Can you believe it’s July already? It feels like just yesterday, we were getting excited about all the great music festivals we’d be experiencing this sunny season. Now, Summer’s here and we’ve reached one of Rocktographers’ favourite festivals of the year, Phillips Backyard Music Festival – TILT! Whether it’s the brews and bands, or the sea of smiling faces enjoying said brews and bands, TILT will always hold a special place in our heart. First day featured a bunch of incredible talent including day one headliners, Cold War Kids. With our sunglasses on and beers in hand, we made our way into day one!
Main stage kicked off with a performance from the only king you should support, King Bob. Having seen King Bob quite a few times now, it’s safe to say that this band is destined for great things. After the set, we had to grab a King Bob rookie card as a memento from this pop-punk masterclass they put on. Next up was Fionn, who were shining stars both figuratively and literally with their attire. Anticipation for their return to Victoria was immense and this performance easily helped feed that growing love for the twin fronted group. Around mid-festival, we were then watching The Bankes Brothers perform for a third straight year at a Phillips Backyard Music Festival. Their west coast sound draws in quite the fan base, which makes sense why they return to one of the two festivals each year. A very playful set capping off the starting openers for the main stage.
A brand-new addition to this year’s festival is the Music BC Stage. Featuring all BC artists throughout the three days, this new stage shows off some our province’s greatest sounds. Carmine was the first to bless the stage and they did just that. The wind began to pick up, but that only increased the coolness of this performance. Side note: you see the wind blowing through a keyboardist’s hair while they are playing a crazy keyboard tilting solo and tell us that’s not cool, we’ll wait. With the wind still creating this atmosphere. Cold Fame were up next, and they’ve been making some hitting some big milestones lately, including their latest single Jawbreaker hitting the charts. They looked like they were having fun even through disaster as a guitar strap fell apart, which they played through perfectly. A truly stellar performance all around. Finally, after returning from Sled Island in Calgary, Hillsboro was here to close out the stage for the day. The musicianship of this group is truly amazing and after their performance, I saw quite a few people leaving with their vinyl in hand. This new stage is fantastic, and we cannot wait to continue catching more great BC music!
Victoria has been long overdue for a visit from UK rockers Band of Skulls, as their last performance was back in 2019. That might not seem like that long ago, but honestly, we could handle seeing them on a yearly basis. Starting their set off with a title track from their 2012 album, Sweet Sour, the band was dialed in and crushing it. Also really enjoyed another title track of theirs, this time from their 2019 release, Love is All You Love. They were easily one of the top names to look forward to at this festival and they did not disappoint. Forever thankful to have seen another Band of Skulls set in Victoria, and hopefully the next one isn’t too far away.
As the sun went down for the night, the temperature went way below acceptable summer levels. However, nothing was going to stop us from catching day one headliner, Cold War Kids. The band might have cold in their name, and it might have caused the temperature to go down, but that didn’t stop them from having fiery hot set. They started with a song from their 2017 album, LA DIVINE entitled Love is Mystical and from that point forward you could tell that we were in for a real treat. With 10 albums out and new music still being made, we couldn’t image in the process of selecting songs for this set list. That said, it did feel well balanced with music from throughout their almost 20-year strong catalogue. Songs like Miracle Mile, Can We Hang On?, and So Tied Up, were performed and everywhere you looked, you would see people dancing and singing along. A truly wonderful performance to end a great first day of the festival.
A wise man once said, FULL TILT BABY, YEAHHHH, FULL TILT. Now that wise man might be TILT’s spokesperson and 93/94 Canadian Pinball Champion, Tilt Lightning, but we agree with him. We are in full TILT mode, and we cannot be more excited. Two more days of fantastic music and tasty brews are coming up, and we can definitely cheers to that!
