The Horseshoe Tavern 70th Anniversary Party featuring Hey Stella, Matt Mays, Damhnait Doyle, Stephen Stanley, Peter Dreimanis of July Talk, Peter Elkas, Devin Cuddy, Justin Rutledge, Dallas Good of The Sadies and more - Concert Pictures

The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern has always had a special place in my heart, filled with great memories of concerts in my younger days like Lowest of the Low, Amanda Marshall, Tony Springer, Teenage Head and many, many more. That's continued right to this very day and the virtual pages of this site are filled with amazing concert experiences over the past several years. I know I'm not alone in holding so many great memories of those nights in Toronto, on the checkerboard floors.

Music industry leaders and music fans alike gathered last Tuesday night, December 5, for a private party celebrating the 70th anniversary of The Horseshoe Tavern, a local landmark for live music that continues to deliver great shows by amazing artists in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

On this night, Hey Stella provided the backbone. They were the house band for a number of fantastic Canadian musicians. We got to hear some great stories from the venue's past. Local politicians and the CBC came by, too. Performers included Matt Mays, Damhnait Doyle, Stephen Stanley, Peter Dreimanis of July Talk, Peter Elkas, Devin Cuddy, Justin Rutledge, and Dallas Good of The Sadies.

If you haven't been by to take in one of the amazing 70th anniversary shows at The Horseshoe, it's not too late. They run through the end of the year. Hopefully, I'll make it out to one or two more before 2017 comes to a close.

Thanks to the owners and staff at The Horseshoe for keeping emphasis on amazing music in Canada, for delivering great shows with a friendly vibe, and for letting me cover so much of the fun. All the best for the next 70 years!

TURF, Toronto Urban Roots Festival announces second round of acts in 2016 line-up: Jimmy Eat World, The New Pornographers, Whitehorse, The Sades, Lee Harvey Osmond, Modern Space and more

A few weeks back, TURF, The Toronto Urban Roots Festival announced the first batch of artists for the 2016 line-up including James Bay, Death Cab For Cutie, Barenaked Ladies, Dropkick Murphys, Explosions in the Sky, Lush, Okkervil River and Skinny Lister. Click here for my post on that announcement.

This morning, TURF announced the second round of artists for this year's festival including Jimmy Eat World, The New Pornographers, Whitehorse, Margo Price, Dwayne Gretzky (playing The Tragically Hip), The Sadies, Wild Child, The Deslondes, Simone Denny,  Lee Harvey Osmond, The Belle Game, Modern Space and Julia Jacklin. Click on the band name links above for my shots of the bands that I've photographed in the past.

Even more artist announcements are still to come, and pretty significant ones at that, based on the artist page on TURF's site. I've got some predictions, but I'm going to keep them quiet.

TURF is consistently my favourite festival of the season and this line-up looks to be fantastic. The festival takes place September 16-18 at Fort York Garrison Common in downtown Toronto. For ticket information click here.

Check out some music from these newly-announced TURF 2016 artists.

Jimmy Eat World

The New Pornographers

Whitehorse

Margo Price

The Sadies,

Wild Child

The Deslondes

Simone Denny

Lee Harvey Osmond

The Belle Game

Modern Space

Julia Jacklin

TURF 2015: Day 1, Club Bonus Series and Preview Series Compendium - Concert Pictures

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.

Main Festival

Fishbone

Of Monsters and Men

The Sadies

The Avett Brothers

Murder by Death

Built to Spill

Desaparecidos

Restorations

Shakey Graves

Cold Specks

Catl

Club Bonus Series

Fishbone

Sate

Les Hôtesses d'Hilaire

Royal Canoe

Highs

Preview Series

Northcote

Click through for pics of each performance, my thoughts, and some music from each of these amazing artists.

Keep watching this space for individual posts on each act that I caught on Day 2 and Day 3 of TURF.

TURF 2015 Day 1: The Sadies on the South Stage - Concert Pictures

​Local musical legends The Sadies had a great following at "The Suburbs", also known as the south stage at The Toronto Urban Roots Festival. I'll admit that I didn't take great notes on their setlist. I soaked up the energy and passion that these veteran musicians put into their performance, and that was plenty.

And now for the music:

"Cut Corners"

"The Horseshoe"

"Flash"

"There's A Higher Power"

"Postcards"

Gord Downie, The Sadies, and the Conquering Sun at Field Trip 2014

Gord Downie has the stage presence of ten men. He is a Canadian musical legend, fronting one of Canada's most popular and influential bands, The Tragically Hip. I was lucky enough to see The Hip a number of times back in the day at such venues as the Ontario Place Forum revolving stage, Molson Park in Barrie for Canada Day and at the ACC. Now, I haven't kept up with The Hip's last few albums, but I liked what I heard from this new hybrid of Downie with local legends The Sadies and looked forward to the performance.

And I came away impressed. The band was just as tight as you'd expect a band as seasoned as The Sadies to be. And Gord was just as magnetic as I remembered him to be, whether he was belting out rockin' blues-country-punk melodies, microphone painting "water colour" art, or sailing across the stage under the power of his own wind.

"Crater"

"Budget Shoes"

You can check out more tunes at their site.

I took pics at Field Trip with my iPhone. Hopefully next year, I'll be in the photo pit with my better gear.