Not all venues, or set times, are created equal. At a festival like FME, where shows are spread out among transitional venues and more unconventional locations, your viewing experience may differ wildly from one venue to the next. Set times weigh heavily as well, and the right artist at the wrong time can be the kiss of death for a performance.
Closing off the series of free early evening showcases at Le Polonais Cocktail Bar, Montreal-based duo Strange Froots had the unenviable task of performing for a small group of dedicated but tired pass holders, a handful of curious locals and patrons who just happened to stop by for a drink. After a timid start marred by sound issues and shaky voices, the duo, made up of Mags, aka Passion Froot, and Naïka Champaïgne, aka Dragon Froot, started to find its footing. The time and the venue were ill adapted to their music, but they made the best with what they had, and the audience easily went along for the ride.
Much of their set was made up of cuts from their self-titled debut release, and in many ways their performance felt from another era. There's a youthful exuberance to many of their songs, which they emulate efficiently on stage through their sisterly banter. With assistance from DJ and producer faneva, their songs are intercut with vocal samples from movies and popular speeches, offering a bit of a throughline for the performance. Newest single "London Fog," an afrobeat banger, was an audience favourite, getting many exhausted participants to their feet for a bit of a late-set shuffle.
After some audience participation, urging people to chant "stay cute, stay froot," DJ faneva played them and us off with a mashup of Earth, Wind & Fire's "September" and the Super Mario Bros. theme, a fitting end to a pleasant final-day set. There's new material on the way, so with a beefed up set list and a bit of editing, there's plenty of potential for a really tight set. In a different setting, to a different audience, it definitely would have translated better. But for a late afternoon free show on a makeshift stage in the corner of a cocktail bar, they still managed to get the people to their feet and hopefully look them up post-gig and #StayCuteStayFroot.