Wooden Sky (sky) were hairy creatures who combined on a Willie Nelson tune, complete with banjo and a country feel despite the keys. I'd skipped DDW the previous night in favour of the Arkells and considering I didn't really recognize or get that into any of the songs, I stand by my decision.

Arkells/Bright Light Social Hour workshop
Since Deep Dark Woods weren't quite doing it and the Arkells had the night before I went over to give them another try. Again Aaron Goldstein (who they introduced as a member of City and Colour as well as the Cowboy Junkies) joined them and again they did the Dylan with The Band cover "because it was so much fun last night!" The vocalists swapped from verse to verse which kept it fresh. All together they performed a Neil Young song and then I Need Your Love, another cover and why not? It is a workshop after all.

Hillside Friday - Arkells, Kathleen Edwards, + (July 27/12)

A pleasant surprise at the first workshop of the night was when the female trio of Belle Starr incorporated a form of tap dancing as percussion in their set. How cool is that?!

Swapping out for New Country Rehab they were predictably country and then gave way to Kathleen Edwards. She played a love song for Hamilton, seeing as we were straight up the highway from there. There'd been whispers of Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) sightings that didn't make much sense considering their apparent split. Regardless he didn't show but Kathleen played a few of her own songs here in the Island Tent in warm up for her main stage set later in the evening.

Stepping away from the Belle Starr fancy stepping there was a Guelph showcase going on at the Lake Stage. All of Bry Webb, Esther Grey, Mike Brooks (in all white) and a bunch of others were on stage doing a Dylan cover with a slide guitar and cello too upon arrival. Esther jumped offstage for another tune and I slipped back away as well.

My expectations of Maylee Todd were not what transpired. There was a slow groove sound coming from the stage, bordering on reggae, that really wasn't translating to me. She had a bongo and drum, a couple of keyboards in addition to bass/drum/guitars but I just couldn't get into it and strolled off.

I was glad that I did too as I got to catch a chunk of Bombay Bicycle Club who I'd heard of but not being Canadian I had little exposure to them to this point. What I heard was enjoyable peppy indie rock from across the pond. The all-male five piece included keys and a sort of electronic drum machine. Later in the set a girl came out to join them and she returned on the finale that ominously asked "Where's the lightning?" which thankfully never came weather-wise. There was an additional standalone drummer for this tune and the female vocalist returned and all of this culminated in a thunderous, crashing ending. Won-over.

Caught just a minute of the gruff Crooked Brothers over at the Lake Stage. There were a plethora of mics on stage for this workshop with the Magnificent 7's and they helped to capture the multitude of voices used in the call and response of "This city should rise to heaven".

Following this workshop was another that had potential but with Joel Plaskett not in attendance due to illness, and Chad VanGaalen barely contributing in a main way it fell rather flat. The Birds of Chicago did take their first step to winning over Hillside as they would throughout the weekend but Geoff Berner was frankly terrible with his accordion song about the police. I expected Chad to counter with Freedom for a Policeman but he just made a bunch of noise and handed the reigns back over. Following this I couldn't hold out anymore and gave up on the whole thing in favour of Kathleen Edwards' main stage set.

Kathleen Edwards seemed to be in great spirits as she played a bunch off her latest, and in my opinion, most compelling, album Voyageur. Moving through the album there was Empty Threat and Chameleon/Comedion which both featured some solid electric guitar work from Jim Bryson and backing vocals from Julie Fader. She played a mix of acoustic and electric guitar, and a mix of songs from the title track of Asking for Flowers to Going to Hell, Change the Sheets, and Sidecar. Jim swapped out for keys at times and Kathleen even played the violin for a song. Ms. Edwards seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself throughout as they moved from a Jim/Kathleen duet to songs that were intended to make us dance. She even dropped a bunch of "motherf**rs" in her banter which at first seemed slightly potty coming from her but was said in such a positive way that she could hardly be faulted. Having finally see her play I was impressed with what I saw.

Unfortunately while Kathleen was entertaining me Young Empires were putting on a party over in the Island Tent. I only managed to catch their final song, White Doves, used for the Olympics, but what I did catch was fun. The 4-piece included some big bass and samples and had everyone in the tent up and dancing about, banging beach balls around and having a time.

The Arkells always seem to put on a heckuva show and this was no exception. Some exceptional elements were their Hall and Oates cover of You Make My Dreams. During Oh, the Boss is Coming! they installed a quick shout out to the former Guelph band, The Constantines, with a chorus of Nighttime/Anytime (It's Alright!). Naturally part-time/former Arkell, Dan Griffin, joined them on stage beginning with On Paper having performed earlier in the evening with his backing band The Regrets. Another special guest was Kathleen Edwards who had just vacated the stage so the Arkells could close it down. She appeared gleeful to be out on stage singing along with Max on Agent Zero - in fact she was still dancing and beaming even when she returned side stage. They closed out with Whistle Blower but of course were cheered back out for Deadlines (and a blip of This Little Light) before calling people (Aaron Goldstein, Kathleen and Dan again) out on stage for a rendition of a Bob Dylan with The Band song. The only way to wrap was a little John Lennon (their song, not the man - note the italics and not the bold) and this sent everyone home happy at the conclusion of Hillside night one.