Last weekend in Victoria was one we won’t soon forget.  We can’t believe we’re saying this, but we’re pretty glad Squamish didn’t happen this year, because we attended Rock the Shores instead. (Somewhere Jesse Boland is reading this saying “I told you so”, haha. More on Jesse Boland in a bit.)

Compared to Squamish (or Osheaga) with its 5 or 6 stages, Rock the Shores is pretty small. But only when comparing the number of stages, since the acts performing on them were equally fantastic. And you know what? We like the single stage. You don’t have to miss anything. There’s no stressing over missing 75% of Vance Joy because you need to see 100% of James Bay. (Us at Squamish last year). I know what some of you are thinking–what if I don’t WANT to see 100% of everybody? Well, for starters, you don’t have to. That’s what the food trucks/drink stations are for. Or, you sit down and take it all in anyways. We tried to “sit down” for The Cat Empire. HA. Good luck with that. How someone can sit perfectly still to The Cat Empire is beyond us. Pretty sure we were straight-up doing a ZUMBA routine by the end of their set. (Zero shame at a music festival, people. Zero.)

Know what else is great about a smaller-scale festival? There’s ROOM TO DANCE. Even towards the front of the stage you don’t totally feel like sardines in a can. Or maybe it’s just that everyone and everything on Vancouver Island is a little more chill. (We love you, Vancouver Island.) Nothing worse than when Yukon Blonde starts playing “I Wanna Be Your Man” and you’re packed in a crowd so tight you can’t even get your arms up, haha. Such was not the case last weekend. I’ve never enjoyed my favourite Yukon Blonde song as much as I did on Sunday at Rock the Shores. Same goes for the entire set from Dear Rouge on Saturday.  And sure, it’s still crowded. But, if you happen to see a super-cool dude wearing Lego pants on Friday, chances are you’ll be able to find him on Saturday or Sunday so you can go up and introduce yourself. (I’m not saying Jess did this, but I’m also not denying Jess did this).

The majority of the acts were Canadian, and that was fine with us. Friday’s list was even more specific, as the acts were all from the Island. Naturally, we were partial to Towers & Trees, since a good friend of ours is the drummer. (The aforementioned Jesse Boland). It’s a little hard to describe just how proud we were watching our friend rock out on stage at a music festival. Definitely one of the weekend’s highlights. Also, if you don’t already have Jesse Roper in your library, then head on over to Spotify and introduce yourself. We’ve been listening to “The Hurricane’s Eye” all week–our way of making the festival last longer, haha. There’s just not enough room in this post to go on and on about the rest of the weekend’s acts, but Sunday afternoon included Yukon Blonde, July Talk, Arkells, and Metric. We’re still recovering from its awesomeness.

At this point, you’re probably wondering where all the epic photos are to match such an epic weekend. Well, you’re going to be a little disappointed. Basically, because I suck at taking photos at concerts–especially concerts in blazing sunlight. For example, enjoy these totally amazing snaps of Towers & Trees and Yukon Blonde:

Which one’s which, right? Hahaha. Like I said, I’m no concert photographer. Good thing Yukon Blonde has that backdrop, guys.

We did take photos of us, though:

We loved the festival so much, we’re already counting down to the 2017 lineup release.