OSHEAGA 2022

Capturing the peaks and valleys of performance and crowd engagement, I enjoyed spending selective moments of the weekend with my camera out, exploring the feel of the crowd and energy of the artists - it was a good mix of listening and shooting, but next time I’m definitely bringing more than two rolls of film!

Inhaler, an Irish Rock group hailing from Dublin absolutely rocked the daytime crowd on Saturday bringing soon to be stadium anthems and high energy guitar playing. Lead singer Elijah Hewson blew the crowd away with his vocals, reminding older generations of the sonic glory provided by his father, notable Irish rock legend Bono.

A group of high school friends a few years into their journey, Inhaler is only just getting started.

Montreal based artist / singer / producer Sophia Bel put on a high energy and joyous show during Saturday’s mid-day time slot at the Sirius XM Tree Stage - One of the many pleasant surprises I stumbled upon during the three day music festival. She is also very nice!

Some sights at the Montreal based music festival, which takes place on an island called Parc Jean-Drapeau.

Cool blue tones at Caribou (above) and Arcade Fire (below)

A battle for best shirt takes place between the Arkells bass player, Nick Dika (left) and my high school pal, Tom Bennett. (right)

One of the more interpretative performers of the weekend, Mitski (above) rocked the main stage as the sun set. One thing I learned during my time listening to and shooting Mitski is to never stand in the way of her true fans, especially when tall. They are some of the most die-hard and passionate bunch I’ve ever seen, and I think Mitski’s interpretative dance was giving them even more power – a true spectacle of human connection and I love the energy and passion her and her fans have for one another.

Turnstile (above) wins the award for most fans limping post-show - two full days of limping in many cases, but they held out for Royal Blood and IDLES on Sunday night and gave whatever they had left in that mosh-pit. What a show by the way, I was out of film by then but wow IDLES was a fun ruckus.

Another surprise favourite of mine, all the way from Newcastle, England; Sam Fender. Known as the British Springsteen, Sam Fender delivers heartfelt ballads and stadium anthems for the crowd to get lost in. My good friend British Tom, pictured earlier in a Spongebob button-up, was a big fan going into the festival (makes sense seeing as he’s British Tom) and wanted to make sure we arrived in time to see him play on Sunday at 2pm, a time slot not suitable for the mega-talent that is Sam Fender. He must have been in an old, pre-pandemic determined slot because Sam and his band brought out the masses and put on one of the best performances of the weekend.

Knowing a bit of the backstory behind Sam and the bands journey gave me even more respect for the performance, as they played in Toronto the night before and while making the overnight bus trip from Toronto to Montreal, their tour bus broke down! Of course these chaps made the most of it by ranking ‘Canadian chocolate bars’ they found in gas stations and didn’t recognize. So to see them come out after all that in an early time slot and perform as if they sold out Wembley, was very impressive.

A salute to those who made it to the bottom, thanks for checking this page out, these photos are strictly fun fan photos, shot on a point and shoot style Minolta Hi-Matic S loaded with Portra 800 film - maybe one day I’ll be attending as a photographer :)

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