A serene venue, last-minute switchups and a lone rapper. EARL SWEATSHIRT, WAVVES, PALMA VIOLETS and YOUNG EMPIRES as part of THE GROVE MUSIC FESTIVAL at Fort York Garrison Common, Saturday, August 3. Rating: NNN
It was hard not to immediately compare The Grove Musical Festival at Fort York Garrison Common to the other fests that have filled the outdoor space this summer: Field Trip, TURF. Knowing that the festival started out being located somewhere closer to an actual grove (Niagara-on-the-Lake) before switching to Toronto, and having experienced the seamless execution of Field Trip, Grove had a lot to prove.
But, that outdoor venue does a lot on its own to make a concert wonderful: Just arriving at its Western entrance off Strachan Avenue is kind of magical – you feel like you’ve found a secret garden of sorts once inside, there’s always a great view and it’s relatively small so that you’re not hiking for ages to find toilets or beer or provisions. Truthfully, the toilets, beer and provisions left something to be desired, but, the music.
Arriving to the chilled-out sounds of Toronto’s Young Empires was a great mid-afternoon way to ease into hours of acts. The local band’s mix of world beats and soothing vocals suited the sunny saturday, and people were mostly content to sit on their makeshit cardboard seats and politely take it in.
From there, however, crowds got increasingly larger and more participatory. In an odd and unexpected switchup, British indie-rockers Palma Violets took the stage before Californian surf-rockers Wavves. They immediately kicked up the energy with Chilli Jesson and Samuel Fryer trading off vocals with seemingly endless, sweaty energy. They apologized at one point for the shit microphones, asking the crowd to stay with them. It’s true – their vocals were somewhat buried. But Fryer’s charisma (there is something very Mick Jagger-like in his head bobs and hip sways) ensured that everyone was locked in.
It was strange to have the band followed by Wavves. The natural progression of energy would have been Young Empires, Wavves and Palma Violets. Going back after Palma Violet’s height of momentum was tricky, though if something had caused Wavves to push back their show, they didn’t really show it, performing a tight set of tunes highlighted by Green Eyes from their 2010 King of the Beach album.
Most of the daytime buzz however, was surrounding the 19-year-old Odd Future rapper Earl Sweatshirt, who drew the most packed-in and largest audience up to that point. In fact, walking away from the stage after Wavves you could hear snippets of many conversations – “When’s Earl on?” “Is Earl next?” etc.
His set was largely a repeat of the previous night’s opening slot for Kendrick Lamar at Sound Academy, but the bright sunlight leant the Earl Sweatshirt sound – which can be deep and brooding – a pleasant amount of lightness. Earl’s inclusion in the lineup was a bit out of place once other hip-hop acts dropped out, but thank goodness for him – he provided one of the only moments of reprieve from a slew of man bands in the indie or dance-rock persuasion.
“Y’all ready to sing fucked up songs for like, 20 minutes?” joked Earl after his DJ Taco had set up. He performed both Odd Future tunes and songs from his upcoming studio-album debut, and, casually grabbing his junk, eyes shaded by a green Supreme hat, he seemed genuinely chuffed that the pit of hardcore Earl fans knew all the words to songs like Doris and Earl.
Too soon, he had to give way to the next performers. “It’s to my chagrin that I have to tell y’all this is the last song,” he said before some intense bass kicked in for his Drop finale.
