AMNESIA ROCKFEST
From Snoop to Jack
After a couple of days of eardrum-blasting rock, actor-comedian Jack Black gave the crowd a brief break during Tenacious D’s Saturday night performance at the 10th-anniversary edition of Amnesia Rockfest in Montebello.
As his bandmate Kyle Gass noodled on guitar, Black indulged in some octave-jumping scat singing that deflated the mosh pit, leaving the sweaty throngs scratching their heads instead of banging them.
“That’s jazz, ladies and gentlemen,” Black declared, before surveying the audience to find out the “most powerful” genre of music.
The answer was loud, clear and obvious: “Metal.”
It was an effective segue from Simply Jazz to The Metal, two songs from Hollywood’s comedy rock duo. As they say, metal will live on, not to be killed by punk rock, grunge or even techno.
All the heavy genres were alive at Rockfest, sharing a program that was also loaded with some of the most mainstream fare the festival has ever presented, including Snoop Dogg, Linkin Park and System of a Down. Alex Martel, who started Rockfest when he was 17, had help this year from Rancid’s Tim Armstrong and Fat Mike of NOFX in putting together the ambitious lineup.
Once again, legions of punks and metalheads descended on the picturesque, riverside village of Montebello, Quebec. The festival started with a ‘F---- Sponsors’ night on Thursday, and wrapped up early Sunday morning. Organizers said attendance was on track to surpass last year’s estimate of 160,000.
Over the weekend, there were performances by dozens of bands, spread out over five stages at the Montebello marina on the shores of the Ottawa River.
Highlights: A punchy, tight set by San Francisco alt-metal group Deftones; an industrial summit with two pioneers of the genre, Skinny Puppy and Ministry; intense workouts by punk legends Bad Religion and Buzzcocks; metal mayhem with Rob Zombie and Slayer; and ramped-up dance parties with Gypsy-punkers Gogol Bordello and Montreal ska faves Planet Smashers.
One thing is clear: Rockfest is nothing like Bluesfest. In fact, according to one touring musician, it’s nothing like any other festival in the Western hemisphere. Story of the Year’s Philip Sneed, who also played in the band Goldfinger, compared the anything-goes vibe of Rockfest to festivals in Southeast Asia.
At Rockfest, the pierced and the tattooed drink heavily, smoke anywhere they like and toss their beer cups on the ground. In the thick of the crowd, you can’t walk a few metres without being prompted to buy a Jagermeister shot. But you had to watch where you stepped: males and females weren’t shy about urinating whenever and wherever.
It sounds like a recipe for disaster but somehow it works out peacefully every year. Conflicts are rare, organizers say, and the chaos is somewhat controlled if smelly.
“We want it to stay safe but I think that if we put too many rules, people will maybe get a little more aggressive,” says festival spokesman Mathieu Marcotte. “What’s interesting with Rockfest is there’s a part that we control, and there’s a part where we run things and there’s a part where we’re not responsible. In the village it’s a whole different universe.”
In that universe, the biggest issue was traffic, although locals say it’s been worse in past years. Getting there was frustratingly slow on Thursday night. Parked cars lined both sides of the roads, many of them equipped for camping. There were officially designated fields to camp in, including an RV area, and residents rented out camping spots in their yards. Hundreds of young people walked to and from the site, turning the town into a giant street party.
“Sometimes punks and metalheads get a bad rap. You’d think that if you put them in a really small town, all hell’s gonna break loose, but it’s always been a great collaboration with the people here in Montebello,” said Marcotte, who grew up in the village.
One important new aspect of this year’s Rockfest was an agreement to use the historic Chateau Montebello, the magnificent log structure better known for hosting world leaders.
During the festival, the hotel accommodated the bands and their crews, and provided space on the grounds for media and techs to camp.
To get to the concert bowl at the marina, pontoon boats supplied a shuttle service. Snoop Dogg was one of the stars who could be seen sashaying along the dock to catch the boat back to the hotel after his entertaining set on Saturday.
“Since we’re out in the middle of nowhere, I think people are more relaxed,” Quebec comic Mike Ward said. “If this was in Ottawa or in Montreal, people would feel the pressure but here it feels like we’re almost on vacation.”
In the end, the festival works because fans have fun, and the village tolerates it.
“It’s not said but I think everybody realizes that if we make trouble, there wouldn’t be a Rockfest,” says Danielle Prud’homme, who works in the festival’s business office when she is not being Alex Martel’s mom.
As for the prospect of moving the event, Martel won’t consider it, says his 85-year-old grandmother, Jacqueline Marleau, who also helps out at Rockfest, even though she prefers Englebert Humperdinck to Groovy Aardvark.
“He doesn’t want to take his festival anywhere else,” she said. “He was born here in Montebello. Some people told him he should go someplace else, somewhere bigger where you can buy things more easily. But he always says, ‘It’s going to be right where I was born.’”