This final post from NXNE is an all-Canadian selection as the festival reached its climax on Saturday, with only a splattering of bands performing on Sunday. .jpg)
The throwaway name of Toronto’s Loopsy Dazy nearly made me miss out on heading to Rancho Relaxo on Saturday night, especially as they were to be preceded by Montreal’s equally cautiously titled Pop Winds. As it turns out, Loopsy Dazy was an apt and thoughtful description. The unsigned band is a relatively new conception, having only played a handful of gigs since September 2010. Seattle is no stranger to the sights and sounds of the Loopsy Dazys of this world, but to see a gig like this in Toronto is a rarity. Six tunes are available for free download from their website. Below is a live 10-minute studio version of a track played on Saturday night, in what was a tense and interesting set:
As this is a Canadian festival, the majority of the bands were from the Great White North. I was surprised to see, however, a full evening of entertainment dedicated to one city. The Velvet Underground venue had chosen Saturday evening, the busiest night with the majority of the biggest names playing across of plethora of places around the city, as its evening of music exclusively from Halifax, Nova Scotia. I did not make it, as I was keen on seeing other bands at other venues. The Halifax night does seem to have an air of “putting all of one’s eggs in one basket” to it. A Canadian city night would have been interesting, with a few venues hosting sounds from a particular city, but just to have one evening dedicated to Halifax seemed a tad peculiar.
Anyway, here is Dance Movie, from Halifax, NS, who I am sad I missed.
Montreal’s Quebecois-language singing Hotel Morphee did the trick boosting energy levels after 4 days of late nights, early mornings, and a large number of middle-of-the-road indie outfits. Their synopsis in my bible (the NXNE gig guide) stated that they were working “to push back the limitations of voice and instrument to create new soundscapes.” Even though I am still unsure of what that means, they were great live.
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NXNE has given me a better appreciation of Toronto (colloquially known as Tdot, for reasons unknown to the author). The Dakota Tavern (and its surrounding pubs and coffee shops) gets a big “thumbs up” from my very own two hands. Closing the Dakota on Saturday night were Toronto’s Entire Cities. Despite being initially saddened that they didn’t sound like Super Furry Animals (as their synopsis had described), they were a solid live show with plenty energy to please a rowdy crowd around at 2am.
The festival also had a stage opposite the large downtown mall in Dundas Square (Toronto’s Times Square). This is the only outdoor venue that does not require any writstband or pass, with all the gigs free and open to the public. The final two acts at Dundas Square on Saturday were “Safety Dance”-ers Men Without Hats and the original new wavers Devo, which, I think you will agree, is a spectacularly odd way to end a music festival.
Saturday brought an influx in crowds to the more popular venues, and to the sought-after gigs with well-known names or Pitchfork-promoted artists. My “priority access” pass essentially meant nothing in the face of crowds. Guaranteed to walk past any line-up whilst swinging the priority pass was null and void when the venue was at capacity. A first come, first served policy is always in place, which would have made a fair amount of people who had paid $150+ for such a ticket mightily cheesed off. This is an inevitable downfall of a citywide festival held over a week at many venues, especially when there are a handful of gigs that everyone wants to go to. Another drawback of the festival was the loudness of the crowds past 10pm, which seemed to be exacerbated by the weekend rush. Most gigs were really well attended, but were the audiences attentive?
There is a massive demand for gigs and films in Toronto; the Toronto International Film Festival is now one of the biggest in the world, and the every film at the annual Hot Docs Film Festival is incredibly well attended. In fact, everything in Toronto is well attended: food festivals, orchestras, theatre productions, etc, etc. There must really be nothing on TV. As a result, NXNE will prosper as the years go on, which I hope does not see a decline in the number of Canadian bands on offer. Whether NXNE will be as prestigious as SXSW remains to be seen. The potential is there.
So my time with my pass, a gig listing guide, and a whole load of transit tokens has come to an end. I was just beginning to get a handle on the old citywide-style festival, too. I had a great time (thank you to CIUT), saw some great music (highlight=Washington), discovered parts of the city I never knew and did not get killed by one single streetcar or subway. And I saw a man play a sitar.
Thanks for reading.
Toronto, out.