The second edition of the 2025 Phillips Backyard Music Festival kicked off Friday afternoon on a perfect day weather-wise. Temperatures stayed warm most of the day with overcast skies for Day 1 of Reverb 2025. With forecasts saying it’s going to reach 27 degrees Celcius on Sunday, a mild day was most welcome.
Victoria’s Layten Kramer started off the day on the main stage shortly after 4:30pm performing a 30 minute set of new music for the very first time.
In between sets, DJ Boitano keep the music going at the venue.
Vancouver indie-rock band Uncle Strut were next up on the main stage. There were a number of fans in the audience wearing fake mustaches. After seeing their performance, we’re looking forward to when they return in December to open for Hotel Mira at Capital Ballroom.
Vancouver’s Antonio Larosa opened the Music BC stage. The festival gave the stage some upgrades for Reverb adding a a backdrop banner, raising the stage slightly and using a tent that that has a translucent ceiling allowing some sunlight through. Larosa
It was a fitting that Mac Sabbath performed during dinner hour at Reverb. Likely the most unique act for the entire festival, the Black Sabbath parody tribute band performed a crazy set of “Drive Thru Metal”. The band consisting of ‘Ronald Osbourne’, ‘Slayer MacCheeze’, ‘Grimalice’, and ‘Catburgler’ were a spectacle to watch. Needless to say, the crowd was lovin’ it. This was the band’s first show since the passing of Ozzy Osbourne. To pay tribute to Ozzy, Mac Sabbath performed ‘Paranoid’ with the original Black Sabbath lyrics for the first time.
Victoria’s Pony Gold had the task of bringing festival goers back to normal reality after an hour being in MacDonaldland. Pony Gold performed music from her upcoming debut album including a song she had never performed live before.
Up until a couple weeks ago the next time slot on the main stage was supposed to be for rising star Sombr, but for “circumstances beyond anyone’s control” Sombr dropped out of the lineup. His social media never mentioned his cancellation and only promoted his new single and his soldout headlining tour. Taking his place was Ruby Waters, who last performed in Victoria at a sold out acoustic show at Lucky Bar in June. At one point during her set at Reverb, Waters found a burger left on stage from Mac Sabbath’s set and decided to take a bite. Her bandmates then refused to have a sample when she offered it to them.
Closing out the Music BC stage was Vancouver’s Kate Yahn. It was the first time Yahn has performed in Victoria since Rifflandia 2023. Through the orange lighting of the stage, Yahn brought some Linda Ronstadt vibes with her performance.
Headlining Day 1 of Phillips Reverb was Peach Pit. The loading bay area of the Phillips Backyard was packed with people. Media photographers had to squeeze by people in order to get to the photo pit. The band were positioned equally across the stage with members stepping forward to rock out at various points of the set. At times they might have rocked out a little too much as stage hands had to run in numerous times to replace fallen mic stands and replug in displaced cables. During one song guitarist Christopher Vanderkooy was doing some head banging on his platform and tumbled backwards knocking over two guitar amps. It may not have been a technically perfect show, but it was entertaining to watch.
Phantogram headlines Saturday and The Roots will close out the festival Sunday. Single day ticket are available at phillipsbackyard.com
