Day three of the Tilt Phillips Backyard music festival was certainly not the day to miss.
Following the Pride parade downtown, Victorians made their way back to the Backyard for the third and final day of the festival in all their colourful glory.
Sunday’s performances were a bit more laid back overall, but things still got amped up with acts like Trophy Dad, and Sudan Archives made sure to remind people how to party.
Trophy Dad
Local legends and dad-rock enthusiasts, Trophy Dad finally got their highlight among the local bands who have had the chance to play on Phillips Backyard’s storied stage.
Lead singer and guitarist Nevil Meyer was clad in his usual short-short overalls and had his leg wrapped up in a moon boot from when he broke his feet just weeks ago, but that didn’t deter him from establishing the Backyard’s good vibe for the day.
Trophy Dad played a cover of Cher’s Believe which fit the bill as a 90s song, given the theme of Tilt was 90s attire, and also gave a nice nod to the fact that the Pride parade happened earlier in the day.
They ended their set by snapping a photo on a polaroid camera to remember the moment forever.
Haley Blais
For all those who were missing a ‘sad-girl’ band on this year’s Phillips Backyard lineup.
Haley Blais’ performance was mostly mellow with injections of energy whenever she would push her vocals or pick up her vibraslap.
Her shirt which said “If you don’t like my attitude, don’t talk to me” matched her music in a profound way as she closed her set by having the audience sing along with her big hit, “the coolest fucking bitch in this town.”
Whitehorse
A dynamic duo from Manitoba, Whitehorse are true pros, never failing to put on an amazing performance.
Guitarist Luke Doucet was wearing his signature all-white outfit with his wide brim hat and Melissa McClelland had on a turquoise jumper with rose coloured glasses.
McClelland also had a unique microphone setup where she used two mics — one normal and one that made her vocals sound as if you were hearing them through a telephone.
The two shared that through the pandemic, when they heard about the passing of legendary songwriter, John Prine, they were inspired to write and record a full-on country record of which they shared several songs from on Sunday afternoon.
Sudan Archives
Wow.
Sudan Archives put on the must-see performance of the whole festival with her one-woman show of violin playing, screaming bloody murder and her endearing demeanour.
She hopped on a flight to Victoria from Austria on Saturday, July 8th and in the process, lost her passport, her wardrobe and all her instruments and pedals.
Because she was left with almost nothing, the crew and other bands who played Tilt really banded together to make her show happen.
Trophy Dad’s guitarist gave her his guitar pedals and helped her get the tones she needed from them, another band loaned her some cables, she managed to get her hands on two violins and she ran to a nearby sex shop to pick up her outfit which was a full-body rainbow fishnet, rainbow butterfly pasties and a rainbow bikini bottom.
She really won over the audience when she wished everyone in attendance a happy Pride before screaming “where my freaks at?”
Bahamas
Bahamas is always a delightful band to see and they were the perfect choice to close off a jam-packed weekend full of music.
They played all the hits from Barchords all the way to 2020’s Sad Hunk and told the crowd this show would act as their tour kickoff for the summer.
During the performance, audience members started passing their plastic beer cups all to one person who created a beer cup tower which Afie Jurvanen, who essentially is Bahamas, had passed to him during one of their last few songs.
He held it instead of playing guitar until it flopped over due to the sheer size of it.
Jurvanen also thanked Victoria for having him out on the Sunday instead of the other Tilt days, joking that Bahamas is exclusively a Sunday band.
That’s a wrap for the Tilt Phillips Backyard festival, but the good news is that all the fun will continue in one month at Reverb, the second and final installation of the Phillips Backyard shows for this year.
The headliners for Reverb are none-other than the ‘Metchosin one’ himself, Jesse Roper, Fleet Foxes and Peach Pit, with so many other amazing acts.
If you missed out on Tilt, make sure you don’t make the same mistake for Reverb!
Reverb Phillips Backyard Festival Series
- Where: Phillips Brewing Backyard
- When: August 11th to 13th
- Tickets: Varying depending on how much festival you want to experience
