Edgefest.

Yesterday I attended Edgefest for the first time and had quite the experience. As I write this I am exhausted, smell like smoke (cigarette and otherwise), possibly suffering from heat stroke, and a couple hundred dollars poorer, but it was all worth it. Going to Edgefest this year shook me out of a lack-of-concerts funk that I've been in over the past year or so, and I am happy to be back. Edgefest is my second music festival experience (the other being 2008's Rogers Picnic) and attending the event reminded me of why I am attracted to these big events.

Toronto generally doesn't get too many big music festivals. I find this odd as other comparatively sized/culturally prominent North American cities do (Montreal's Osheaga, Chicago's Lollapalooza, and San Fransisco's Outside Lands to name a few). Toronto, with 2.5 million people in the city proper and 5.5 million if you include the GTA, should be home to a big music festival. The population is definitely there, and as the line goes, "if we build it, they will come". There must be some bureaucratic reason why Toronto cannot hold such events and it's a real shame as these events - which usually last for multiple days featuring some of the biggest/emerging names in rock and alternative music (and all their sub-genres) - seem like a good time and would provide for an amazing experience. 

But onto what we do get - Edgefest. 

The main stage.

It was amazing yesterday. Two stages, tons of people (I heard that they were expecting about 15 000, and it was definitely packed, the space allocated for the festival wasn't all that big. All the bands I wanted to see put on terrific shows - those being the Arkells, Tokyo Police Club, and Rise Against - and the rest of the acts I caught were great as well - The Weakerthans, A Perfect Circle, and Hollarado being the ones I distinctly remember. Tokyo Police Club really impressed me, probably the best set I've seen them play - this was my 4th time seeing them live - and Rise Against impressed as well, but that was expected (yesterday was my 2nd time seeing them). I had never even heard of the band Hollarado until their set on the XM Side Stage yesterday evening and they put on a terrific show and can consider me a new fan. 

Edgefest is an event made for bigger groups. While it was fun going with three people (myself, my girlfriend, and my cousin - it was his first concert and he was treated to quite the show. My first concert (with friends, i.e. away from mom and dad) was at The Phoenix many years ago (I think I was 15) where I saw A Static Lullaby and the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus (plus others), a decent show in it's own right I suppose but nowhere near the epic scale as offered by Edgefest), it would be awesome to go with a big group next time. At least 5 people or so, that'd be ideal. Although granted throughout the day we met up with others so our little group grew and shrank as the day went on.

One thing that surprised me about the event were the number of people who smoked. I am not oblivious to the fact that - despite the repeated warnings and education about the potential hazards - people still smoke (many of my friends do, and I on occasion feel like I would like to) but I was surprised at the amount of young people that were smoking, especially the younger women. I know people attended Edgefest to have a good time, but I would've thought that - in today's age - the general attitudes towards smoking would have affected some change in people's habits. People were also smoking other (less legal) substances, and I'm generally fine with that. It was just the sheer amount of cigarettes in people's mouths is what surprised me. 

I also found the litter everywhere highly ironic. This year the law in Ontario changed, allowing people to take their alcoholic drinks with them wherever they go at concerts (as opposed to being restricted to beer "tents" or "gardens"). This led to the ground being littered with discarded plastic cups (among other things). The irony is that the headlining and most popular act - Rise Against - are steadfast environmentalists, and I couldn't help myself but wonder what'd they think about people's disregard to keeping the Earth clean. 

Rise Against.

Overall Edgefest was a great experience and despite being hesitant about attending initially, in the end I'm quite glad I did. It couldn't have been held on a more beautiful day, and it had all the fixtures of an epic rock concert (two stages, tons of people, crowd surfing, $8 beers, mosh pits, a few fights, etc.). One of the funnier/more annoying experiences I had was when a couple guys near me were trying to mosh to Tokyo Police Club's "Your English Is Good". It reminded me of people trying to mosh at an Angels & Airwaves concert I went to awhile back. Just not the type of music. There is a time and place for everything. I guess alcohol will do that to people. 

I didn't take many pictures or video of the concert, at least when compared to when I was younger. As I've grown older, and had gotten more and more concerts under my belt, I have simply grown tired of constantly having a camera in my hand, holding it up as the band I want to see plays. I want to see the band, not worry about getting a cool photo or full video (although when I do, it is pretty awesome). However if you'd like to see the pictures I did manage to take, you can see them here.

Edgefest 2011 was awesome. Definitely a highlight of my summer thus far.

Foster the music.

The band Foster The People (FTP) are going to be big. This is a prediction I had made about a month ago when I first heard their Single "Pumped Up Kicks". I came across the song after a cousin of mine had posted it on Facebook (the power of social media) and it seems like ever since then this band has been turning up everywhere I look. I see/hear them on television and the radio, I hear people talking about them (many of whom I know as I was the one who introduced them to the band), and they've been touring quite a bit; playing shows across North America - including big music festivals like Coachella and Outside Lands. They're doing all of this on the release of THREE songs off of one EP. It's really amazing.

FTP's rise reminds me a lot of the success story had by one of my favourite bands - Tokyo Police Club (TPC). TPC is a little band from Newmarket (the town I was born in by the way), and they first hit the music scene in 2006 when their EP A Lesson In Crime was released. The force of this album quickly pushed TPC to play local Canadian festivals Pop Montreal, Edgefest, and Osheaga. However within a year of A Lesson In Crime's release they played at Coachella, Lollapolooza, and Reeding and Leeds Festivals. More importantly they played The Late Show with David Letterman on April 19, 2007 which was a breakthrough for the band, exposing their music to a much wider mainstream audience. Like TPC, FTP are making a name for themselves by playing big name festivals, all on the strength of a few songs.

TPC's latest album Champ reached number 58 on the Billboard 200, 12 on the Alternative Albums chart and number 5 on the Independent Albums chart. Such numbers are not too shabby for a bunch of 20-somethings from the Town of Newmarket. I intend to watch FTP's career in the same way I've been following TPC's. FTP are from Los Angeles (a little bit bigger and more well known than Newmarket) but their rise as a band is very similar. With the release of their first full length album Torches set for May 24, their career will inevitably continue to grow. I love music and seeing these small bands have this kind of success is a great thing. Needless to say, I think TPC is great - and getting better - and if FTP follow a similar trajectory as they did - which seems likely - then I am excited for what they have to offer in the future. I own all of TPC's albums, I have seen them play live at least three times, and I consider Champ to be the 'soundtrack' of my summer last year. I have already publicly made the assertion that FTP's Single "Pumped Up Kicks" will be the 'song of the summer' this year (in terms of popularity and mass exposure - similar to Peter, Bjorn & John's Single "Young Folks" back in summer 2006). With Torches coming out in May, and upcoming Toronto shows, FTP will - in the very least - be a major part of how I experience, and remember, summer 2011.

Various links for each of the bands below, check them out!

- Tokyo Police Club's website
- Tokyo Police Club's first Single - "Nature of the Experiment"
- Tokyo Police Club's latest Single - "Bambi" (also my favourite track off Champ)

- Foster The People's website
- Foster The People's only Single - "Pumped Up Kicks"

P.S.

This being a music post, I'd also like to bring your attention to an awesome website that a friend has recently made me aware of. It's called We Are Hunted and I have found it to be a great resource to discover new (and old) music. The site is unique in its ability to let you search music and then save your favourite tracks onto your very own "Chart" which you can then share among the site's community (a link to my Chart can be found here). If any of this sounds even remotely interesting to you, I highly recommend you check the site out!