The Top 5 Things You Missed at Osheaga Yesterday

So you procrastinated and missed your chance to get tickets to Osheaga this year. For shame! Don't worry, we've got you covered. CJLO's Chris MacGregor from The Feel Good Hit of the Summer (Wednesdays 3-4 pm) is covering the three day event, checking out all of your favorite bands for you. Live vicariously through Chris as he live-tweets and highlights all of the festival's biggest attractions. Check him out on twitter: @cwmacgregor, or better yet, check back here every day for a recap of the day's rockingest events.

DAY 3

1. Kendrick Lamar: For us, the true headliner of the day was Kendrick Lamar. By the number of "Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe" t-shirts in the crowd, he was the main attraction for many others as well. It was an interesting set, because for many of us, we didn't know what to expect. Would we get some of the more serious contemplative tracks that made Good Kid, M.A.A.D City such a phenomenal album? Or would we hear a more boisterous club banging set? It turned out to be the latter and not the former. It would have been cool to see a more varied set, but Osheaga's for the kids. Kids love yelling "Fuck that!" in their sing-alongs. Perhaps the funniest moment of our entire weekend happened when the little girl next to us screamed along to "Backstreet Freestyle" with the lyrics: "I pray my dick get big as the Eiffel Tower/So I can fuck the world for seventy two hours". Yup. That actually happened.

2. Icona Pop: Where all da white women at?!?! They were at Icona Pop for one of the biggest dance parties of the festival. The Green stage was packed to see the Swedish electro-glam duo belt out a high energy set that included house bangers like "I Love it", "Manners", and "Girlfriend". Icona Pop was seriously a good time, but we think we saw some people getting white-girl-drunk to the lyrics of "Girlfriend": "All I need in this life of sin is me and my girlfriend/Down to ride till the happy end, is me and my girlfriend". It was pretty cute, that's all we'll say. Especially when the rain showed up and the pink umbrellas bobbed up and down. So cute. 

3. Disclosure: We found ourselves neglecting the electronic stage this weekend. It's not that we don't like the musicians that populate the stage. Acts like Bonobo, Porter Robinson, and Baauer are top tier, but sadly, they were victims of scheduling. We can only see so much. Luckily we were able to catch Disclosure's full set, and we're glad we did. We suspected Jessie Ware would get on stage to perform "Confess To Me" with the English duo, but we didn't think she'd stick around and croon and dance as long as she did. Everyone loves a festival collaboration. 

4. Hot Chip: We are not fans of the night's main act, Mumford & Sons. Perhaps our journalistic integrity is at stake by making such a bold statement, but there was nothing anyone could do to compel us to the main stage last night, especially when Hot Chip were getting down with their funky selves at the Green Stage. As the fans poured in—likely escaping Mumf and co. like us—glow sticks rained over the crowd setting up a wicked neon dance extravaganza. As the band walked on stage to Michael Jackson, we remarked to ourselves, "Anyone who has MJ as their walk-on music had better back it up." And they did. From second-one, the London lads pleased a very energetic crowd, covered in a sea of neon blues and greens. It was a damn fine way to close out our festival. 

5. VIP Access: Next year, do yourself a favor and spend the extra dough on some VIP tickets. Or better yet, volunteer at a community radio station and nab their passes. However you get yourself into VIP, you won't regret the decision. The food is better, the beer is cheaper, the lines are non-existent, and you may spot a Canadian celebrity or two – Jian Ghomeshi!?! *SWOON*. And have we mentioned the air-conditioned bathrooms yet? No? We, the Very Important People, need not concern ourselves with porta potties ever again. That is for the plebes.

DAY 2

1. Beck: In what started out as a somewhat laidback or even subdued performance, Beck rounded into form to deliver one of the best shows of the festival. Once Rishi Dhir from Montreal's Elephant Stone was carted on stage with his signature sitar to help out on "Loser", everyone knew it was time to jump up and down. From then on, Beck had the crowd, coaxing some dance moves with an injection of classic covers like "I Feel Love" and "Billie Jean". By the way, who else other than Beck can seamlessly insert a dance classic like "Billie Jean" into the middle of a country song like "Sissyneck"? And as impressive as that was, it was the genius blending of soul, hip hop, country, and R. Kelly (because R. Kelly is his own genre) into "Where it's At"—quite possibly the best closing song we could have asked for. 

2. Imagine Dragons: OK, so Imagine Dragons were pretty great. We went into the weekend knowing nothing about the band, yet having them recommended by everyone under the age twenty.  We soon realized that we'd heard this music before, in commercials, tv shows or... we're not sure where, but it's bubbled up from the ether at some point.  No matter, it was extremely positive vibing generic festival rock for the kids, but we were at a festival for the kids. By this point in the weekend, we hadn't seen a bigger, more electric crowd, singing along to all of the songs - all of which, we're still unfamiliar with.  We must be old. 

3. The Food: We've never been to a festival with better food. The inclusion of Montreal's top tier food trucks (Alexis le Gourmand, Lucille's Oyster Dive, Le Smoking BBQ, Landry et Filles, just to name a few) was probably Osheaga's smartest move. Even better, the prices aren't inflated like one might expect. You're still paying $9 for your lunch, but you just bought a pulled pork sandwich with BBQ sauce made of we don't know what. Shut up and eat your delicious food. 

4. The small stage: As great as some of the main-stagers were, it was the small stage that really shined bright yesterday. Sets by Wild Nothing, Groenland, Deap Vally, We Are Wolves, and Explosions in the Sky gave us a chance to leave the hordes of youngsters and channel our inner hipster. Whether it's true or not, everyone checking out the Green and Tree stages feels like they're ahead of the curve, in on a secret that the general populace at the main stage hasn't yet clued into. 

5. Tricky Goes Metal: Speaking of the small stage, one of the weirdest—and therefore, best—performances of the day goes to Bristol native, Tricky. Perhaps the victim of an awkward timeslot at 5 PM, Tricky had to pull out a few ...tricks... to entice the crowd into feeling his vibes. After twenty minutes of nightclub fare, Tricky slowed things down and hauled a couple dozen fans up on stage to dance along to "Ace of Spades". The following fifteen minutes included a gyrating and taunting frontman saying "Are you scared, Montreal?", an Elvis impersonator, awkwardly and drunkenly dancing white people, and a dude with a plastic flamingo on a stick. Whatever works, right?  

DAY 1

1. The Cure: In a day full of upper-echelon main stage performers, Robert Smith – dressed in red lipstick and moon boots, because, obviously! – put everyone to shame. Roaring through a two-hour set that included just about every track you could have wished for, The Cure played to an admittedly older, more refined Osheaga crowd (me thinks the hipsters ran off to watch A Tribe Called Red). Our only complaint is directed to the jerk that cut off the band's PA with 30 seconds left in closer "Boys Don't Cry". It didn't matter. We all sang along with the band, anyway.

2. Alt-J: The Mercury Prize winning quartet hit the stage sounding like festival veterans. It's hard to fathom that their debut came out less than a year ago, given that they played to the first huge crowd of the day. When the bass dropped on "Fitzpleasure", the crowd lost their minds and sang along for the rest of the set. Alt-J truly was the first huge act of the festival and will be bona fide headliners in due time.  

3. Lax security: What sounds like a slight against Osheaga really is a benefit to the throngs of fans seeking an altered state of mind. While chilling to DIIV at the Green Stage, we overheard a conversation between a couple of American tourists, "Weed is legal in Canada, right?" "No, just in Quebec I think." You're wrong, bros. It's only legal at Osheaga, apparently. Not to sound like an old man or anything, but have you ever seen so many people smoking weed before? 

4. Main staging: Friday's lineup was stacked. If you posted up – as we did – near the main stage, you were doing alright. With respect to bands like Beach House, A Tribe Called Red, and Baauer (who all put on fantastic performances, we're told), there's no way we're leaving a main stage that consisted of Vampire Weekend, Phoenix, Alt-J, Two Door Cinema Club and, of course, The Cure. Every one of those bands brought their best efforts, making Friday the most likely candidate for the best day of Osheaga. 

5. WiFi lounges and phone recharging: If you've got some time to kill and you're full from one of the gourmet food trucks (more on those tomorrow), why not chill in a hammock and check your emails? Is your phone just about dead? There are plenty of places where, if you've brought your charger along, you can plug in your phone and recharge. As Osheaga has expanded the festival grounds, it's nice to see that they're making great use of the space.