Edgefest 2009 Is Muddy

Downsview Park

Toronto, ON

on Jun 20 2009

Bianca Marcus (CHARTattack)

06/22/2009 3:58pm

Festivals are great — an entire day of music, hanging out with like-minded people ("You like Metric? I love Metric!! Let's be besties!"), and enjoying the sunshine.

Oh wait — scratch that. Sunshine wasn't part of the deal at Edgefest this year. The rain came down all day and transformed Downsview Park into one giant mud puddle. It made no difference to the fans who trekked out to Downsview Park on Saturday, though — it turns out a full mud bodysuit and a nasty case of trench foot serve just as well as festival souvenirs as a wifebeater tan.

First up were The Johnstones, everyone's favourite crude ska band from Ajax, Ont. Seriously, these guys should be bottled and sold as anti-depressant meds — between their summery sound and nonstop stage antics they had everyone in the audience smiling.

Singer Ryan Long was happiness incarnate as he bounced around the stage, and keyboardist Julian Warme entertained with goofy faces and a tambourine solo. Best songs were "Bank," "Gone For A Long Time" and "Can't Be Trusted."

I went over to the mainstage next to watch Arkells. Their hilarious YouTube videos (and rockin' music) have made me one of the band's many loyal fans. I stuck around to see them play "The Ballad Of Hugo Chavez," but couldn't help but be sirened away by Toronto's Dinosaur Bones on the second stage... sorry Arkells, but I already knew you were going to put on a fabulous show. You didn't need me for that — it's nothing personal.

Dinosaur Bones could be the next big thing to come out of Toronto. They're young, charming and their melodic songs are the perfect mixture of lightheartedness and melancholy. Watch out for them. I predict they'll creep up in the same way The Midway State did.

Fellow Torontonians Dean Lickyer were the band I was most excited to see at Edgefest. Although they're barely of age, Dean Lickyer understand the definition of a performance.

Lead singer Joshua Alvernia is absolutely mesmerizing — if Robert Plant and Steven Tyler were to (hypothetically) give birth to a child, it would be Alvernia. The band ended their 20-minute set with "Get Your Own," the single that impressed MuchMusic's disBand judges only a few short months ago.

K-OS took the main stage shortly afterwards. For one man, he has a way of seeming larger than life onstage. "Sunday Morning" had everyone dancing and for a minute — a very short minute — the sun actually came out. Inflatable sex dolls were tossed into the audience (don't worry, Mom and Dad, their vital areas were taped over), Dallas Green came out to sing the beginning of "Man I Used To Be," and all was well with the world.

Inevitably, the calm instilled by K-OS needed to be broken. And who better to break it than Toronto's happiest southern hardcore band? Cancer Bats destroyed any shred of serenity, bringing out the hidden aggression in audience members.

Charismatic vocalist Liam Cormier was God. When he called for a circle pit, he got a circle pit. The mud fights were go and the crowd proceeded to obliterate whatever grass was still attached to its roots in the park. Best songs were "Hail Destroyer" and "Lucifer's Rocking Chair."

A 25-minute wait in line for a portapotty screwed any plans I had of watching Metric. There was no toilet paper, either. I ended up using the media spec sheet I had been given earlier that morning that outlined the rules and regs for taking photos and video of the bands. It was out of pure necessity, I swear!

Finding food in the park also proved to be a challenge — there weren't many options for a vegetarian to choose from. Nestled between tent after tent of barbecue-blackened hunks of flesh, hot dogs, breaded chicken and poultry-filled pitas was one lonely Pizza Pizza stand where the meat-intolerant could order a plain cheese slice, and a french fry place serving up barely-cooked potatoes smothered in what may have been rancid oil. For a lower-calorie lunch, there were free samples of Mike And Ike's and Dr. Pepper.

I felt like crap and had a headache coming on, and it was time to head to the main stage for Alexisonfire. The St. Catharines, Ont. guys were in top form as always and played songs from previous albums as well as new ones from their upcoming release, Old Crows/Young Cardinals.

Audience interaction was a big part of the band's set, with lead vocalist George Pettit letting the crowd sing into the mic and getting everyone to clap in unison. AOF ended with crowd favourite "This Could Be Anywhere In The World," and those who knew the words (jeez, who didn't?) sang along like kindergardeners belting out "O Canada."

AFI had a tough act to follow, but they handled their set with grace. Lead singer Davey Havok wooed the audience with his banter, and seemed genuinely excited to perform — an admirable thing considering the band have been in existence for 18 years. In a hats-off to David Bowie, the band did an epic cover of "Ziggy Stardust," which gave me a newfound respect for the California rockers.

Billy Talent, the band all the Edgefest troopers were waiting for, finally took the stage as the drizzle slowly and torturously soaked any last dry areas of my body. Their set, which was nearly an hour-and-a-half, covered the band's impressive repertoire — those who had been around when the band first took off remembered songs like "Try Honesty" and "Surrender," while younger fans knew Billy for newer tracks like the recent single "Rusted From The Rain."

People from all walks of life gathered for the common cause of hearing Ben Kowalewicz's high, yet endearingly unique vocals. There were pierced punks, frat boys, scene kids, moms and dads and possibly even a grandma or two in the audience.

Kids in the front tossed mud around like confetti while Kowalewicz grabbed the mic stand and thrashed it around as if he were trying to break its neck. The band weren't planning to do an encore, but the crowd insisted and Billy ended with a gutsy performance of "Nothing To Lose." It felt like a full-circle moment for Billy Talent, a group who started out the first act on the third stage of Edgefest only a few years ago.

It was midnight by the time I got home and showered to go back out — there was an unmissable secret loft show happening, with DD/MM/YYYY and Spiral Beach playing — and it was 5 a.m. before I walked home for the night with the faint sliver of a moon slowly disappearing in the sky. There's only one Edgefest and one NXNE weekend a year, and I'm happy to say I made the most of mine.