Friday: Out of the fort and into the palace with Hollerado 

The Toronto Urban Roots Festival (TURF) kicked off this past Friday at Fort York Garrison Common. The music festival, which ran for the entire weekend, included a Club Bonus Series, in which TURF bands played non-TURF stages: The Horseshoe Tavern and, of course, Lee’s Palace. Headlining the second night of the Club Bonus Series at Lee’s was Hollerado, who took the TURF south stage on Sunday.

Hailing from our nation’s capital, Hollerado is a vibrant guitar-driven indie rock band with preposterously catchy choruses, an offbeat sense of humour, and an exuberant stage show. They seem to have struck the perfect aesthetic and tonal balance, not taking themselves too seriously while still paying attention to smart instrumentation and crafting hummable melodies. They’re the kind of band that can get away with packaging their first album, Record in a Bag, in a confetti-filled Ziploc and still earn themselves a Best New Group nomination at the 2011 Juno Awards. Having been a fan of theirs since the release of their second album, White Paint, I decided I would be remiss if I passed up the opportunity to see them live.

However, not unlike taking the streetcar during rush hour, attending a concert at a Toronto club venue requires a certain comfort with invasions of personal space. Having made my way through the crowd to the front of the stage, I turned around and observed the mob of people directly behind me, chock-full of rowdy figures twice my size. Paying them no mind, I craned my neck forwards and rested my arms on a thick metal pipe running across the stage’s front, ready to enjoy the show.

Situated front-and-centre, I awaited their set, digging openers Bidiniband and Andrew Jackson Jihad. All the while I was being thrown around like a beach ball, caught in a mosh pit of sorts. I clutched the aforementioned metal pipe for dear life, trying to stand my ground as sweat-stained concert-goers smashed into me, whipped their hair in my face, and landed upon my head in failed attempts at crowd-surfing.

Encroached personal space is definitely one of the downsides when it comes to a venue like Lee’s. The festival grounds at Fort York are much more spacious, but are not nearly as affordable as the Bonus Concert Series. In the end it was all worth it for Hollerado’s set. For over an hour, they played tunes from their two albums, jammed between songs, bantered wittily, told zany stories, and did an encore of Blink-182 and Neil Young covers. For a few songs, a black light shone upon them, lighting up their painted instruments in multi-coloured, glow-in-the-dark neon. One gutsy crowd-member rushed the stage and snagged a goofy selfie with Menno Versteeg, Hollerado’s lead singer.

Not taking themselves too seriously, Hollerado still manages to put on a seriously excellent show.

— Daniel Konikoff

 

Saturday: Dedicated fans bring energy to Andrew Jackson Jihad, Violent Femmes

Saturday at the Toronto Urban Roots Festival (TURF) was a day of hidden gems — I decided to ditch headlining acts Sam Roberts Band and The Gaslight Anthem, since I had already seen them live and realized they didn’t cater to my music preferences.

I started with Andrew Jackson Jihad, an American folk punk band from Phoenix, Arizona. I’m familiar with their older work and was interested to see how they would be live. Their energy was incredible. Watching their set reminded my of why I love going to festivals and live shows in general — the die-hard fans. Everyone looked thrilled to be there — and nearly everyone knew the words. It was clear the band was able to recreate the emotional connections of their recorded music in a live setting. I left the show impressed, satisfied, and craving some quality time with their recent effort, Christmas Island.

The Violent Femmes are alternative rock legends from the 1980s who became active again last year as they promoted the thirtieth anniversary of their self-titled album. Basically, these are some older guys who sing about sex. They commanded the stage, catered to their fans’ desires by playing their greatest hits, and brought up a fan to play the tambourine. Drummer Brian Viglione, although not a part of the original Violent Femmes grouping, added a magnetic energy to the show.

TURF Saturday was a reminder that although headliners are great, you can never compare the energy of a headlining show to the raw, genuine power of a smaller stage with dedicated fans.

— Ayla Shiblaq

 

Sunday: Serene sounds for staring at clouds

While Sunday naturally had the least amount of attendees at TURF, there was no lack of talent to be heard.

July Talk, arguably the day’s hometown heroes, performed an excellent live set containing three new songs from a forthcoming album. The band’s signature “whiskey-soaked and cigarette smoke” sound felt a little strange in a park at 3 pm, but once frontman Peter Dreimanis urged the crowd to pretend it was the dead of night, all was well. Oh, and I’m almost certain with the vocal pipes that Dreimanis possesses, he could be just fine without a functioning sound system. Seriously, the guy roars so loud that his microphone seems all but a formality.

Over by the hillside south stage, I found myself impressed by Seattle-based Noah Gundersen who, along with his sister, forms a wonderfully mellow and harmony-heavy folk duo. An obligatory Neil Young cover was well received, and the hillside locale let many listeners, myself included, listen while laying down staring at the clouds. I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation when the American singer’s set was interrupted by a Royal Canadian Military marching band rehearsing in the foreground of Fort York.

Other standouts of course included Jenny Lewis on the west stage and Hollerado back at the south stage at night. Lewis won me over with acoustic track “Acid Tongue,” where her band put their instruments down and served as a backup choir. The guys from Hollerado certainly know how to please a crowd, and I always find myself impressed with what a huge catalogue of sing-along tunes they have only two albums into their career.

The takeaway emotion I had from Sunday’s show was serenity. TURF may not have the same level of grandeur as more established Canadian music festivals, but to have such wonderful talent present only two years in is impressive. I would love to see TURF return to Toronto next year and every summer to come.

— Corey van den Hoogenband