TURF 2016: Club Series: A compendium of posts - Concert pictures

The Club Series at The Toronto Urban Roots Festival is a fantastic addition to a great festival. You get the opportunity to see some amazing acts perform in a club setting at two of Toronto's premiere music venues - The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern and Lee's Palace. It makes for some long days, but it's well worth it.

All the pictures from the Club Series shows at this year's TURF are now up!

Click the links below for the individual posts with more photos, thoughts on the performances and music from the artists:

Limblifter

Overnight

Matt Mays

Modern Space

Okkervil River

Lee Harvey Osmond

The Deslondes

The New Pornographers

TURF 2016: Club Show: Okkervil River - Concert Pictures

Day 2 of TURF was rainy. Like, very rainy. It kept me away from the outdoor portion of the festival down at Fort York and allowed me to concentrate on the Club Series show at Lee's Palace. The club show featured The Deslondes, Lee Harvey Osmond (click through for those posts), and a band I'd been wanting to see for a long time, Okkervil River.

The band was formed in Austin Texas and tunes like "Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe" and "Unless It Kicks" have become essential listening for me. They put on a fun show and have tons of dedicated fans that keep the energy loop going. They were plagued by sound problems including the absence of monitors and acoustic guitar, but were totally professional and kept their energy levels up.

"Okkervil River R.I.P."

"A Girl in Port"

"The Industry"

"Unless It Kicks"

"Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe"

"So Come Back, I'm Waiting"

"For Real"

TURF 2016: Fort York Day 2: Okkervil River - Concert Pictures

Photographer Roy Cohen captured these photos of Okkervil River at The Toronto Urban Roots Festival. Take a listen to some of their music.

"Okkervil River R.I.P."

"The Industry"

"Unless It Kicks"

"Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe"

Toronto Urban Roots Festival announces 2016 Club Bonus Series shows: Sheepdogs, The New Pornographers, Matt Mays, Okkervil River, Lee Harvey Osmond, Skinny Lister, Modern Space and more

I've said it before and I'll say it again, TURF is the festival that I've grown to look forward to above all others every summer. One of the big aspects that separates TURF from other festivals is the inclusion of the Club Bonus Series. It's a chance to catch many of the festival acts on club stages and catch longer performances from some of the best bands at the fest.

The TURF team has just announced this year's Club Bonus Series line-up. Tickets for the individual shows go on sale tomorrow (July 15) at noon or you can purchase a TURF Master Pass that will get you into everything - the festival and the club shows. Those tickets are available here.

This year's Club Bonus Series line-up includes:

Sheepdogs - Wednesday, September 14th @ Lee's Palace

Margo Price & John Moreland - Thursday, September 15th @ Lee's Palace

Dwayne Gretzky play The Tragically Hip (1 of 2 sets) - Friday, September 16th @ Lee's Palace

Okkervil River & Lee Harvey Osmond & The Deslondes - Saturday, September 17th @ Lee's Palace

The New Pornographers & Marlon Williams - Sunday September 18th @ Lee's Palace

Matt Mays & Modern Space - Thursday, September 15th @ The Horseshoe Tavern

The Felice Brothers & Julien Baker - Friday, September 16th @ The Horseshoe Tavern

The Mekons & Skinny Lister - Saturday, September 17th @ The Horseshoe Tavern

Corb Lund (2 sets) & Wild Child - Sunday September 18th @ The Horseshoe Tavern

In case you missed them, check out my posts on the first line-up announcement and the second line-up announcement. They then added Ween and one of my absolute favourite bands, The Hold Steady, to the main festival line-up.

Here is some music from some of the acts that I'm most looking forward to seeing at the TURF Club Bonus Series this year:

Sheepdogs

Okkervil River

Lee Harvey Osmond

The New Pornographers

Matt Mays

Modern Space

The Mekons

Skinny Lister. This band is incredible live. I caught their most recent show at The Horseshoe and it was amazing. Check out my pictures here.

Margo Price

John Moreland

The Felice Brothers

Julien Baker

TURF, Toronto Urban Roots Festival announces 2016 line-up: James Bay, Death Cab for Cutie, Barenaked Ladies, Lush, Okkervil River, Skinny Lister and many more

TURF, The Toronto Urban Roots Festival, my official favourite festival of the season, has just announced the 2016 line-up, and it's good! Not to mention the 19 additional artists to be announced, this line-up is stacked with Canadian and International acts sure to please crowds, including a few return appearances from TURFs past.

The line-up includes James Bay, Death Cab for Cutie, Barenaked Ladies, Dropkick Murphys, Explosions in the Sky, Jake Bugg, Matthew Good, Lush, The Sheepdogs, The Hives, Lake Street Dive, Guided by Voices, Rheostatics, Matt Mays, Drive-By Truckers, The Felice Brothers, Okkervil River, The Mekons, Skinny Lister, and many, many more including 19 to-be-announced acts. Click on the linked artist names to see my previous concert photos of those acts.

Personally, I'm going to be looking forward to DCfC, Barenaked Ladies, Explosions in the Sky, Lush, Lake Street Dive, Matt Mays, Okkervil River and Skinny Lister. They all have fantastic songs and put on fantastic shows. I'm especially looking at you Lush, for some great nostalgia, and Skinny Lister for the high-energy dance party. And every year I end up discovering a ton of great new artists, which is probably my favourite things about this superbly curated fest.

TURF will once again be held at Fort York Garrison Common. It takes place from September 16-18 and features an additional stage - totalling four - this year. Passes go on sale tomorrow, Friday May, 27, at noon. More ticket info at TURF's official site, but you've missed the early bird pricing at this point. Grab yourself some tickets. This is always the highlight of the festival season for me and I'm sure this year will be no exception. I also can't wait to see what they do with the Club Bonus Series and after-festival club shows this year.

Take a listen to many of the artists on this awesome line-up:

James Bay

Death Cab for Cutie

Barenaked Ladies

Dropkick Murphys

Explosions in the Sky

Lush

The Sheepdogs

The Hives

Lake Street Dive

Matt Andersen and The Bona Fide

Guided by Voices

Rheostatics

Matt Mays

Drive-By Truckers

The Felice Brothers

Okkervil River

The Mekons

Marlon Williams

Julien Baker

John Moreland

Skinny Lister

Midnight Shine

New Okkervil River album on the way

There's some Okkervil River that I absolutely love. And frankly there's some Okkervil River that I just don't get. No matter what my opinion is, there are lots of Okkervil River fans who will be looking forward to the September 3 release of their new album The Silver Gymnasium.

I'm enjoying this new preview track, "It Was My Season". Hope you will too.

Favourites: Okkervil River

I discovered Okkervil River around the time of their album The Stage Names. The first two tracks from that album are blistering, unrelenting, energetic, passionate testimonials. They are definitely two of my all-time favourite songs.

"Unless It Kicks"

"Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe"