Rifflandia 2024 kicked off on a wet Friday evening at the Mattulia lands at Rock Bay.
Rain poured for about an hour starting around 3:30pm, but seemed let up a little by the time gates opened.
Entering the grounds at 5pm, the first noticeable change over last year is the return of the larger setup for the Phillips stage, this year called the “Phillips Dinosour World Stage”. While the 2023 set up had the welcome canopies over the loading bay for much appreciated shade. the return of the larger stage is definitely preferred for the bigger acts it’s hosting this year.
Lafflandia is once again beside the Phillips stage. Every show on day 1 had a packed attendance.
Across the street was a clothing vendor and haircuts being done by Victoria Barber & Brand as well as the return of a promo team handing out free bags of Taki’s snacks.
The food trucks this year are where the main stage was last year as attendees enter the Mattulia lands area of the festival grounds. From Jones BBQ to tacos, pizza, ice cream and lemonade, there was a good variety of food options.
Kidlandia is a much more obvious space this year in a fenced area under tenting and on coloured turf and lots of activities for the little ones.
Another major change this year is the locations of the main stage and the dome. The Dome this year is on a section of the land that wasn’t utilized in 2023 and is much larger. The main stage this year is where the dome was last year at the end near the Powerhouse building.
Red and blue turf covered much, but not all, of the gravel and asphalt around the near the main stage. Off to one side of the main stage area are the new “pods” that groups could upgrade their festival experience with patio furniture and shade umbrellas to lounge at with a view of the main stage.
Following a territorial acknowledgement, The Chorus from The Choirs YYJ were the first music act on the main stage as has been tradition since 2014.
Over on the Phillips stage, Daniel Lapp and the BC Fiddle Orchestra were the first thing many early festival goers heard as they entered the grounds.
Club Loading and Co. christened the new Dome with two hours of electronic music. The new dome is definitely a welcome new addition. It definitely makes you feel like you’re in a different world at times. We’ll get to some of criticisms later.
American pop artist Slayyyter was the first major artist to perform on the main stage. Backed by just a DJ, Slayyter had excellent stage presence. The lyrics in some of her songs were a little eyebrow raising considering the Kidlandia area of the grounds was within earshot of the main stage.
North Saanich’s Poncho was up next at the Philips Stage. The artist originally from Ghana brought some Afrobeats to get people dancing. It was also his DJ’s birthday so he brought up to the front of the stage so the crowd could sing ‘Happy Birthday’. He also brought a bunch of balloons out during the following song.
After Poncho, Gatineau Quebec folk singer-songwriter Mia Kelly performed solo with an acoustic guitar at the Phillips stage.
Tokyo Police Club took to the main stage for their final performance in Victoria. The band is in the middle of their farewell tour after announcing in January that the band would be breaking up.
Garret T. Willie blew some minds at the Phillips stage shredding multiple guitar solos at the front of the stage and at one point running out into the crowd.
Compton rapper/producer Channel Tres was next at the main stage. A little over a month after performing music from his debut album with a dance team Outside Lands in San Francisco, Channel Tres came to Victoria to do… a DJ set. It’s not the first time a well known artist has come to just DJ and it most definitely won’t be the last, especially at this year. Unless you were really into the music, there wasn’t a lot to see early on. I think I heard him rapping a bit towards the end of his set, but I running around the other stages a the time.
The final set of guitars seen Friday night belonged to indie-rock band Born Ruffians at the Phillips stage. This was another fun band to watch as all four members were incredibly animated on stage. Keyboardist/guitarist Maddy Wilde jumped around and flipped her hair wildly through the set.
Four-time Grammy nominee Ja Rule was next on the Rifflandia main stage. The late 90s/early 2000s gangsta rapper also known for his part it the disastrous Fyre Festival performed took to the stage after an intro video showing various clips from his career. Unfortunately from the front of the stage, it sounded like there was an audio problem as any dialogue/narration that was on the video was either extremely low or completely inaudible. Ja Rule took the stage in a bright yellow hoodie and sounded good and looked to be having fun during his show. By the end of the set he was shirtless. One thing I felt was missing from his set was another vocalist to fill the void of the featured artists that were frequently in Ja Rule’s music. The last song he performed was his hit ‘Always on Time’, which was a little ironic considering his set started just under 10 minute late and ran 17 minutes overtime. He was in the middle of introducing his final song when he was told by his DJ that they were being clipped for time.
Closing out the Phillips Stage was C&C Music Factory. Freedom Williams last performed in Victoria in 2018 as part of the ‘Back to the 90s’ show at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre that was heavily panned. At that show it was just Williams and a DJ, but this time it was Williams and Smooth Jammy took on female vocals for the set with no one else on stage. The two vocalists performed to tracks played by the sound crew and with Williams at time playing… the harmonica? It’s a thing that makes you go hmmm… Also, having never seen Freedom Williams perform before, I found wondering if he was Ice-T in disguise. Their voices sound quite similar to my ears.
The changeover from Ja Rule to the start of the headlining set was one of the fastest I’ve ever witnessed. Ja Rule’s set ended at 10:47pm. Rezz was scheduled for 10:50pm and she started just before 11pm. The bass definitely picked up and so did the rain. At 11:06, it started pouring for about 10 minutes. The audience didn’t care. They were too busy dancing. It’s the first time the Canadian producer has performed in Victoria since a Capital Ballroom show in 2017. Since then she’s become one of Canada’s top electronic music producers. Her hypno goggles are hard not to notice on stage.
As I was leaving the photo pit an ambulance could be seen slowly driving passed the crowd. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen an ambulance physically on the Rifflandia festival grounds. We have not been informed of what the nature of the medical emergency was.
Finally, let’s talk about The Dome a little more. Following Club Loading & Co., The Dome featured electronic artists NOODLES, SkiiTour and Nostalgix. The Dome was a popular spot for festival goers at Rifflandia Day 1. First off, it was shelter from the rain. It was also a neat spot to be in. The Dome was mostly full throughout the night, but not overly packed. It was warm and humid, but again, not overwhelmingly so. The weather outside likely helped keep the temperature lower. We would have like to feature more photos of the artists who performed, but capturing shots was a lot more challenging. The DJ table was set a fair ways back on the stage compared to being right at the front edge last year. NOODLES, being a smaller woman was fairly hard to see behind the decks. The haze was quite thick from the fog machines and combined with not a lot of front lighting, made it very difficult to see any of the performers faces. The lighting and lasers made The Dome itself look fantastic, but anyone wanting to actually look at the DJs got only short windows of clarity to catch a glimpse.
Rifflandia continues Saturday and Sunday with TLC, Oliver Tree, Maestro Fresh Wes, Sophie Ellis Baxtor, Broken Social Scene, Feist, The Beaches, Bob Moses, De La Soul, Crash Test Dummies and more. Passes are available at rifflandia.com
