I first heard Restorations when I was checking out the bands on the Toronto Urban Roots Festival 2015 line-up. I liked what I heard and caught their set on the South Stage. It wasn't really a question when I saw the announcement of their show at The Horseshoe Tavern on March 29. It was going to be a busy week, but it was a week of great music that I wasn't going to be disappointed in.
Restorations produce a kind of music that I love. It's high energy, just enough aggression, with walls of distorted guitars and emotive vocals. I love it when they get the three guitar aural assault going. They even treated us to a brand new song. I'm looking forward to more Restorations music and my next chance to see these guys live.
Take a listen to a bunch of tunes from their setlist.
Day 1 of the 2015 of TURF, The Toronto Urban Roots Festival, was fantastic. The weather was great, the crowd, as always, was fantastic and, of course, the music was sublime.
Prior to the big festival at Fort York, the TURF team put on a Club Bonus Series the coincided with the main festival, as well as a Preview Series. I didn't make it out to all those extra shows, but for the ones that I did, my posts are linked below.
If you missed my individual posts, here's all of day one in one place, plus links to my Club Bonus Series and Preview Series posts.
Philadelphia's Restorations was one of the bands I was really looking forward to seeing at TURF. Their recorded output impressed me enough to do a TURF Feature on the band. They had an early slot on the South Stage on the first day of the festival.
Their heavy and earthy sound, with singer Jon Loudon's guttural tones, the wall of guitars and the unrelenting beats, were everything I hoped they'd be in the live setting. I love the sound of this band and I look forward to seeing them again. My only regret is not getting to their Club Bonus Series show.
Heaps of their music is available at their Bandcamp.
Check out some of this band's powerful tunes from their setlist:
So we got the TURF festival line-up for Fort York. We got the Club Preview Series with Northcote (check out my pics from that show) and upcoming shows from Birds of Bellwoods August 13 at Lee's Palace and Union Duke August 21 at The Horseshoe. We get the Club Bonus Series, where you get to go from a fantastic day of the sights, sounds and tastes of TURF at Fort York, to the cozy confines of The Horseshoe or Lee's Palace to take in more great music. The announcement of The Horseshoe shows came about a week ago. Now we get the Club Bonus Series details for Lee's Palace, with one more show announcement to come on July 21. I think that TURF may turn out to be the music event of the year here in Toronto!
The Club Bonus Series at Lee's Palace runs from September 16-21 and features acts including Royal Canoe, Murder by Death, Desaparecidos, St. Paul & The Broken Bones and Will Butler. Fantastic bands like CATL, Restorations, Highs, Hop Along and Julian Taylor Band are opening. Off the top, I think that Desaparecidos, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, CATL and Restorations are not to be missed. I'm just getting acquainted with some of the other artists.
You can get in by buying a VIP Plus ticket for access to all TURF shows or individual tickets to the club shows. Tickets go on sale this Thursday, July 16 at noon.
The dates / shows are:
September 16 Royal Canoe w/ Highs
September 17 Murder By Death w/ Restorations & CATL
September 19 Desaparecidos w/ Hop Along
September 20 St. Paul & The Broken Bones w/ Julian Taylor Band
September 21 Will Butler
I first checked out Restorations because they are on the TURF 2015 line-up. They're from Philadelphia and the band formed in 2008.
I was instantly impressed with their music. The raw emotion of Jon Loudon’s voice along with the intense instrumentation gets a big "win" from me. I'm very much looking forward to catching them live.
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.
