For the first time in 3 years, Rifflandia kicked off on a Thursday.
It was also the earliest start time for a Thursday at Rifflandia with gates opening at 4pm and the first music act starting at 5pm.
With the entrance now on Government Street, the protected bike lane was fenced off from the festival gate to Pembroke street. Bike and foot traffic wanting to go passed the festival grounds heading north are shifted to a coned off area along the street. Pembroke Street also had fencing along the sidewalk from the box office to Government street to help control foot traffic.
As someone who has been to a few major festivals with RFID wristbands I had thought entering Rifflandia would mean tapping my wristband on a black box that would either light up green or red. I was not expecting to have a festival worker scan my QR code with a phone. The RFID system overall seemed to function smoothly throughout the first day. I was able to load my wristband quickly through my phone while many loaded their wristband via the top up kiosk tent beside the beverage tent.
One of the first things I noticed upon entering the grounds was how much open space there is before encounter any of the features of the site. A large area of loose gravel isn’t the most eye pleasing first thing to see when you walk in. Some of that additional turf the festival has added in other areas plus maybe some kind of art installation or maybe the festival’s Rifflandia light sign would have been nice to see near the entrance.
Jameson Whiskey is an alcohol partner and have a “Camp Jameson” setup near the main stage. If you buy a drink there, you get a token to use a flush toilet washroom set up at their “camp”.
Drinks ranged from $6 for non-alcoholic beers, $10 for actual beer to $13/$14 for premium alcohol. Food options had a good variety with hot dogs, burgers, Greek, Venezuelan, Filipino, BBQ and ice cream amongst the many options. There was even coffee and hot chocolate that was very welcome later in the evening as the temperature dropped.
The day opened with a land acknowledgement from the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations. Sometimes I wonder if this would be better suited sometime in the middle of the day at festivals in general when a lot more people are in the venue.
Thursday was a very electronic music heavy day, but there were some real instruments. Starting off the day was Dust Cwaine. The Vancouver Drag artist and singer-songwriter had a full band and performed a 30 minute set of pop-rock.
The Comedy Stage this year is right beside the main stage and had comedians in between main stage sets. The size of the compound is roughly the size it was when it was located beside the Phillips Stage last year meaning capacity is fairly limited.
Whistler DJ Matt The Alien was next on the main stage. Matt The Alien survived a terrible mountain biking accident that left him paralyzed in 2020 so seeing him out performing was great. I just wish there was a stage set up that would allow the audience to see him better.
One of the most hyped and anticipated sets had the sunset timelsot. The Victoria Symphony performed Daft Punk. Their performance ran without any overlap from The Dome, meaning there was no sound bleed. The Symphony performed a 30 minute set to a crowd that mostly relaxed sitting on the turf. The audience would have loved if had been longer, but hit the right tracks with ‘Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger’, ‘Around The World’, ‘Get Lucky’ and ‘One More Time’
Following the symphony, British DJ TroiBoi performed on the main stage and had the audience back up on their feet as wind started getting colder in the area.
Headlining day 1 was British electronic music duo Maribou State. They were joined by a drummer a percussionist/guitarist and singer Talulah Ruby. It was a chill set on a chilly night. As someone that didn’t know what to expect, I quite enjoyed the show. The sound mix was especially on point.
The Dome had six DJ acts in Zeyda, Prayer Handz, Abstrakt Sonance, Pigeon Hole and AHEE.
Day 2 of Rifflandia is very close to a sell out. With the likes of Public Enemy, Macy Gray, Descedents, Shakey Graves and The Funk Hunters on the bill, it’s not a surprise. Passes are available at Rifflandia.com
