Well, that was fast. Rifflandia is 10 years old already.
Admittedly, it took me a few years to catch on. In those tender years, I was still not sure if this was a festival for me…A festival in September with number of artists I’ve never heard of and — I’ve got small kids, right?
Jump ahead to year 6 and I finally realized I had to see what I was missing out on. I had begun shooting concerts, so I had a very good reason to check out this Rifflandia Festival I’ve been hearing about. Serena Ryder was also on the roster at Royal Athletic Park, so I HAD to bring my kid — it was serendipity.
And in a moment under the stars with my 8-year old, with the powerful role model Serena Ryder up on that stage merging a varied audience into one music-loving entity, we were hooked. Rifflandia was for us. It was for the moms, the babies with their onesies, the 8-year olds who were just discovering their music, the 15-year olds, the 20-something’s in their onesies, 30 year-olds in their finest t-shirts, the 40-somethings who just love to get out and run into those people you meant to get together with all summer. Rifflandia was for all of us.
The line-up over the decade featured well-known artists from X-Ambassadors to Kieza, Serena Ryder, Coleman Hell, Macklemore, Dragonette and Michael Franti — to local artists and random artists that we’ve discovered and added to our collection of favourites. Music festivals like Rifflandia are just as much a place to see your favourite band, as they are to discover your next favourite.
Shout out to Atomique Productions for putting their heart and soul into working so hard to give live music a thumping heartbeat in our city. I’m looking forward to the next decade of discovering new music, hearing my favourite bands, or being introduced to my kids favourite artists at Rifflandia.
From the Photo Pit of Rifflandia 10:
