Lets start at the top with Wednesday. : Shred Kelly, ( Bluegrass and folky guitar riffs had us hopping, ) The Matinee, ( Vintage, chest beating macho rock), and The One Look Donnybrook, ( Blues and grunge, and one of my faves of the night, ) kicked off our whirlwind tour of bands for the week. ( The only trouble we had with the entire festival was that the venues were so spread out , and with so many great bands playing at the same time, it made it difficult to pick and choose who to see. )
Thursday : Awake and beer groggy, we went in search of breakfast, and set about exploring the city. Toronto is very well laid out, a clean , strong grid where once you know the main streets, its easy to find your way around and discover some of the awsome shopping, restaurants, and architecture this city has to offer. After a brief nap back at Lauras, we were out again for more bands. The ever talented Sarah MacDougal started off our evening, ( her soulful and folksy musings are a rare treat. If you ever have a chance to catch her show, Do!!! ) , followed by P.S. I love you, ( Rob's only hipster commentary here: " Knew them when they were a two piece..now that they are a three piece they aren't as good... sigh... " ) and The Men. ( post-hardcore indie. ) We managed to catch a few other bands inbetween, ends and beginnings of sets, but the names, alas, elude me.
Friday: Suit shopping, ( Rob- Cuban handsome! ), Zombie shoe shopping, ( Me- Yay!! ), and an awsome mexican food lunch in Kensington market, ( So. Much. Fun. ) complete, another night of music awaits. Brasstronaut! ( Baroque prog filled with orchestral swells, ) Jaron Freeman-Fox and the opposite of everything, ( an excellent surprise find of the evening, " Gogol Bordello meets Zappa ". Bluegrass, indian music, african beats and sea shanties. ) The Coppertone, ( fuzzed out blues rock that had me reminded of early Joan Jett. Very cool band! ), and Plants and Animals!!!! ( A huge highlight of the festival, this band was high on our list of bands to see. Fulll blown indie prog rock. )
Saturday: Rob in his suit, and I in my dress, we hit the town and painted it red. A quick dinner at the Three brewers pub, ( Great beer! Ignore the food. ) we hit up the main stage for Portugal. The man. ( experimental indie rock four piece band- a welcome new discovery... ) and after a 45 minute wait, were blasted into a confetti and balloon filled sky, as the frontman for the Flaming Lips rolled out over the hands and heads of the crowd, in a giant plastic hamster ball no less!!!!, before gracefully rolling back on stage, only to give us a mind blowing, alt- rock performance as only the Flaming Lips can. The crowd was rocking, the alien standing sidestage weaving and bobbing, and the band, as ever, fantastic. For myself, not much can top that... and I think I actually still have confetti in my purse. ( Testament and fond memories of an awsome night. )
Sunday: Breakfast! Picasso! and The Village Idiot! ( The pub. Not us. ) The Picasso exhibit at Toronto's national gallery was well worth the price of admission. Alot of sculptures and a spectacular selection of his work from early to his last years. Its pretty cool to see how much his work still influences artists today. Lunch at the Village Idiot proved to be both delicious and entertaining, as our waiter, Curtis, was that perfect combination of terse, sarcastic and quite funny. ( his beer knowledge was also quite impressive!! ) After all that walking around, we headed back to Laura's for some haircutting, beer, and general catch up on the day. Many thankyou's and hugs to Laura, for allowing us to crash in her driveway, and to two of the sweetest little girls we know, Verity and Thora, for making us laugh and sharing your toys.
Totally tuckered from Toronto, we head off in the morning light for a place to rest, ( Macleran Island fits the bill, ) and plot our next leg of the journey. ( New Brunswick! )
Till the next blog.....
No comments:
Post a Comment