Holy smokes guys!

NXNE was done as of last sunday and it was filled with so many amazing things. Its always great to see how strong the Canadian music scene can be, especially with so many out of country guests to host. Its easy to forget, but we really have something special here; from all ages shows to CBC Radio 3 and AUX TV, the Canadian scene is supportive, creative, talented and has a certain hometown feel, despite how spread out we all are. Without turning this into an essay on Canadian identity i do want to say, NXNE is great because it highlights the vibrancy of the creative scenes in many Canadian cities or towns and it also brings that energy and vibrancy to support out of country guests as well; creating a global community of pals.

Anyways, it was super fun and super inspiring to see so many people out there making friends and loving music. Here is what we got to love at Radio Laurier.

On Friday we had the please of seeing the previously mentioned artist Best Coast who totally did not let us down!

Along with her band she kept her show fun and up beat, prompting even the stoic Toronto crowd to tap their feet. I was also blown away by the sound quality. Best Coast's albums are recorded in a style that makes everything sound like a four track recorder (i'm not sure if their actually four track though? Correct me?); its really a neat effect, but it was really refreshing to hear how clear her songs are live, and how lovely her voice is.

After an incredibly long walk in which we were turned away from Japandriods ( i'll talk about some venue issues later) we ended up at the Silver Dollar for The Strange Boys. Despite leg tiredness and some extremely drunk crowd members (crying girls, security scuffles), it was a treat to hear the rambling charm of the Austin bands garagey/pop/rock.

After The Strange Boys we finally (2am) got to hear from WOMEN, the Calgary band we had been waiting for! Suddenly, the Silver Dollar was little Calgary, it seemed at least 20 Calgary expats or travelers had made it to the show. The crowd was ALIVE, it seemed everyone had all the energy in the world (Radio Laurier possibly an exception). WOMEN played to a very stoked audience, and they played well. Unfortunately, they were done an incredible disservice by the soundguy/lack of soundguy! Vocals were totally out of whack, or worse, totally gone, and somehow all of their instruments were made to sound tin-y and flat. We had been warned about sound at the Silver Dollar, now we know. Despite this, WOMEN played an excellent show to a crowd who just loved them to pieces, it was a lovely experience.

After a well earned sleep and some lemon curd on toast Radio Laurier (and entourage) was ready to begin Saturday! Saturday was the biggest day, filled with the most bands and activities, so it was important to have a plan, fuel, and a good attitude. A lapse in any one of those things would result in festival burnout, which was not an option. Festival burnout, very common amongst first time festival goers, is a kind of extreme fatigue caused by forgetting your physical and emotional health during fest time. Its really important to remember that you keep hydrated, fed, that you take rests and that you generally have a plan. While just flying willly nilly around town trying to see as many random bands as you can is fun for a while, its easy to become disinterested in the music and totally pooped from all the travel and socializing.



Luckily, Radio Laurier always has a plan, and our saturday plan began in Trinity Bellwoods for an afternoon picnic/blanket chill/ NXNE acoustic set. Many assorted berries were purchased to make sure we got our antioxidants for the day and we got to relax on our blanket as these artists serenaded us:

Whale Tooth
The Sheepdogs (Saskatoon)
Sandman Viper Command (Burlington)
Savoir Adore (Brooklyn)
US Royalty (Washington DC)
Svavar Knutur (Iceland)





The only festival plan lapse on our part that occurred the whole festival (i say with pride), was our general lack of sunscreen in the park. This resulted in some uncomfortable burns for two of Radio Laurier's entourage, including DJ Anne T. Donahue knees.



After recovering from our park adventure and some serious water chugging (hydration is key) we basically sprinted down to Dundas square to see Surfer Blood. Although we only got to see half of their set, we were totally blown away by their charisma and their incredible performance. These guys had it SO together i thought at many times that they were about to break into synchronized and choreographed guitar moves (which for the record, would have been amazing). While some bands don't bother to be polite and charming in their stage banter, it was refreshing to see a band that took their jobs seriously and seemed to be actually nice dudes. We were all very pleased with them and planned to see them at 12pm for a repeat performance (more to come on that).





After some noms we took our positions for the Ravonettes, who, despite having the daunting task of opening for Iggy, managed to warm the crowd up very nicely. For more on this, see DJ Anne T. Donahue's article on it here.



Then things got CRAZY! The problem with going to a performance in a place like Dundas square, advertised as a public show, is that you get a lot of people who don't go to community shows very often. The difference between a show and a concert really comes out here. All the other performances at NXNE fall safely in the category of show, and the people who attended them had been to many shows before. What is lost when something becomes a concert is the show etiquette. At a show, its a community, everyone is generally looking out for each other, meanwhile a concert is everyone for themselves; therefore the avalanche of pushing, shouting and boob grabbing is unleashed. This as probably not helped by the sheer number of people who were in Dundas square (pushed all the way back to the eatons center, shoulder to shoulder). However the unpleasant nature of our surroundings totally didn't matter as soon as Iggy and the Stooges came on stage, and they nailed it! Iggy was so energetic and entertaining, he had the crowd totally wrapped around his punk god finger. The sound was incredible, he played all the right songs and we were all very pleased. See it here!



After Iggy we tried to see both the Huron/ Attack in Black show at the Horseshoe, and the Surfer Blood/ Les Savy Fav show at Wrongbar but both were to0 busy! Well, to tell the truth, we went to the Horseshoe, saw it was really busy, then decided to try Wrongbar instead. BAD plan. The we were lined up about ten feet from the door when they said there was actually no hope of getting in. Even Radio Laurier's Priority Pass wasn't enough to speed things up. Disappointment breifly overwhelmed us. It seems there was an ongoing issue of big bands in small venues, and we were the victims. Sigh. But we didn't want to let this ruin our evening and it was only one in the morning so we decided to hit up our favorite venue, the Dakota Taven, for one last show.

And then Ali and the Dts totally blew us away! Their performance was energetic and their music was the perfect mix of nostalgic and totally new and exciting. The crowd went completely bonkers and we were finally where we needed to be. I really recommend checking them out!



Altogether it was an incredible weekend, an incredible festival and we had a really good time. Its nice to be reminded about the power of community and a good show.

Yeah, i wish i could have seen more bands, but there's always next time. I'll leave you with links to all the bands we didn't see and we can all get excited for next time.

Huron



Attack in Black



Les Savy Fav



Ghost Bees



and  Lowlands !

Lets hope to see all these folks next year at NXNE!

Also, more photos to come!

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