Summer music festivals. What’s not to love? Fun in the sun, dirt on your feet, sweat all over your body from dancing too hard, and lots of music; don’t forget about the amazing music! Well, 2011 was the second time I was able to, basically, attend four music fests back to back to back! I’ve been attending Hillside in Guelph, Ontario for four years now, but I have slowly started to add others to my list: North by North East (Toronto), Mariposa Folk Fest (Orillia) & Home County Folk Fest (London). All have their own personalities and I love them all for different reasons. Now that I have attended all four, and I’m done my music festival season, I thought I would reflect and share some stories, musical discoveries, and a few music fest survival tips! I’ll split this “reflection” in four parts, so lets start with North by North East!
North By North East
Wow. What a crazy filled four days that was! This year NxNE was taken over by CBC Radio 3 bloggers from all parts of North America and even Europe! The festival was basically an excuse for all, us (yes, I’m an R3 blogger for those who many not know!) to get together and meet one another. It’s nice that I’m now reflecting on it because it’s slowly becoming a blur! So much happened that week that I can’t seem to remember what happened which days! I met so many fantastic people and made so many new friends, it was wonderful!
NxNE is basically music mayhem throughout the city of Toronto. Venues across the city host evenings of music from artists across Canada and internationally. You can cater your NxNE experience to your musical preference, whether it be hip hop, rock, folk, electronic, or a mix of everything! There is music for all; that is, as long as you’re willing to trek around the city and wait in lines to get into venues.
I started my festival at The Rivoli to see Peter Elkas with some friends. Man is Mr. Elkas ever sexy... (his music that is). I’ve never seen Peter Elkas live before, so I was happy to finally experience his sexy self in person. His music was heavenly, rockin and smooth. His smile lights up my heart for sure :) We then left for a venue down the street called The Velvet Underground to see The Two Koreas. Other bloggers were there, so we decided to stop in! Why not? That’s what you do at NxNE!
Now, as much as I wanted to enjoy The Two Koreas, I couldn’t get into it! So much yelling, and loud music. I had just left a place where I was swooning over the soft soulful voice of Elkas...too a screamer. Just didn’t work for me. However, others were really enjoying it, so I was happy! Just because I didn’t like it, doesn’t mean others felt the same way! That’s the awesome part of NxNE. So many different bands and musical tastes.
We then headed back to The Rivoli to catch Imaginary Cities, but to our dismay there was a huge line up to get in! This is one of the frustrating parts of this festival. But, we were with a CBC host, and seeing as it was a CBC event, well, we were smuggled into the venue through the back door. That’s about as much information as I’ll provide! Imaginary Cities were incredible. The lead singer, Marti Sarbit, has an amazing voice. She sings with so much passion and soul. Marti reminds me of British singer Adele, but better. So much dancing was involved that night. It was brilliant. Great show, great night.
Next day was filled with breakfast with the R3 gang. We all met up at Cora’s to record with Vish Khanna for his weekly R3 “Breakfast Club”. We ate food, chatted about music, laughed, smiled, hugged and then headed over to the CBC for a tour. Vish took us around to various places at the CBC headquarters. I should add though, this isn’t really part of the NxNE experience, it’s more so my personal experience. I then did some co-hosting with Grant Lawrence (a host a R3) for his Friday afternoon show. It was lots of fun :) Talked about the festival, chatted with some bloggers, you know, the usual :) Great fun! After the show, we headed to the atrium of the CBC and met up with many R3 bloggers who were there for a big R3 group photo! Pretty epic stuff! Lots of people meeting for the first time, lots of hugs all around. I was so proud of everyone. So much love in the air.
That evening I decided to head over to Sneaky Dees with some new friends and check out some pretty rockin’ bands. I wanted to catch some bands that I had never seen live before, so Sneaky Dees was my best bet! The line-up included Enjoy Your Pumas, Gramercy Riffs, Ruby Coast, Great Bloomers, Paper Lions, etc. I really wanted to see Great Bloomers and Paper Lions, but it was getting really late and I had a picnic to host Saturday afternoon, so I had to bail. Too bad though! I heard both bands were amazing. I ended up seeing Paper Lions at Hillside... but I’ll talk about that later :)
Saturday was pretty epic. It was the “MoniSki NxNE/Going Away Picnic”. My dear friend Grant was able to get some awesome musicians to play, which included: Matthew Barber, Wayne Petti of Cuff the Duke and Graham Wright of Tokyo Police Club. Even the fellas from Woodhands decided to show up and go on strike! Again, we laughed, and cried (well I cried), and enjoyed a super lovely day in Trinity Bellwoods Park. Everything about it all was super gorgeous and perfect. I’m going to miss everyone so much!
That evening is now a huge blur. I remember heading down to The Horseshoe Tavern to catch the CBC Radio 3 Showcase where Craig Norris was hosting. I believe we saw Teenage Kicks, One Hundred Dollars, Dinosaur Bones, Wildlife, Jenn Grant and Hooded Fang. I remember being up front for Jenn Grant and dancing A LOT. My friends and I love Jenn Grant ;) She’s a sweetie and her music is extremely catchy. How do you not like her music?! If you don’t, than you obviously don’t like to smile. Shame on you!
I’m pretty sure the evening/morning ended Sunday at 4am. This is normal in NxNE standards. You shouldn’t really be going home Saturday night. If you do, than you obviously weren’t having a good time! I spent the night with ol’ friend, chatting about life and the amazing week that we had just experienced. It was epic. It was hard work, but it was all worth it!!
How to survive NxNE:
- Bring the schedule of shows you want to see, but understand that it may be a tentative plan. You never know where you’ll end up throughout the evening!
- Try to plan your shows according to venue location. This sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t. It’s nice not to have to travel to much though, especially if you are from out of town and don’t have a transit pass. Taxis and subway tokens can really start getting expensive throughout the week!
- Don’t carry too much with you. If you can go without a backpack, jacket, etc, than you’ll be doing yourself a huge favour. You don’t want security to have to put your things aside and than have to try to find your stuff later. It can be a pain when you are in a hurry. Plus, it gets really hot and sweaty in the clubs, so a jacket and sweater do get in the way!
- Be prepared to drink lot of beer. That’s a given though.
- Plan to not eat properly. You’ll probably have to grab several street meat meals along the routes to your shows. You’ll be eating out a lot if you’re not from the city, and even if you are. Bring some extra change with ya!
- Arrive early to the shows you really want to see. There’s nothing worse than missing that one band you were dying to see. Plan ahead! Sometimes lines can be a nuisance and take a while! Sometimes you’ll get lucky!
- Have fun :) Always smile and have fun :)
Musical Discoveries/Highlights:
Imaginary Cities (new)
Gramercy Riffs (new)
NxNE is good for.... :
- For those who love to discover an amble amount of new music in a short period of time.
- those who don't mind running around the city!
- Willing to be patient and wait in lines for their favourite band.
- Don't mind getting up close and personal with people in venues.
- Open minded personalities.
- those who don't mind crowds.
There you have it! Part One of my Summer Music Festival fun!
Part Two: Mariposa Folk Festival coming shortly!
Keep Smilin Gang!
- Monica
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