White Lung WayAway Stage, Oro-Medonte ON, July 22

White Lung WayAway Stage, Oro-Medonte ON, July 22
Photo: Rick Clifford

White Lung are a band who bring to mind neither daylight, nor the outdoors, a fact perfectly illustrated by the group's attire for their late afternoon set. Facing the sun on one of the hottest days of the year, singer Mish Barber-Way, sporting a long black dress, quipped, "I wore the wrong outfit. It's hot." 

Nevertheless, the Vancouver-via-L.A. quartet did their best to play to the small but dedicated crowd. As one of the fest's most aggressive acts, they had an uphill battle, made more difficult by a breeze that blew their sound around. But they were up to the task. With a set that pulled heavily from their two Domino Records' LPs, they soon had a small mosh pit going near the front of the stage.

"Kiss Me When I Bleed" from this spring's Paradise hit particularly hard. Yet it was  "Below," the most atypical White Lung song that had the crowd clapping in time to its dramatic build.

Though always fierce, there was however a perfunctory feeling to their performance with several members looking bored at times. Still, they certainly won over new converts, while delivering a set that would please any die-hard.