On Wednesday the 17th, the music portion of this year’s North By Northeast Festival began, which for many years was the full extent of the festival, but since has come a long way. It has not only grown in size and quality but in scope as well. A few years ago the festival added a film component that has remainined very music focused in its programing. However, it has recently broadened its scope slowly to include more peripherally music-related fare like Sook-Yin Lee’s Year of the Carnivore, which is making its umpteenth Toronto film festival appearance.

This year also marks another expansion of the festival’s mandate with the premiere of its first interactive media conference, NXNEi. The conference kicked off the festival ahead of both the film and music schedules on Monday the 14th, though unlike the other two components which are far-reaching, it was restricted entirely to the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

NXNEi can safely be called a success and seemingly much-needed, considering it sold out, despite a limited mainstream media push, and included web luminaries such as the creative and audacious Ze Frank. With NXNEi, the festival in general took another step towards perhaps one day matching its venerable sister festival, South By Southwest, which has become unmissable both for indie music and new media followers.

This year, NXNE’s music lineup features 650 bands over five days and 50 venues with an increasingly kick-ass and extensive free lineup at Yonge and Dundas Square which includes not only The Raveonettes (8 pm on Sat. 19th),  Iggy and the Stooges (9:30 pm on Sat. 19th), and De La Soul (9 pm on Sun. 20th) but also 21 other great bands over four days (Thurs. 18th – Sun. 20th). In addition, there will be free shows all over the city from Union Station to Bellevue Park in Kensington with less established (and unspecified on the website at least) bands throughout the day. Single showcase tickets are available at the door of the venues, and the other two ticket options are 5 day festival ($50) or 1 day festival ($25) wristbands.

Check out some media show recommendations for further intel.

• Now Magazine
• Eye Weekly
• Torontoist
• blogTO

Thursday, June 18th was day 2 of the venerable 15-year-old North by North East (NXNE) Music Festival.

Spiral Beach, Burning Brides, Black Lips

My compatriot and I were making our way to Yonge and Dundas Square for the first of 3 nights of free concerts thrown by the festival at the square.

Though the concert at YD Square had been going on since 6pm that night, we were making a fashionably late arrival at 9:30pm. Unfortunately, that meant we missed the powerhouse and up-and-coming Toronto band Spiral Beach, who had kicked off the show at 6pm. As we arrived, the band Burning Brides were just finishing up their act, and there was already a slow-growing trickle of people arriving in anticipation of the Black Lips’ show at 10pm. We left to grab a quick bite to eat (sorry Burning Brides, food more important) and by the time we had returned the Black Lips show was already underway.

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North by North East (NXNE), for those who don’t know, is the annual music festival in Toronto that has more than 500 international and Canadian bands playing 50 venues over 5 days, and in the past few years has also added a film festival of 30 music related films. This year was its 15th anniversary and it took place from June 17-21 (Wednesday-Sunday) and had a stellar lineup in comparison to some of the more lackluster past years, with notably The Cool Kids, The Black Lips, GZA of Wu-Tang Clan, and The Zoobombs among many, many others. For the uninitiated, prices are usually $10 to $15 a show but the best value is definitely in the $50, 5-day wristband that gets you into all the shows. However, there is no priority or even guaranteed entrance if the show is packed, so one should get there early. Of course there are various others in between and above and beyond ticket levels available ranging from $25-$250 as well. This year was my first year as music reviewer, so those who are looking for really erudite obscure band comparison references should jump ship to Pitchfork now. On the other hand, NXNE has yet to reach the level which would demand attention from Pitchfork, unlike Austin, Texas’ South by South West (SXSW) which NXNE owes name reference to. For those who are looking for descriptive reviews of general vibe, venue, music, and experience, read on!
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Image from edge.ca

Having been a tradition since 1987, it’s obviously no surprise that this year’s festival was such a thrilling event. Hosted by radio station 102.1 The Edge, celebrating only Canadian rock bands, this year’s festival was held Saturday June 20th as a full day event. Billy Talent (who headlined the show) performed, along with other great bands, a lot of which were up and coming. There were also some mainstream bands, and some of which are just on the verge of reaching mainstream.

Now I’m no music expert so don’t expect some credible musical analysis out of this article. All I can really say is I had a good time and the new experience I walked away with was very interesting (to say the least), having never been to a live rock music concert. I stood through at least 10 hours of pouring rain and having to stomp around in wet mud. Mind you, I was not wearing waterproof shoes! Also, I did not expect all that weed! I even saw a couple using a teddy-bear shaped honey bottle as a bong! I’ve never in my entire life smelled that much weed in one day or so much in one giant space as I walked around Downsview Park (which is where the festival was held).

Bands that I particularly enjoyed were Metric, K’OS, Billy Talent, Waking Eyes (up and coming) and Beast (also up and coming). All bands are technically considered indie, I think…but I’m sure most of them aren’t too famous yet.  Billy Talent certainly generated the most audience participation (where people pushed each other around and jumped while pumping their fists into the air like crazy). I surprised myself in participating in all that jumping around and dancing badly as I listened to the performances. Unfortunately I didn’t get to catch all the bands because there were so many and there were 2 stages — one main and one side stage where some bands played simultaneously. I can see why a lot of these bands haven’t broken into the mainstream market yet. It might because it’s too eclectic or alternative for mainstream folks (like myself, which I ashamed to admit) to appreciate at times. It’s edgy, passionate, and intense most of the time, but great music nonetheless.

I implore you all to go to Edgefest next year or sometime because it is a great experience. I had so much fun just listening to the music as I did with seeing all the random stupid things people were doing around me (i.e. mud sliding and mud wrestling). If alternative rock isn’t your thing, that’s okay. I promise you that anything live is ten times better, except perhaps Hannah Montana.