What: Rifflandia Festival featuring Courtney Love, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Big Boi, Classified, Death From Above 1979, and more
When: Thursday through Sunday
Where: Various venues, including Royal Athletic Park, Alix Goolden Hall and Phillips Brewery
Tickets: $40-$295
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There is no such thing as a crystal ball when it comes to predicting festival audience totals.
From year to year, too many intangibles enter into the mix, from weather patterns to audience tastes. But when it comes to the sixth edition of the Rifflandia festival, which takes over 13 Victoria venues beginning tonight, co-producer Nick Blasko of Atomique Productions has an idea where the event is headed.
In fact, Blasko is expecting the best audience totals to date over the next four days. “There’s still a ways to go, and this little window of time is critical to our sales right now,” he said. “But we’re on track for our biggest year. If there was a year we could sell out completely, this is it.”
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That shouldn’t come as a surprise to longtime supporters of the event, which has grown in every way imaginable since its 2008 debut.
Atomique tinkers with aspects prior to each Rifflandia, with the long-term goal of making it the best festival in Greater Victoria. It certainly has the breadth to deserve such an honour, especially this year. “Everything is bigger,” Blasko said. “More artists, more vendors. More venues. You name it.”
Tops on the radar for most ticketholders is Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, an L.A. collective which has appeared at some of the largest festivals around. Blasko said the band was rolling with a 21-person caravan, with extra lighting on order. “They are treating this as a proper headlining date and they are going to deliver.”
There’s plenty of activity outside of Rifflandia’s primary venue, Royal Athletic Park, such as the acoustic War Child Lounge (in The Atrium on Yates Street) and a music industry panel held Saturday at 9:30 a.m. in the Marriott Inner Harbour. Atomique’s main goal, however, is to make RAP an all-inclusive experience.
The park’s key attractions, Kidlandia (a children’s area), Artlandia (exhibits and do-it-yourself art), and Main Street (a row of vendors and exhibitors), offered something for everyone, Blasko said.
He was at RAP on Wednesday morning to watch the newest facet of the festival being installed. The Rifftop Tent, which functions as a side stage, will, for the first time, put audiences — and performers — under a massive tent. The decision to cover the side stage wasn’t motivated by weather concerns, though that certainly helps. If anything, the purpose was to make a typical side stage scenario more of an intimate affair.
Organizers took a cue from the dance tent of Coachella, the hugely popular annual event in Indio, Calif. “It’s a smaller version of that exact thing,” Blasko said. “The vibe under there will be so great.”
A series of new venues has been added to the festival schedule, including Rehab Nightclub, the Copper Owl and Studio CMCT. Blasko is most excited, however, about the return of the Phillips Brewery site.
“What was a 400-person capacity venue five years ago is now a 2,000-person capacity outdoor venue,” Blasko said.
He suggests revellers keep their eyes and ears open over the weekend. “There’s always one or two showcases or one or two nights that are really in high demand, and sometimes you don’t see those coming.”
He doesn’t need to inform anyone about the arrival of Hole frontwoman Courtney Love, however. She is the highest-profile Rifflandia act to date.
“What can you say? It’s Courtney Love. When we first started thinking about [booking Love], we thought, ‘That would be so crazy.’ Now that it is going to happen, I can’t wait. She is rock royalty, as far as I’m concerned.”
