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.

Best of: My favourite albums of 2015

As I mentioned in my favourite songs of 2015 post, I somehow feel like I missed a lot of music in 2015. In spite of that, I was still able to pull together a pretty solid top 20 list for my favourite albums of the year.

All the best for 2016!

20. Northcote Hope is Made of Steel

19. Smallpools Lovetap!

18. El Vy Return to the Moon

17. Ivan & Alyosha It's All Just Pretend

16. Drenge Undertow

15. Screaming Females Rose Mountain

14. Wombats Glitterbug

13. Torres Sprinter

12. Grimes Art Angels

11. Dawes All Your Favourite Bands

10. Waxahatchee Ivy Tripp

9. The Maccabees Marks to Prove It

8. Surfer Blood 1000 Palms

7. Ron Hawkins and The Do Good Assassins Garden Songs

6. Wavves V

5. The Districts A Flourish and a Spoil

4. Speedy Ortiz Foil Deer

3. Frank Turner Positive Songs for Negative People

2. Chvrches Every Open Eye

1. Wolf Alice My Love Is Cool

TURF 2015 Day 3: Ron Hawkins and the Do Good Assassins on the East Stage - Concert Pictures

Ron Hawkins and The Do Good Assassins was the local band to kick things off on the East Stage of Day 3 of The Toronto Urban Roots Festival. I'm a pretty big Ron Hawkins fan and I've covered The Do Good Assassins on these pages many times including photographing them at The Drake Underground and at The Horseshoe Tavern, twice. This was a great opportunity to see the band do their musical thing on a beautiful Toronto day.

They put out a new album of mostly previously-released tunes called Garden Songs earlier this year and their set featured a number of these tunes including the beautiful closing tune "Peace and Quiet" plus "Propellers" and "Waitin' On Something That's Already Here". They also played an old Ron Hawkins and The Rusty Nails tune "Bite Down Hard" and a Lowest of the Low tune, "Eternal Fatalist". I loved hearing horns on that latter tune. Maybe The Low should consider adding a horn section. We heard "From the Alta Lima Hotel" from Ron's 2006 solo album Chemical Sounds, "Public Transit" and "Spotlight" from The Assassins previous album Rome, and a new song called "Strum and Drag".

The band sounded fantastic, the songs are perfection and it was a great way to start off the last day of TURF.

Their setlist was:

"From the Alta Lima Hotel", Ron Hawkins solo
"Bite Down Hard", Ron Hawkins and The Rusty Nails
"Public Transit", Ron Hawkins and The Do Good Assassins
"Strum and Drag", Ron Hawkins and The Do Good Assassins
"Propellers", Ron Hawkins and The Do Good Assassins
"Deadman", Ron Hawkins
"Waitin' On Something That's Already Here", Ron Hawkins and The Do Good Assassins
"Eternal Fatalist", Lowest of the Low
"Spotlight", Ron Hawkins and The Do Good Assassins
"Peace and Quiet", Ron Hawkins

And here are some of my favourites:

"Bite Down Hard"

"Propellers"

"Deadman"

"Eternal Fatalist"

"Spotlight"

"Peace and Quiet"

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.

Ron Hawkins & The Do Good Assassins album release at The Drake Underground

On February 5, 6, and 7 Ron Hawkins & The Do Good Assassins celebrated the release of their new album Garden Songs and their Luck's Hard documentary with a three-day residency at The Drake Underground.

The night got started with the screening of Luck's Hard, which described how the band first came together to back up Ron on his solo album, Straitjacket Love, and how that experience prompted the formation of The Do Good Assassins. The documentary takes the viewer through the recording of the band's double disc début, Rome, and their decision to record their second album, Garden Songs, live off floor to catch that band vibe.

Ron and DGA then took the stage for the first of two sets. The first set featured all of the tunes on Garden Songs. Ron took to the stage solo to start us off with "DFW". Highlights of the set were one of my favourite tunes, "Small Victories", an amazing version of "Propellers" and the latest single "Peace and Quiet". Unfortunately, their cello player couldn't be in attendance, but two horn players joined them for some songs, adding some legitimacy to the sound.

Ron promised rock for the second set and he does not lie. They kicked off hard and heavy with "Bite Down Hard" from Ron Hawkins and the Rusty Nails' Crackstatic. They followed it up with "From the Alta Loma Hotel" from 2006's Chemical Sounds. Other highlights included the drummer absolutely killing it for the solo/ending of "Spotlight", amazing harmonies on "Swing Low", a great take on the Lowest of the Low classic "Eternal Fatalist", which is indeed as old school as it gets, followed by killer versions of "Deadman" from 2009's 10 Kinds of Lonely and The Low's "Just About The Only Blues".

Take a listen to some of the incredible music that we enjoyed...

"Propellers"

"Peace and Quiet"

"Small Victories"

"Kingdom of the Sun"

"Rome"

"Bite Down Hard"

"Etermal Fatalist"

"Deadman"

"Fire Alarm"

New Ron Hawkins and the Do-Good Assassins!

Ron Hawkins, one of my all-time favourite songwriters, and his band The Do-Good Assassins have a new album called Garden Songs coming out on February 3.

Most of these songs have been released previously, but these are all-new versions of some of Ron's most contemplative tunes.

1. Peace and Quiet
2. Kingdom of the Sun
3. South Ontario
4. Small Victories
5. D.F.W.
6. Garden Song
7. Saskia Begins
8. Propellers
9. Waitin' on Something That's Already Here
10. Rome

This video for "Kingdom of the Sun" was shot at Toronto's Don Jail. What a beautiful, evocative tune with fantastic harmonies. Great song!



And here are some tour dates. I hope to be out to see this great band when they stop in Toronto.

02/05-07 Toronto, ON - The Drake Underground
02/12 Waterloo, ON - The Starlight
02/13 London, ON - Call The Office
02/14 Sarnia, ON - Paddy Flaherty's
02/27 Kingston, ON - The Grand Theatre
03/07 Hamilton, ON - This Ain't Hollywood
03/13 Buffalo, NY - The Tralf

Post 1,000: Ron Hawkins and the Do Good Assassins at The Horseshoe Tavern

Humans like round numbers. We like milestones. We like to mark the passage of time and the number of things we do. We like anniversaries.

This is the 1,000th post that I've posted on this web site. 1,000. That's a round number. It's got to be some kind of demonstration of my love of music. Or persistence. Or commitment. Or insanity. Or something.

For post 1,000, I've decided to put up my pics of one of my favourite songwriters ever, Ron Hawkins, along with his latest band, The Do Good Assassins, from their March 13 show at The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern in the heart of scenic Toronto.

These guys (and gal) are amazingly fun live. Last time out, I wasn't familiar with The Do Good Assassins. I knew The Lowest of the Low, The Rusty Nails and Ron solo but not The Do Good Assassins. So I was treated to a bunch of new and cool tunes from one of my all time favourite songwriters and his new (to me) band. Since then, I've picked up Rome and enjoyed the tunes within. Because of that, this show was even better than the last.

So here are some tunes, and a toast: To the next 1,000 posts!

"Kingdom of the Sun"

"Bite Down Hard"

"Dead Man"

Set closer "Rome"

One of the encore tunes, "Rusty Chain"

Final encore tune, "Propellers"