Well, I suppose I should start by apologizing. I haven't updated this page in a while, but I have a pretty good excuse; I was pretty damn busy at ViveFest.
ViveFest, a venture by local promoters vive (Rich Taylor and Phil Greer), truly exploded in it's third iteration. Starting as one (admittedly pretty epic) show, then a two-stage affair mostly contained in one night, the festival morphed once again this year into a 4-day 3-venue all-ages behemoth. Judging from the outcome, it's all getting bigger from here.
Day 1: Thursday, March 31st
The evening started early with the regular "yaya" all ages series at Caffe Sola (in the backroom newly christend "Jale"). I wasn't present at this show (featuring Sandman Viper Command, The City Streets, and Dreaming of Electric Sheep), but I imagine it was par for the yaya course AKA awesome. Then came the songwriter's circle at Christ Church with Zachary Lucky opening the show. The stage was then shared by The Mountains and The Trees, The Phonemes, and Mark from Woodpigeon. Somehow, these three songsmiths managed to turn the vast architecture of the venue into an intimate affair with an almost elegiac atmosphere (in the best way). What a vibe.
Day 2: Friday, April 1st
Back to Christ Church for an early evening set from locals Zombifyus (their second ever) followed by the always-entertaining Chad VanGaalen. He always has the crowd eating out of his hand with his odd mixture of stream-of-consciousness-driven songwriting and irreverent stage banter. After it all was said and done (including a surprising amount of blaspheming) the festival shifted to Jale again for a sold-out night featuring Economics, Memory Screen and BRAIDS. I missed this, since I decided to head across the river to catch some other goings-on at Amigos, but it was one of the highlights of the festival for many. I make some pretty dumb decisions sometimes.
Then it was time for our minds to be blown back at the church. Local opener Mehta got the crowd grooving (people say that, right?) followed by a flawless pitch-black set from Tim Hecker. Seriously; there were no lights on in the church and, combined with Hecker hooked up to the pipe organ crafting his intense wash of noise, it was a perfect recipe for a sense-deprived trip to another plane. Wow.
Day 3: Saturday, April 2nd
The third day of the third ViveFest gave us a true festival atmosphere, with talent-packed shows going on simultaneously at Jale and the nearby lounge 302 all night long, and I was all over the place. I started out with local retro-rock warriors Foggy Notions, staying to catch Torontonian T H O M A S, and then it was off to 302 for some tribal insanity courtesy of The Depth. My personal highlight of the night was shortly thereafter: The Luyas. What a set from these Quebecers, incorporating enough imaginative instrument usage to last until next year's ViveFest- SEE THIS BAND. As the night got later, and my mind got foggier, I saw (in no particular order) We Were Lovers, Rah Rah, Lorrie Matheson, Foonyap and the Roar, Samantha Savage, Castle If, Booji Bomb, and Shooting Guns. What a night.
Side note- earlier in the day vive held a Vife Film Festival, a 48 hour challenge which was met by 3 filmmakers (myself included). It's not the highest-browed piece of culture, but you can see my effort below.
Day 4: Sunday, April 3rd
Kudos to vive for planning a "hangover brunch" for the fourth, and final, day of vf3. It was just what the doctor ordered (Ok, after night 3, the doctor probably would have ordered me to stay home), and it gave me enough energy to properly enjoy the Sea Hags, Foon Yap, Foam Lake, and Shuyler Jansen. Shakey Wilson was at a turntable from 11 AM playing quality records at every opportunity, and the guys in Foam Lake made pancakes onstage for their hungry and (possibly) hungover audience. This was a perfect ending for en epic festival.
It wasn't over yet, however. After a bit of a break, I headed back to the Caffe one last time for the volunteer party, featuring sets from Feral Children and Peace, as well as more DJing from Shakey, who had been going hard ALL DAY LONG. There was pizza, there were hugs, someone brought along body paint, and we all reveled in a mutual catharsis brought on by good music played loud and a severe lack of sleep.
Now it's back to real life.
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Chad VanGaalen kicks it off:
My contribution to the film challenge:
One of the awesome posters:
The Luyas:
Shakey Wilson and Jon Vaughn party it up at 302:
One half of vive hard at work:
Rah Rah:
Booji Bomb:
We Were Lovers:
Slow Down, Molasses send a video greeting:
Peace:
Yours truly:
Feral Children:
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