Blessed are the festivals that allow you to sleep in your own bed. Music festivals are a young person’s game. They’re designed with strong backs and good shoes in mind—certainly not those of us who have faced a gruelling season of one festival after another. Enter Area 506’s VIP area and a whole new way of experiencing festivals.
Were those adirondack patio chairs intended for us? Almost certainly not. The luxury of side-stage seating is exclusively reserved for paying customers, while we’re left to duke it with the rest of the media in the pit. That might be the reason we took them.
Never mind that it was our second festival of the day, let alone the umpteenth of the season, or how much our legs hurt. We did it for the story. A fresh perspective. Seat-safe. Squatters rights. We wanted first-cheek experience of how the fancy folk saw the world. And it was glorious.
Now, as a rule, we don’t believe in class divides at music festivals. We all remember how popular The Wall was at Evolve last year. Most of the festivals we attend are soft-seaters (or, more accurately, anyplace-you-deem-sufficiently-soft-enough-seaters). Plop yourself down anywhere at Folly Fest, Messtival or Future Forest and no one will bat an eye. They’re more likely to join you in your communal patch of dirt.
That’s not an option at Area 506, at least not a comfortable one. You’ll sizzle like a steak in that asphalt jungle. After standing on that pavement for less than an hour I could feel my toes roasting through my shoes. The shipping containers stood there like open ovens, belching hellish winds. The food trucks were there in droves, giving us delicious meat sweats. Area 506’s organizers seem to have anticipated everything except a summer day in Saint John, but they can hardly be blamed for that.
So we dealt with a little extra sunshine, and a little extra heat, and weren’t all that much worse off for it. The fog kept itself at bay, and we kept ourselves to the shelter of Area 506’s mighty tent. For better or worse that weekend, the tents were a necessity.
There’s no denying the exponential force of Area 506, and the effect it has had on Saint John. In three short years it has become a dominant force in a weekend already packed with musical festivals all across New Brunswick. From drawing curious crowds not entirely certain of what to make of the festival’s shipping container area to absolutely packing in the festival’s fanatics this year, Area 506 has grown in leaps. It’s turned the New Brunswick Day weekend from a time to escape the city into a weekend when you can’t imagine being anywhere else.
Foremost among those to agree were the returning bands. The skyrocketing July Talk graced Area 506’s stage during its inaugural year in 2016, leaving the crowd frantic and drenched after the band’s charged set. They returned again in 2018 just to remind everyone what a great time we all had as they sang the festival’s praises. We watched from the luxury seating as the eager and dense crowd responded by carrying off July Talk’s Leah Faye in their gentle surf.
Aside from the return business of July Talk, Area 506 brought in several first-time crowd pleasers. It all kicked off with the E2L JAM happening in Uptown Saint John, packing the city streets with yet another summer event. Crowds took in local bands like Kendra Gale and The Tortoise, The Hare & The Millionaire, which paired well with an impromptu open-air market, before being treated to a surprise performance from Reuben And The Dark.
The weekend itself was a buzz of activity. Thankfully, aside from the multitude of vendors that have joined Area 506’s village, there is now the addition of a few areas dedicated to relaxation (and more seating). An out-of-the-way hammock setup was a familiar sight, and the over-sized beer pong games were a welcome addition to those of us who have never really shaken our freshman extracurriculars.
And let’s take some time to talk about Monks & Jonesie, the VIP experience for your mouth. Yes, there were lots of food trucks at Area 506. They were all great. But nothing is as great as Monks & Jonesie’s Naan Burger with a deep fried dill pickle thrown in. We don’t mean to disrupt an article about a music festival with a food review, but it was a highlight of the whole festival experience.
Saturday evening we were confident was going to be a good time, with the exception of a torrential (albeit brief and admittedly entertaining) downpour. July Talk delivered nothing short of their habitually spectacular performance, and The New Pornographers allowed to us to pretend, if only for a moment, that we were in a mid-2000s car commercial. Whitehorse, on the other hand, was a pleasant surprise for us that required only a little more faith in the festival’s organizers.
Sunday was the day we were really looking forward to, with a block of our local favourites taking the stage in immediate succession: Kill Chicago, Tampa, Tomato/Tomato, The Olympic Symphonium, and Les Hôtesses d’Hilaire. Especially Les Hôtesses d’Hilaire. Somehow we’d forgotten how much fun they are live—all muumuus and super Chiac babies and wild and strange Hagrid-themed fantasies. Never mind that we can’t understand half the words, the animated Serge Brideau gets his point across.
The Glorious Sons were another headliner we might have overlooked before. All swagger and denim and rock and roll, we know better now. Naturally, we felt nostalgic when Big Wreck played “That Song,” but two decades later Ian Thornley is making this look like a walk in the park, casually belting all the notes as he sprints his fingers on lead guitar. Arkells, of course, were the big crowd pleaser, but we were lost in a sea of loud shirt patterns and on the verge of collapse.
These festivals, they always love reminding you to stay hydrated, but the never mention taking a seat often enough.
In a weekend full of memorable moments, none were so memorable as the moments enjoyed in the VIP section, with its memorable adirondack chairs (with all their memorably luxurious elbow room), the memorable casual strolls to the VIP bar and the extremely memorable VIP restrooms. We learned a valuable lesson there, and one you might want to consider for next year: splurge on the VIP passes, and really enjoy the festival.
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