Rifflandia got underway Thursday with the first of three nights of programming at Electric Avenue in the Arts & Innovation District, near Phillips Brewery. More than 5,000 fans took in sets by Dr. Fresch and Chris Lake, with a drone display on opening night. The festival continues through this weekend and against next weekend, Sept. 15-17.
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RIFFLANDIA FESTIVAL
Where: Electric Avenue: Arts & Innovation District, Pembroke Street (between Government and Store streets)
When: Thursday through Saturday, resumes Friday through Sunday, Sept. 15-17
Tickets: https://rifflandia.com/tickets
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Rifflandia will emerge with a decidedly different look this week, just one year after the music, arts, and culture event had its best year to date.
Festival founder Nick Blasko has made several adjustments to his popular multi-day festival, which settles into a revamped home base Thursday with Electric Avenue, the first three-night phase of programming. Rifflandia has expanded its format this year, eschewing its traditional four-day footprint for six days of events over a two-week period. The festival resumes Sept. 15 for The Park, three days of outdoor performances at Royal Athletic Park by Iggy Pop, Diplo, and Herbie Hancock, among others.
“We’re trying to update in terms of the level of talent we’re putting on the stages,” Blasko said. “We need that bigger footprint.”
Splitting the festival into two parts was part of a natural evolution, on the strength of its recent success. Following a record year in 2022, which drew a combined daily attendance of 15,000 people for sets by Lorde, Charli XCX, and Shaquille O’Neal, Blasko said he needed to go bigger if Rifflandia was going to get better.
“For as long as we’ve been going into Royal Athletic Park and continuing to do stuff at night, they have been two different experiences and environments completely. It felt like, unfortunately, that the nighttime stuff was always getting pinched. The later we would go in the park, we would have to squeeze the time that we had for the nighttime stuff. We’ve avoided that problem altogether and given it its own weekend, its own lane. Now, we don’t have to do double duty on the same weekend.”
More than 40 musical acts and a dozen comedians will appear this week at Electric Avenue. The main stage has been relocated to the Matullia Holdings Rock Bay lands adjacent to Phillips Brewery, bordering Pembroke, Government, and Store streets. Situating the main stage and popular geodesic dome — a big hit last year — within the City of Victoria’s Arts & Innovation District gave Blasko the ability to secure an 8,000-person capacity.
Once the festival adjusted its footprint, a larger main stage area meant Blasko could book high-profile acts such as Run the Jewels, the popular Grammy-nominated rap duo. He’s tried for years to have them play Rifflandia, but he could never find a space suitable for artists of their stature — until now.
“We’re in exciting and uncharted territory with this site, and that’s going to be a totally new experience for people. We tried to open it up as much as possible and it really go for a feast for the senses, eyes and ears and everything.”
The backlot of Phillips Brewing, which served Rifflandia well during previous editions, is still in play during the festival’s first week, and will be home to two stages, including the festival’s stand-up comedy showcase. The new main stage at the Matullia Holdings land is where much of the attention will be focused, especially for the Friday night headlining set by reality TV pioneer turned dance music DJ, Paris Hilton.
Blasko said the response to her impending appearance has been significant. He’s expecting the hotel heiress, who is worth an estimated $300 million US, to deliver far beyond what some may expect from her. He said she was more than happy to accept the offer to play in Victoria, which tells him Rifflandia’s reputation is growing well outside of our borders.
“There’s thousands of events and festivals to play, so it was a bit of a process [securing her participation]. It’s a victory when we get anyone to say yes in that, as far as I’m concerned.”
Rifflandia was expected to return in 2020, after a one-year absence in 2019, but that plan was scuttled. The pandemic stretched the one-year break into three. When it finally came back in 2020, after nearly 1,500 days between editions, it did so with an overwhelming bang. “It was definitely a triumphant comeback last year, and I felt like the community welcomed us,” Blasko said.
A lot of new faces took in Rifflandia last year; approximately 35 per cent of attendees were first-time ticket-buyers, Blasko said. Despite the success, he never stops hustling.
“Some people think this thing can be on autopilot. But we live and breathe it all year long, every day, and talk about things for months and months and months before they become reality. It’s a big beast. Psychologically, it’s very much the same feeling from year one to now. there’s just a different set of variables.”
