Live Review And Photos: Edgefest - June 20, Downsview Park (Toronto)
Edgefest
June 20, 2009 Downsview Park Edgefest has always had traditions. Tons of Canadian bands, a couple huge headliners and for the past couple years, a ton of rain and mud. Heading out to Downsview Park, it had already been raining for hours so it wasn’t a surprise to see a few people already covered in mud from head to toe by the time we got there and the numbers of people sliding and falling into it grew like crazy. But nothing was going to stop the fans from seeing their favourite bands, like headliners Billy Talent, the only non-Canadian band AFI and Alexisonfire. And the bands seemed to be in great moods despite the crappy weather.  Getting there just in time to see K-Os, who played mostly older songs like “Elektric Heat – The Seekwill,” “Sunday Morning” and “Man I Used To Be” as well as new single “Burning Bridges.” As it usually is with a typical K-Os set there was lots of instrumental solos by his stellar band and lots of little references to the rest of the bands playing the show. While K-Os has a tendency to keep his back to the crowd, there was no denying that most seemed to be happy with the set. One of the biggest problems with Edgefest this year, like last year, is the side stage was too close to the mainstage and because the K-Os set ran over, Metric and The Midway State ended up being onstage at the same time. Standing in between the stages made it nearly impossible to hear either band properly and while I’ve never claimed to be a fan of either band, a mix of both is not quite a good thing. Metric did go through the usual hits “Monster Hospital,” “Combat Baby” and recent singles “Help, I’m Alive” and “Gimme Sympathy” and they all went over well, but I still don’t get the attracting to Emily Haines and co. Cancer Bats started what could be called the ABC’s of Edgefest because with the exception of Moneen, everyone after Metric fit into the first three letters of the alphabet. Because of their screamy southern metal style, the Cancer Bats aren’t nearly as well known to most as they should be, but the amount of fans they had in front of the side stage was beyond impressive. Starting their explosive set with “Hail Destroyer,” their lead single off of their latest album of the same name, it was quickly apparent that not only is this a band’s band, but a fan’s band with vocalist Liam Cormier diving into the crowd and staying there for most of the set. Ending the set with “Lucifer’s Rocking Chair,” their set was way too short but the most entertaining of the day at that point. We can only hope they make the mainstage one day and scare the crap out of all the indie snobs.  For their first show back in quite some time, marking the beginning of an intense time for the band, Alexisonfire were all smiles when they hit the main stage. They wasted no time reminding fans that their new album, Old Crows / Young Cardinals, hits stores in a few days by playing the first single off of the disc, “Young Cardinals.” They ran through old favourites and singles “Accidents,” “No Transitory,” and “Boiled Frogs” sounding like they had been taking their time off to perfect everything. As the crowd sang along to every single it was undeniable to see just how far this ‘screamo’ band has made it against all odds. The band seemed humbled by the response of the huge crowd and played even harder because of it. With new song “No Rest” getting a good response they will surely continue this path. Moneen haven’t played a lot of shows in a while since they’ve been working on their recently released EP and upcoming full length. And as one of the most underrated Canadian bands around that’s a shame. What’s worse is they got totally screwed for their set. Opening their set with “If Tragedy’s Appealing, Then Disaster’s An Addiction,” they drew in the largest of number at the side stage, only to lose a good number a few songs later when AFI started playing on the mainstage. Someone should really give them a do-over so that people can actually catch a whole set, but those who stayed were heard talking about it long after. AFI are a band that doesn’t come to Toronto nearly as much as they should. They haven’t been here since the release of 2006’s decemberunderground and before Edgefest hadn’t played a show in six months. Add to that the technical problems they were having with the guitar and bass and the set was beyond mind-blowing, probably more than it should’ve been. If there’s one thing to be said about the band, it’s that frontman Davey Havok knows how to work a crowd and can handle any issues without a problem. Unlike most singers who freak out when things get thrown onstage, Havok took flying flip flops well saying “I guess if I had a flip flop, I’d want to get rid of it too. Good Choice.” Playing mostly songs off of Sing The Sorrow and decemberunderground, AFI played all the singles, opening with “Girls Not Grey,” and continuing with “The Leaving Song, Pt. 2,” “Silver And Cold,” “Miss Murder” and eventually closing the set with “Love Like Winter.” But it was the songs in between that kept everyone happy, with a genius cover of David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust” and older songs “The Days Of The Phoenix,” “A Single Second” and “Love Is A Many Splendored Thing.” I think it would’ve been hard to find an AFI fan that didn’t leave happy. Hopefully they’ll be back when their upcoming album Crash Love is released in the fall.  To have Billy Talent headline Edgefest is something of a hometown hero story. The band that opened Edgefest years ago and had to build their own stage so they could play have become the band that thousands stayed to watch. With Billy Talent III out next month, the band stuck to mainly older favourites, opening with the monster hit “Devil In A Midnight Mass,” and barrelling through “The Ex,” “Surrender,” “The River Below” and new single “Rusted From The Rain,” which is probably the best song they’ve written in a long time. Closing with “Red Flag” and “Nothing To Lose,” there’s not much to say about Billy Talent live that hasn’t already been said except they solidly deserve to headline shows like these and seem to keep getting better as they go along. Even though by the end of the day more people than not were covered in mud or at the very least disgustingly dirty and wet, it was probably one of the happiest Edgefest’s I’ve ever been to. The bands were happy, the fans were happy and no one cared about the rain. Maybe next year we’ll get to see sun. Billy Talent Set List: Devil In A Midnight Mass The Ex This Suffering Line And Sinker Rusted From The Rain Saint Veronika Surrender The River Below The Navy Song Pins And Needles Perfect World Devil On My Shoulder Turn Your Back This Is How It Goes Fallen Leaves Try Honesty Red Flag Encore: Nothing To Lose - Alyssa Caplin and Stephanie Joudrey For more Edgefest pics click here... 
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