TURF 2015: Day 3 Compendium - Concert Pictures

The end of The Toronto Urban Roots Festival always brings mixed emotions. There's the exhaustion that comes from shooting over thirty bands in just a few days, the looming task of going through thousands of pictures to find the right ones to post and the elation of having seen some incredible bands in a fantastic, downtown Toronto setting, at an amazingly well-run festival with a wonderful vibe.

The third day of TURF's outdoor festival presented a great line-up of artists and was rain-free, too. Here are links to each of my posts on the bands of TURF day 3. Enjoy!

The Pixies

Neko Case

Heartless Bastards

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Punch Brothers

Hop Along

SATE

Ron Hawkins and the Do Good Assassins

And in case you missed them, don't forget to go back and experience Day 1, including the Club Bonus Series and Preview Series, and Day 2 through my camera's eye.

TURF 2015 Day 3: Neko Case on the West Stage - Concert Pictures

​Neko Case is an artist that I feel like I should have seen a long, long time ago. I remember that she played the first TURF, but the rain kept me away that day. This year's third day of The Toronto Urban Roots Festival was finally my chance. And I loved hearing her beautiful voice live.

Neko and a fantastic band performed a set of deep cuts promoting her recently-released box set Truckdriver, Gladiator, Mule. What I like best about Neko Case, besides her gorgeous voice and beautiful songs, is the fact that she positions her microphone high so she tilts her head towards it, kinda like Lemmy from Motörhead.

Listen to a few gorgeous tunes that she played:

"Man"

"Night Still Comes"

"Maybe Sparrow"

And a few that I just love:

"I Wish I Was the Moon"

"This Tornado Loves You"

"Hold On, Hold On"

Toronto Urban Roots Festival (TURF) reveals line-up

So many important things happening today. First, it's 420.

Second, today's the day that The Toronto Urban Roots Festival, TURF for short, has unveiled their line-up for 2015! The big names include Of Monsters and Men, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Wilco, The Avett Brothers, Neko Case, UB40, Cake and Lord Huron. Also on the bill are Desaparecidos featuring Connor Oberst, Deerhunter, Built to Spill, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Shakey Graves and Will Butler. I'm personally excited about some more of the small-print acts like Fishbone, Skydiggers, The Elwins, NQ Aruckle, Ron Hawkins and the Do Good Assassins and Restorations. In total, there will be 46 acts across three stages, so more acts will be announced as we get closer to the show date.

Due to the Pan-Am Games, the festival is later than usual. It's scheduled for September 18-20 at Fort York Garrison Commons. This year's focus is on the Toronto scene with a local artist kicking things off on each of the three stages each day. The biggest challenge that I see for TURF is the other festivals, including Riot Fest, that are scheduled for the same weekend.

TURF ticket info:

• Earlybird Tier One 3 Day Passes, 3 Day Front of Stage VIP Passes, and 3 Day VIP Plus Passes go on sale Thursday April 23 at noon through Ticketfly, and then at Rotate This, Soundscapes, and The Horseshoe Tavern Friday April 24 at noon
• Earlybird Tier One ticket sales end on Wednesday June 10 at Midnight
• Single day line-ups and tickets will be announced June 8 and on sale June 11
• The Club Bonus Series, which features many of the festival performers, appearing in venues like Lee's Palace and The Horseshoe Tavern, is back and will be announced in early July

Here are some of the acts that I'm most looking forward to. Of course, one of the things that I like best about TURF is the acts that I discover by seeing them at the festival.

Of Monsters and Men

The Avett Brothers

Neko Case

Desaparecidos

Deerhunter

Built to Spill

St. Paul and the Broken Bones - quite the build-up from Mr. Letterman. I think these guys will put on a super-fun show.

Fishbone - I haven't seen these guys since the second Lollapalooza tour back in 1993

Skydiggers

Chuck Ragan

The Elwins

NQ Arbuckle

Ron Hawkins and DGA (Do Good Assassins)

Restorations - really like what I hear on first listen. Look for a more in-depth post on these guys.

Just in case you missed it, you can see all my TURF coverage from 2014 and 2013 by clicking right here. I've got pics of such artists as July Talk, Gogol Bordello, Gaslight Anthem, Hey Rosetta!, Drive-By Truckers, Shovels & Rope, Black Joe Lewis, Deer Tick, Gary Clark Jr., London Souls, The Hold Steady, Frank Turner, Lowest of the Low, Matt Mays, Dawes and more.

Pic from Indie 88.

Neko Case's lyric video for "Calling Cards"

I don't really like country twang. So you know it's something special when someone breaks through my musical psyche while delivering something that can sometimes be described as country twang. Neko Case is an example of that special something.

Here's a lyric video for "Calling Cards" from her always-copied-and-pasted-titled album The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You. Lovely tune.

The Top 20: The best albums of 2013, according to me. The year's most awesome and cool pop, indie, and alternative albums.

As has become my habit, I'm not ranking my albums list. These are the 20 albums that made the biggest impression on me in 2013, alphabetically.

1984 Influenza

Biffy Clyro Opposites

Chvrches The Bones Of What You Believe

Cults Static

Frank Turner Tape Deck Heart

Frightened Rabbit Pedestrian Verse

Haim Days Are Gone

Lorde Pure Heroine

Metz Metz

MS MR Secondhand Rapture

Neko Case The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You

Sleigh Bells Bitter Rivals

Small Black Limits of Desire

Superchunk I Hate Music

Telekinesis Dormarion

The Darcys Warring

The Joy Formidable Wolf's Law

The Naked And Famous In Rolling Waves

The National Trouble Will Find Me

Young Galaxy Ultramarine

Lyric video for Night Still Comes from Neko Case's new album

Neko Case's new album The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You came out September 3rd. Here's the lyric video for "Night Still Comes" and in case you missed it, the great tune "Man". What a great singer and song writer. I'm sorry I missed her this year at TURF, but I'm not sorry I missed standing around in the rain.

New music from Neko Case

Neko Case, generally wonderful singer and member of supergroup collective The New Pornographers, has a new album called The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You coming out September 3rd.

Check out the tune "Man". Sounds good to me.