andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

Having just hosted a Jazz and Comedy festival only a few weeks ago, Montreal was once again the pearl of Canada this past weekend with the undeniable success of the Osheaga Music and Arts festival- a two day event filled with performances beginning at 1:00pm all the way until 11:00pm.

As Saturday would feature notable acts such as Jason Mraz, The Roots, K’naan, The Stills, Girltalk and above all, the grandmaster Coldplay, andPOP decided to venture down to La Belle Province for day no. 1.

But something funny happened by the end of our trip. Not only did we go from being pale skinned to maple brown sunburned, but we also went from being a concert reviewer to a behind-the-scenes explorer.

With four different stages and acts scheduled at similar time slots, we had to pick and choose which musical path our day would lead towards.

This is our story.

2:30 pm- I begin my journey in Hell’s Kitchen. Beautiful sunny day in Montreal, but sweltering 30 degree Celsius heat. For some reason though, the crowd seems to want to stand through it for acoustic rock performer Donavon Frankenreiter at the Mountain Stage. The musician and also pro surfer gathers a trickling crowd with an immediate groovy set- reminiscent of longtime pal Jack Johnson.

Part of that next batch of sunshine tune-fellows like Johnson, Ben Harper, Matt Costa and G. Love,  Frankenreiter ignites the festival’s spirit with his variety of catchy soothing numbers- most notably It Don’t Matter, which leads fans into a massive chant. A laid-back Frankenreiter even lets a lucky fan help him belt out the chorus, sending the crowd into rave cheers.

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Alt-rockers Elbow have won this year’s Mercury Prize, edging out a tough field of nominees that included Radiohead, Burial and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss.

The Manchester-based quintet and their album “The Seldom Seen Kid” received the prestigious award at a ceremony in London Tuesday.

The $40,000 US prize, given annually to the best album from the U.K. or the Republic of Ireland, is voted on by a panel of music critics and experts.

Frontman Guy Garvey described winning the prize as “quite literally the best thing that’s ever happened to us,” and dedicated the honour to the band’s late friend Bryan Glancy, who inspired the record.

“He was one of the greatest men that ever lived,” Garvey told the audience.

“The Seldom Seen Kids” is Elbow’s fourth album and the second to receive a Mercury nomination. The band, who formed nearly two decades ago, received their first nod in 2001 courtesy of their debut record, “Asleep In The Back.”

This year’s shortlist of 12 nominees, announced back in July, included Radiohead’s “In Rainbows,” Burial’s “Untrue” and Robert Plant & Alison Krauss’s “Raising Sand.”

Klaxons took the prize last year for their debut album, “Myths of the Near Future.”