BELLE & SEBASTIAN, NEKO CASE, KURT VILE, YO LA TENGO, WHITEHORSE, THE CAT EMPIRE and XAVIER RUDD at Fort York Garrison Common, Sunday, July 7. Rating: NNNN
Kurt Vile’s profile has risen to the point where he probably shouldn’t be playing early afternoon slots at festivals. But he brings it on himself by starting his sets with the song Wakin On A Pretty Day. Vile’s languid slacker folk is the perfect soundtrack to a sunbaked early afternoon, but the looming rain clouds overhead threatened to break the crowd’s daze on the final day of TURF. But Vile has more than one register, and his one-two psych-rock punch of Hunchback and Freak Train to close the set was totally satisfying.
Yo La Tengo were one of the few bands lucky enough to play under full sun, so they took the chance to show off their quieter side, ‘inviting the crowd into their living room’ for a few of their hushed, acoustic-leaning tunes off their 13th album, Fade. But they still finished the set with a ten minute guitar-swinging instrumental noise jam.
Whitehorse, the husband-wife team of Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland, hearkened back to duos like Johnny and June Carter Cash, harmonizing into one microphone. They added a few modern touches, often looping their guitars, keys and minimal percussion, but that just aided the bluesy vibe.
The skies opened up for sets by Australian acts the Cat Empire and Xavier Rudd, leaving audience members to either fight for shelter under trees and vendor awnings, or go full hippie and embrace the rain. A group of fans risked trenchfoot during Neko Case’s set, dancing and rolling around in a mud puddle, while the jangle-country queen and her right-hand woman Kelly Hogan evoked a classic comedy duo to a sea of umbrellas. Case’s set was loaded with promising sounding new songs, but anyone wanting to hear them in a drier environment is in luck she’ll likely be back in six months or so, armed with a whole new album.
Lucky for TURF they ended with a good draw. The mud-shoed crowd came out in droves for Glaswegian indie icons Belle & Sebastian. Playing with a twelve piece band, including a full string section, Stuart Murdoch was a twee showman, initiating a whistling chorus, entering the crowd to have makeup applied, inviting up a girl to play “indie Scrabble,” and generally making life hard for security. But it was their unimpeachable arsenal of classics like The Stars of Track and Field (dedicated to Andy Murray), Piazza, New York Catcher and The Boy With The Arab Strap that kept the crowd enthralled.
