The first night of River and Sky saw festival goers and performers alike celebrating an escape from the city, despite the bugs.
“I’m so excited to get out of Montreal… it’s so hot in the summer, and there’s cement all around you,” said Paul Murphy, the singer in Wintersleep, who headlined the first night.
“We’ve heard a lot of good things from friends of ours who have played the festival before.”
The band played the familiar classics like “Weighty Ghost” and “Amerika” for an enthralled audience against a lightshow that lit up the trees and danced off the river.
Murphy said they’re so keen on rural festivals like River and Sky — which continues today and runs until Sunday, July 23 in Field — that most of the band will be sticking around for another night after their set.
While Murphy said they’re looking forward to taking in some of the other performers including Timber Timbre who he’s never seen live, it’s about more than the music.
“I’m all about the rural places right now; it’s about the whole experience being in that setting,” said Murphy. “We’re all from pretty small towns, so it kinda makes it feel nostalgic being in the countryside playing music.”
After the festival, Murphy said the band members are all taking time to head home to their rural hometowns, mostly in the Maritimes.
Audiences were equally thrilled to have Wintersleep at the popular festival. Wintersleep was the most requested band following the 2016 festival.
“We did an audience survey, and we had a good response to the survey, it was pretty impressive... There were over 300 responses,” said Peter Zwarich, festival director.
“They were at Northern Lights Festival Boréal a couple years back and there was a big response to them there.”
The enthusiastic welcome then, with plenty of swaying and swinging in front of the stage, was no surprise.
For the remainder of the festival, the band is looking forward to the same things as festival goers; saunas and swimming, chowing down on a wide selection of locally made grub, and plenty more emerging and established indie acts.
