Back for its eleventh year, Rifflandia 2018 had its official coming out party on Friday at the perennial Royal Athletic Park and no amount of drizzle was going to rain on our parade. The exciting – if not a little strange – line up kicked off the festivities with the familial flair we’ve come to expect from Victoria’s flagship festival.
Rifflandia staples The Choir opened the afternoon with more people on stage than in the crowd. Performing choral arrangements of popular songs, The Choir were an interestingly appropriate opener amongst the sprinkling rain and sporadic arrivals. Humble and understated, they knew they were barely more than background music but didn’t care. Their closing song may have been an arrangement of Radiohead’s ‘Let Down’ but The Choir certainly weren’t.
At the other end of the park, Inuit artist and activist Kelly Fraser was up first at the 2018 Rifftop Tent. Bringing a powerful and political message from the North, Fraser is a young artist blending English and Inuktitu rhymes that we’re looking forward to seeing mature in the years to come.
Back on the main stage, Hey Ocean! brought a little bit of sunshine to an otherwise dreary afternoon. With a funky, poppy, fun vibe, Hey Ocean! is probably the best-looking band you’ll see all weekend. I apologize for all the My Little Pony jokes I’ve made in the last few weeks, but frontwoman Ashleigh Ball was absolutely charming with a glint of mischievousness and did not look like she could be having any more fun. It would behoove you to see Hey Ocean! any chance you get (literally the last one, I swear).
(Author’s note: I brought my 7-year-old daughter with me and watching her loves of music and My Little Pony coalesce into one definitive experience was a highlight of my year. I don’t think I’m the only dad who experienced that.)
At the Tent, Portland’s Blitzen Trapper delivered their homegrown weird with a signature sound that’s all at once country, proggy and folky. Like blasting a Waylon Jennings album into deep space, Blitzen Trapper are on an auditory adventure that is abstract, absurd and utterly absorbing.
In a rare programming misstep, Fucked Up took over the main stage and the park as a whole. While their aggressive, straight ahead punk edge was obviously a highlight for many concert-goers, it seemed at odds with the time of day and make up of the crowd that included a healthy collection of families and young kids. Probably a better act for one of the 18+ Night Stages, parents in the Kidlandia tent enjoyed sharing uncomfortable laughs and shrugs amongst each other. As parents, we’re used to waiting out the petulant screaming.
Fan favourite SonReal was the final act at the Rifftop Tent and had everyone ready to party from beat one. Animated, commanding and confident, SonReal should have been given the keys to the main stage, giving his army of fans more room to answer the repeated calls to put their hands in the air. The man named Aaron Hoffman absolutely owned every moment of his set, took it to eleven and managed to fit an entire stadium show under the tent.
Finally, headliner Daniel Caesar took the main stage with his soulful, dreamy R&B vibes. A true Internet-age heartthrob, Caesar grooved the crowd in the deepening dark and misty air. If it’s good enough for King James, it’s good enough for Rifflandia. Vic General and The Jubilee may want to prepare for an influx of newborns nine months from now.
The first day of Riff at RAP was an eclectic, genre-less party of dynamism and discovery that couldn’t be destroyed by a little drizzle. If this is what’s in store for us for the rest of the weekend, we’ve got a lot to look forward to.
For more photos and videos from Rifflandia 2018, including from the Night Stages, follow Rocktographers on Instagram.
