Dressed to impress in a vest and tie, with his signature slicked hair, Royal Wood must have been warm while entertaining an Island Tent crowd early Saturday afternoon. I suppose sitting behind his piano (keyboard) for the first three songs mustn't have been hot work but after that jumping up to play some acoustic guitar the sweat must have been trickling down his back.
Come to think of it Royal was glowing throughout the set but that may just have been due to the great reception his beautifully composed music was receiving. Bringing his songwriting to life with a three-piece backing band Royal fed off the energy and for single On Top of Your Love he could be seen pounding the keys of the rather wobbly keyboard. A Mirror Without was such a strong ending to the set that the crowd wasn't about to let Royal go. In the first authentic and deserved encore I'd seen on the weekend we embraced him as he returned to the stage alone with his guitar for one more gem, Lady in White, to great ovation.
Showing posts with label royal wood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label royal wood. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Royal Wood in the Royal City (Hillside '10)
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Hillside Saturday 2010
Battling on-again, off-again rainstorms Hillside Saturday took a little while to get rolling. 
Royal Wood was the first set to really wow the audience, with his earnest songwriting and piano chops (though props should also be given to young locals, The Canned Goods for their dynamite Hillside debut.) Full credit to My Son the Hurricane for doing everything in their collective power to get a party started (and being somewhat successful). The Acorn were solid and Basia Bulat ran through a rain-shortened but pretty string of songs on the main stage. Kudos of the day belongs to Flash Lightnin' who came outta nowhere and floored us all with three-piece rock'n'roll; their set closer (not the much deserved encore number) stands as my favourite single song played so far this weekend. The anticipation for closers Japandroids was palpable as all levels were cranked to 11 and the place went off with the first legitimate mosh-pit I think I've ever witnessed on the island. (Full reviews to come.)
Whatta day, and with tomorrow's sun acts like Shad, Shapes and Sizes, Stars, Corb Lund and Holy Fuck plus a whole lot more are gonna shine!
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