Riot Fest announces Toronto 2015 line-up

After much Twitter banter, Riot Fest has revealed it's Toronto line-up for 2015 and early bird tickets for $99.98, which sold out within an hour. 

Here are tunes from the bands that I would most like to see. Of course, one of the best things about all these festivals, is discovering new artists and bands, so my hope is to post a number of feature posts on specific bands over the coming months. And the fine folks at Riot Fest will be announcing more bands June 16.

I had a fantastic time at Riot Fest 2014. Click this link for all my posts and pics. I'm sure it will be just as fun this year.

Sadly, one of the biggest issues for Toronto music fans is the fact that The Toronto Urban Roots Festival, or TURF, is the same weekend, and their line-up is pretty stacked and getting more so with each announcement.

On to the music:

Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls, who I saw live at TURF 2013, and had to miss at The Horseshoe this past March due to illness. An amazing live band, for sure.

The Joy Formidable. One of my all-time favourite bands, who is way overdue for a Toronto show!

Rancid, who will perform …And Out Come the Wolves in its entirety

Motörhead. This could be the last time to see Lemmy live on stage.

Against Me!, who I saw opening for The Gaslight Anthem. These guys are a killer live band!

Echo & the Bunnymen

Alexisonfire, who were already announced back in March.

Andrew W.K.

D.O.A.

Die Mannequin. I really, really want to see this band live.

OBGMs

Dead Milkmen

All Time Low

Coheed & Cambria

Eagles of Death Metal

Alexisonfire once more, at 7 festivals this summer, including Riot Fest Toronto!

Alexisonfire is reuniting for seven festival shows this summer, including Reading, Leeds and Riot Fest Toronto on September 19-20. These dates mark the first time the band has performed together since briefly reuniting in 2012 for a worldwide 10th anniversary tour.

To celebrate their appearance at Toronto Riot Fest, a limited number of specially priced general admission weekend passes will be released on Friday, March 13, 2015 at 10 AM for only $69.50 (plus applicable service charges) via RiotFest.org and Ticketfly.com.

The rest of the Riot Fest line-up will be announced later in the spring. Complaints to their Twitter.

Listen to some tunes to remind yourself of the awesome power of Alexisonfire.

"This Could Be Anywhere In The World"

"The Northern"

"Waterwings"

"Pulmonary Archery"

"Young Cardinals"

"Rough Hands"

Photo by Vanessa Heins

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

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"

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

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

Riot Fest 2014 Day 2 Band 11: Death Cab for Cutie

Death Cab for Cutie was a band I was particularly interested in seeing at Riot Fest. For one, I'm a huge fan of the band. Second, it was my first time seeing the band live. Third, it was one of the last shows that Chris Walla was ever going to play with the band. Overall, some pretty significant reasons to be excited.

When they opened with "I Will Possess Your Heart", I was in heaven. It's one of my favourite tunes, and it's an awesome opening tune because of the way it builds and builds. They followed it up with a solid set of new and old tunes alike. Of course, with a festival length set, and a back catalogue of the size and scope of Death Cab's, there are going to be favourite songs that you don't get to hear, but I really can't complain.

The band sounded great and was full of energy. Overall it was a great show, by a great band, playing a great set. I know I'm looking forward to hearing what they come up with for their next album, due for release next year.

Here are some of my favourite tunes that they played.

"I Will Possess Your Heart" from 2008's Narrow Stairs

"Crooked Teeth" from 2005's Plans

"We Laugh Indoors" from 2002's The Photo Album

"Grapevine Fires" from Narrow Stairs

"You Are A Tourist" from 2011's Codes and Keys

"The New Year" one of my all-time favourite DCfC tunes from one of my all-time favourite albums, 2003's Transatlanticism

"Cath..." from Narrow Stairs

"Soul Meets Body" from Plans

And the fantastic closer "The Sound of Settling" from Transatlanticism