North by East West: Dog Days: Sun-Soaked Memories of the 2010 Canadian Summer Music Festival Season

With the labour day weekend behind us, summer has come to it's de facto conclusion. We've spent those longest, most sultry days of the year in clubs, concert halls, stadiums, and fields. On blankets and tarps, in blistering heat and humidity, sometimes rain. By lakes, rivers, plains, on islands and mountains, in the heart of Canada's largest cities and with the help of its smallest communities. We ventured at times with tens of thousands, at times a handful of faithful kindred. The summer festival season is a time to find those like minded and reflective of our spirit to share in the release. Catharsis en masse.

To aid in nostalgia, or simply guide yourself in 2011, we here at North by East West have put together 11 reviews of some of the summer's best Canadian festivals. Share your thoughts with us if you have memories to lend, sensations to illuminate or a preferred sonic pilgrimage of your own.

North by North East
June 14-20 @ Various Venues, Toronto, ON

Like all big summer music festivals, NXNE is as much about what you see as what you don’t, either due to scheduling conflicts—the Hand Drawn Dracula showcase and Elliott BROOD both coincided with the NxEW showcase—or sold out venues (still mourning not being able to get into the Dakota for Old Man Luedecke and the Wheat Pool). But let’s focus on the glass of Steamwhistle being half-full.

As a mini-slice of NXNE’s indie offerings, NxEW’s inaugural showcase on Thurs., Jun. 17 at the Gladstone Hotel was a great ambassador for the genre. CBC Radio 3 host Craig Norris introduced the evening’s lineup—Volcanoless in Canada, The Mountains and The Trees, Olenka & the Autumn Lovers, the Coast, Rock Plaza Central, A Horse and His Boy and Amos the Transparent—which drew a robust crowd that included Norris’ fellow hosts Grant Lawrence and Lana Gay, and singers Jill Barber and Jody Glenham.

For us the free Sloan concert in Dundas Square Friday night was the equivalent of festival headliner Iggy and the Stooges: pros delivering a solid and satisfying show to adoring fans. We followed with a chaser of Hollerado at the Hard Rock Café, which was as much fun and confetti-filled as a piñata.

- Russ Gordon, NxEW and C.S. Hagan, Special Correspondent

Toronto Island Concert
June 19 @ Olympic Island, Toronto, ON

Toronto hummed as we approached the ferry turnstiles. It was wrenching to choose between NXNE and the show curated by the city's favourite stars and sons, but thousands had sold out the grassy space of the park. Reaching the island, past a pile of discarded blankets at the gate, and myriad local food vendors, Zeus finished their set. Zig-zagging through the crowd we found a spot near the front for the haunted wanderings of Timber Timbre and surf-washed, teen dreams of Beach House. Broken-hearted rockers Band of Horses had girlfriends clutching boyfriend's arms and sighing.

With guests such as Feist and Sebastien Grainger this was a homecoming for Broken Social Scene. Vocalist Lisa Lobsinger, has taken her share of criticism from the BSS faithful over the years, but triumphed with the call of forgiveness in "All to All." The orgasmic build of "Meet Me In The Basement" brought the sun to the horizon.

90's legends Pavement then took the stage. Opening with "Cut Your Hair" they burned through a nighttime greatest hits collection. Looking to beat crowds, we left pre-encore, and as the ferry made her crawl across Lake Ontario, those indie Gods played us out with "Summer Babes."

- Jay Blackwood, NxEW / Live Music Project (http://livemusicproject.blogspot.com)

S.C.E.N.E. Music Festival
June 27 @ Various Venues, St. Catharines, ON

St.Catharines, Ontario is a small city that should be much more well known for its music scene. 2010 brought the 15th year of the SCENE music festival which has grown to 160 bands across 17 stages sprawling throughout the downtown core. This year, concert goers were blown away by intense performances by Lights, SHAD, Cancerbats, Modernboys Moderngirls, and The Balconies not to mention pummelled by the festivals annual torrential downpour. Standing outside of The Merchant Alehouse to catch Still Life Still in the rain only serves to cool off a crowd that would have been pushed into overdrive by the bands energetic assault.

Another over the top event was Sandman Viper Command, who crushed the kids who had only heard of the band through the hype leading up to their outdoor performance at Whitehaut, the bands merch table was mobbed after the show. But this was just the start, it seems the hometown favorites bring out the best for SCENE. The Rumble Devils and The Lucky Ones packed the upstairs of L3 Nightclub, and even though My Son the Hurricane and The KAC himself played at overlapping set times they both drew massive crowds and instantly converted their audiences into die-hard fans of the Niagara music scene. As we stumbled home soaked in sweat and from the rain, the sea of newly deafened attendees all wore the same damn smile plastered across their faces. SCENE was another success this year.

- Daniel Dell, NxEW Contributor (http://flavors.me/closedpark)

Sled Island Music and Arts Festival
June 30 - July 3 @ Various Venues, Calgary, AB

Sled Island celebrated it’s 4th year this year with it’s most successful festival to date. Building upon the many bands in many venues of festivals like Halifax Pop Explosion and Pop Montreal, Sled has developed into one of the finest festivals in the country with bands and fans singing it’s praises and returning year after year. Part of the charm of the festival is the festival organizers willingness to step back and let band curate parts of the fest. Each year has featured a couple different guest curators who put together individual nights for the festival.

This year featured Fucked Up, Quintron and Ms. Pussycat and King Khan as guest curators and not surprisingly, the line up featured a heavy dose of noisey, garagey rock with old school grunge heavyweights The Melvins and Dinosaur Jr. headlining successive nights. Though the festival has done a fantastic job bringing in some of the last couple decades best bands, some of the best shows are some of the least known bands listed. Every year the schedule includes dozens of local Alberta bands, as well as a few from the rest of the prairies and a host of new bands from across the world that have yet to get the praises they deserve. This provided some of the most exciting moments of the 2010 with Edmonton/San Fransisco based psych/rave/pop band Gobble Gobble and Saskatoon-based Feral Children turning a mid-day set at legendary hot dog restaurant, Tubby Dog, into a full on psych-freak out rave, wiping a way over-capacity crowd into a frenzy at the very un-rock (or rave) hour of 4pm.

Sled Island is a festival definitely worth experiencing, even if you don’t know some of the bands listed as playing, it has proven itself as a great place to stumble upon a new favorite band.

- Tyson McShane of Slow Down, Molasses / NxEW Contributor

Mariposa Folk Festival
July 9-11 @ Tudhope Park, Orillia, ON

No one goes to the Mariposa Folk Festival in Orillia Ontario to simply enjoy a weekend of music. They go to experience life the way it should be: carefree, home-grown, and filled with swimming and samosas. If you haven’t tried a samosa at Mariposa, you should. Trust me.

This year marked the festival’s 50th anniversary, which not only brought back festival favourites, including Sharon and Bram, Murray McLachlan and Orillia’s own Gordon Lightfoot, but also the next generation in Canadian folk music. Discovering Canada’s next best thing was one of the highlights of my Mariposa experience. The young fellas in the Deep Dark Woods silenced audiences with their haunting melodies, while up and comer Dan Mangan brought crowds together with sing-alongs and his gut wrenching lyrics.

However, my favourite discovery and an all around festival favourite was Catherine MacLellan. With a voice as pure as hers, there’s no doubt she is Canada’s folk sweetheart. Now, I can’t finish a review about Mariposa without referring to what really made Mariposa so special to me. It became a place where old friends met, and new friendships begun. For that, I forever owe Mariposa my heart and soul.

- Monica Skorupski, Guest Contributor (http://monicaskorupski.wordpress.com)

River and Sky Music and Camping Festival
July 16-18 @ River Valley Bluegrass Park, River Valley, ON

Lying on my back, through the trees, I can see a sky full of stars. The river where we had swam that afternoon, cut through the bouldered channel and added an ambient texture over Daniel Romano's unplugged campfire set. Around us, the tent village buzzed. New friends and old acquaintances sat around the stone circles that contain their fires, each blaze illuminating it's denizens instruments of choice; another night of music continuing after the music.

Along side local favourites, bands like By Divine Right and Born Ruffians created a lineup of performers not to be missed in River and Sky's second year. The main-stage sat hill side, an Ozark cabin relieved of a wall, exposed to the small field where perhaps a few hundred of us gathered. With ample room to sit, lie in the grass, or dance, the park served as the ideal venue for The Pinecones, Boys Who Say No, The Wooden Sky, Yukon Blonde, Plants and Animals and Ohbijou.

This is a wood-nymph music festival dream of the near-North; miles from the nearest city, a club-sized audience dancing riverside in the night-breeze before sleepily singing their own songs and shutting their eyes under a spalled black blanket of a sky.

- Jay Blackwood, NxEW / Live Music Project (http://livemusicproject.blogspot.com)

Calgary Folk Music Festival
July 22-25 @ Prince's Island Park, Calgary, AB

Sitting in the afternoon sun, the grass beneath my bare feet, between my fingers with my palms to the ground, a vibration of pure and genuine enjoyment permeated Prince’s Island Park in Calgary. A diverse crowd emerged – young girls in short dresses, older men in fedoras and button downs, mothers and daughters, young children on shoulders with glow bracelets, rapt by what is going on around them. Hipsters, hippies, punks, cowboys, politicians, local celebrities and teens in flip flops and board shorts, a deficiency of shirts, some barefoot, the younger boys collecting plates for deposits.

This crowd watched workshops during the afternoons. A gorgeous wall of sound flooded our meadow seats as Library Voices, St. Vincent, Timber Timbre and Sunparlour Players jammed for what seemed an eternity on only the right notes. Side stage performances from Dan Mangan and Ohbijou invited the wistful and communally spirited to join them. Brits Laura Marling and Frank Turner transfixed, while international acts Etran Finatawa and Coolooloosh destroyed the concept of genre through clashing and bending.

I would have never expected this vibe from a province seen by those of us ill-informed and ill-served by the partisan regional politics of Canada, to be uptight and staunchly conservative. In the evenings, the tarped field and fenced off ‘dancing only’ sections filled before the main stage. Fuelled by Cat Empire, Michael Franti and Stars the city became a bohemian mecca; flowing skirts, closed eyes and arms held high in a haze of sweat and dance. Calgary Folk is sonic bliss in the Canadian west.

- Jay Blackwood, NxEW / Live Music Project (http://livemusicproject.blogspot.com)

Evolve
July 23-25 @ Antigonish, NS

After Evolve won CBC Radio 3's Searchlight Competition for "Best Music Festival in Canada" Jonas and the Evolve Tribe knew they had to step it up. Doubling the music budget, adding a 5th stage and completely overhauling the security for the festival were all positive steps to making my 5th Evolve my best ever. Evolve is located in the highlands of Nova Scotia, on a beautiful piece of farmland, 15 minutes outside of Antigonish. Grassy camping, idyllic sunsets, lots of frolic room and a 10 minute walk to a mulit-level waterfall/swimming area are just a few of the reasons I make the 6 hour pilgrimage every year. With rumours of the festival moving to a more central New Brunswick location, every Evolve on this site becomes more and more special.

Upon first glance, the musical lineup this year seemed to lack the big "headliner", on further inspection I found out that there were actually 5 or 6 acts that quickly were added to my must see list for the weekend. International touring acts like Easy Star All Stars (US), Ganga Giri (Aus), Beardy Man (UK), OKA (Aus), and Pretty Lights (US) were all amazing acts that would, if not for a festival like Evolve, never venture to our little corner of the country.

Not to be outdone by the international acts, some great Canadian touring bands stepped it up on the main stage. Five Alarm Funk's on stage antics really upped the silly on saturday night, Hey Rosetta! were a great on Sunday, and local favourites Slowcoaster and Rich Aucoin really got the feet moving with lots of crowd/band energy exchange. The smaller band stage was also fantastic all weekend, I saw some great local bands I had heard of but never had the opportunity to see live. The East Coast is rich in musical talent and not just the fiddlin' classics we're known for. Here are some great East Coast acts to keep an eye on; Acres and Acres, 3 Sheet, Owen Steel, Weak Size Fish, Gordon Gets Lost, Babette Hayward, Tupper Ware Remix Party and Madame Brown, just to name a few.

I must say the most talked about performer of the weekend was most definitely Fred Penner. Within 5 minutes of "Uncle Fred" taking the stage, we were all putty in his hands; singing, clapping, laughing and most importantly, paying attention. He played songs I didn't know I knew, and didn't remember learning. Some highlights over the two sets were Fred crawling through the homemade log, spontaneous 500 person group hug, "Down by the Bay", "Garbage (garbage, garbage.....)" and pretty much every other song he sang over the 2 sets.

All in all Evolve is a yearly tradition that is new and exciting each year. Whether its "The Best" or not, it never fails to be the place that I meet my new best friend, hear my new favourite band, or some other life changing experience. Long Live Evolve!

- Mike Humble, feelsgood.ca / NxEW Special Correspondent

Hillside Festival
July 23-25 @ Guelph Lake Conservation Area, Guelph, ON

Dish ninjas, mud slides, and sporks, oh my! This year’s Hillside festival in Guelph Ontario might not have been as climatic as last years’, where severe thunderstorms threatened performances from happening, but it was still filled with lots of laid back and sweaty cheer. Hillside is a highlight for many summer festivalgoers in Ontario. Not only is it an indie music trend setter, but also has an easy going “come as you are” attitude. Hillside doesn’t judge. They welcome everyone, and provide a mix of music for all to enjoy, whether they know it yet or not.

This year, Canada’s best dressed, Royal Wood, stood out as a crowd favourite with his infectious tunes, while hip hop artist Grand Analog tore the roof, which even prompted a shirtless fan to show off his break dancing skills on stage. However, the performance that left me in happy tears was hands-down Shane Koyczan and the Short Story Long. If you haven’t seen much of Koyczan’s work, besides his ‘We Are More’ speech from the Vancouver Olympics, I highly recommended checking him out. His words leave you with warm fuzzies for days. Overall, Hillside is a pilgrimage all music lovers should take once in their lives; trust me.

- Monica Skorupski, Guest Contributor (http://monicaskorupski.wordpress.com)

Osheaga Festival Musique et Arts
July 31-August 1 @ Parc Jean Drapeau, Montreal, QC

Osheaga transformed Parc Jean Drapeau, Montreal into a musical haven where you could find something to satisfy everyone’s musical taste buds. Current indie kings Arcade Fire headlined Day One, the same day they released The Suburbs on vinyl. Felt like reliving the 90s? Weezer headlined Day Two, or you could have checked out Pavement on Day One. West Coast gangster rap? Snoop Dogg was the artist for you. Wanted to dance? Diplo led a thumping Major Lazer set. Melodramatic pop songs? Hello Stars! Blues Rock? The Black Keys were the band for you. A crowd pleaser that puts on an excellent live show? See Metric.

This year’s edition of Osheaga was the most successful bringing in over 53 000 people to watch over 60 artists entertain. The event expanded to a series of concerts in the city featuring bands such as Of Montreal and Chromeo. If you’re looking for a well laid out festival with something for everyone, and a festival where you will pull out your hair because of so many choices between amazing bands, then Osheaga is the festival for you. Free public transit allows for easy entry and exit to the venue. A variety of food vendors ensured that your stomach could be satisfied and not rely on just hotdogs and burgers.

-Jonathan Briggins, The Broken Speaker (http://thebrokenspeaker.com/) / NxEW Contributor

Regina Folk Festival

August 6-8 @ Victoria Park, Regina, SK

Regina Folk Festival sits as one of the smaller festivals on the folk fest circuit, but having spent a good 41 years building it’s reputation, the festival manages to punch well above it’s weight, bringing in consistently great line ups of band into one of the most laid back, relaxing festival sites in the prairies. The festival takes place smack dab in the middle of Regina in the huge and beautiful Victoria Park.

The 2010 version of the festival featured it’s most folk/world music heavy line up in years, but despite this, any indie rock fans would have been hard pressed to complain with great sets by indie music friendly bands Ohbijou, Ghostkeeper and Calexico as well as a stunning set by folk legend John Prine. The crowd seemed equally split between those who knew and loved every last bit of Prine’s music and those who’d heard the name and knew he was supposed to be important, but didn’t know his music. Whatever the case, it would be hard to see anyone walking away from Prine’s show not being a fan. The man is a legend and a classic performer for good reason. He’s got the charm and the songs to show up bands who could be his grand-children.

Those who could get up early enough Sunday morning were treated to the other highlight of the festival, a workshop featuring Calexico, Ohbjiou and Justin Rutledge. The workshops at the Regina Folk Fest really are it’s secret weapon, with some of the best and most interesting sets happening here. The Calexico/Ohbijou/Justin Rutledge workshop opened with Calexico and Rutledge leading a beautifully improvised drone of a song, before the bands each took turns leading groups on their own songs. These resulted in Calexico consistently wowing the audience (and Ohbijou and Rutledge) as they effortless joined in on songs that where likely just hearing for the first time.

- Tyson McShane of Slow Down Molasses / NxEW Contributor

Labels: Calgary Folk, Evolve, Hillside, Mariposa, NXNE, Osheaga, Regina Folk, River and Sky, S.C.E.N.E., Sled Island, Toronto Island