Riot Fest Toronto 2014: Day 2 Summary

Riot Fest's Toronto incarnation took place on Saturday and Sunday, September 6 and 7. I got to attend the full, muddy weekend and shoot 27 bands in total. You can find my Day 1 Summary here.

Day 2 seemed to have more people in attendance and more excitement in the audience. It was certainly more aligned to my overall taste, with a more indie-alternative bent.

A great weekend of great music and lots of photos. Here are links to all the posts, all in one place.

City & Colour

Metric

The National

Death Cab for Cutie

Stars

Radkey

Die Antwoord

The Head and the Heart

The New Pornographers

Bob Mould

Lucero

Nostalghia

Lemuria

Almighty Trigger Happy

Nathaniel Rateliff at The Horseshoe

Nathaniel Rateliff and his band were up second on November 1 at The Horseshoe Tavern here in Toronto. His music varied from the introspective, to the dark, to the deep-down blues. Take a listen to this highly emotional songwriter. His newest release is the EP Closer. The title track is included below. His debut album Falling Faster Than You Can Run came out in 2013.

"I Am"


"You Should've Seen The Other Guy"

"Three Fingers In"


"Closer"


"Still Trying"

Riot Fest 2014 Day 2 Band 14: City and Colour

City & Colour were the last act to perform at Toronto's Riot Fest, so this post brings to an end my Riot Fest coverage. That's 27 posts in total covering the two days of music I enjoyed and photographed.

Dallas Green and his band had a full crowd out to enjoy songs perfect for late summer nights. It somehow seemed the perfect act to close out the weekend with broad smiles on the faces of so many audience members. They closed the riot with a pleasant sigh and sweet dreams.

Here are some tunes from their setlist.
"The Lonely Life"

"Comin' Home"

"Fragile Bird"

"The Girl"

"Thirst"

"Sleeping Sickness"

Andrew Austin at The Horseshoe

Andrew Austin opened a night of beautiful music at The Horseshoe Tavern on November 1. He performed solo with the acoustic guitar as accompaniment to his voice. He recently released his début full length album While It's Still Light Out.

His set drew heavily from this release, as you would expect. His fun sense of humour and audience engagement complimented the tunes and I for one will be watching for more from this talented singer-songwriter.

"If This Is Your Love"


"Sending Out a Message"


"Inside Out"


"To Love Like This Again"


"If It Ain't This Town"


"Disappear"

Riot Fest 2014 Day 2 Band 13: Metric

Since Emily Haines and James Shaw started making music as Metric in 1998, the band's popularity has grown steadily. Each album seems to be more popular than the last and they play in bigger and bigger venues. At this year's Riot Fest in Toronto, Metric was the second last act to hit the stage. A massive crowd gathered to take in the hit-filled show.

They played tunes from every album they've released since 2003's Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?, only ignoring their first release, 2001's Grow Up And Blow Away. The focus was definitely on their two most recent releases, Fantasies and Synthetica, with one tune - set opener "Empty" from Live It Out. Overall, it was a solid festival set with many crowd favourites. I personally would have wished for more of their early material, but that's just me.

Here are my personal highlights from their setlist.

"Youth Without Youth" from 2013's Synthetica

"Help I'm Alive" from 2009's Fantasies

"Synthetica" from Synthetica

"Clone" from Synthetica

"Sick Muse" from Fantasies

Perhaps my favourite Metric song ever; "Dead Disco" from 2003's Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?

"Gold Guns Girls" from Fantasies

"Breathing Underwater" from Synthetica

Fast Romantics

Fast Romantics are an indie rock band from Calgary. Their tunes have driving beats, layered harmonized vocals and catchy melodies. Their most recent release, and first full-length album, is Afterlife Blues. They've got a few show planned, including a November 29 stop at The Drake Underground in Toronto.

"Funeral Song"

"Afterlife Blues"

"Take Me Back"

"Friends"

Pic from Facebook.

Riot Fest 2014 Day 2 Band 12: The National

Sometimes I think I procrastinate on certain posts because I think that I need to make them great. Because they're about a band like The National that I love deeply and that my post has to somehow match the brilliance of the band. And more times than not, my post ends up the same vacuous dreck as always - they're one of my favourites, they put on an amazing show, their songs are fantastic, they really shine on stage, blah, blah, blah.

My recommendation:

• If you love The National and have seen them live, flip through the pics that I took at Toronto Riot Fest (as always, click for a big, slide show version), press play on your favourite tunes below and relive your memories of seeing them live. 
• If you love The National and haven't seen them live do the same thing, but you owe it to yourself to rectify the gaping hole in your life that not seeing The National live has left. 
• And if you don't love The National, check out my Steel Panther pics post.

Here are my absolute faves from their setlist.

"Don't Swallow the Cap" from 2013's Trouble Will Find Me

"Bloodbuzz Ohio" from 2010's High Violet

"Sea of Love" from Trouble Will Find Me

"Squalor Victoria" from 2007's Boxer

"England" from High Violet

"Graceless" from Trouble Will Find Me 

"Fake Empire" from Boxer

"Mr. November" from 2005's Alligator

"Terrible Love" from High Violet

New Blonde Redhead: Clip for The One I Love

Blonde Redhead put out their most recent album Barragán in September and they're out on the road promoting it. They've just released the video for the quiet and contemplative "The One I Love". They hit up Toronto's Horseshoe Tavern on November 29.

Pic from Facebook.

New music from A Place To Bury Strangers

A Place To Bury Strangers are ready to unleash their fourth album on the world. The album is called Transfixation and it comes out February 17. Take a listen to the dark, noisy and aggressive "Straight".



Pic from Facebook.