Sonic BOOM

Date: 04 Sept 2010

Venue: Northlands
Guests: Scott, with appearances by Paul and Stacy

Tickets: Comp from Sonic

Our second time visiting at the second annual modern rock festival over the Labor Day long weekend. Bands on stage this year were:

KO

The Arkells

Tokyo Police Club

Bad Religion

Mother Mother

Wintersleep

City and Colour

Weezer

Rise Against

Scott and I arrived almost at the end of KO's set, but I think we'll be hearing more of him in the future. I like his tracks "Capable", and "Kurt Kobain". Next on stage were the Arkells, who did a great job getting the crowd into the show. I really liked The Ballad of Hugo Chavez. Tokyo Police Club were great, they always put on a good set, lots of energy. I love their new album "Champ", Bambi and Gone are my favorite tracks from that. The crowd could have been more into it, although I think it's difficult to engage in such a large outdoor space. I enjoyed Bad Religion quite a bit, I didn't realize that I knew as much of their material as I did.

I was really looking forward to Mother Mother, but the sound was so cruddy, with the vocals focused on the girls back up, and you could barely hear Ryan Guldemond's lead vocals, which really make Mother Mother's music rock. Hay Loft, Wrecking Ball and Oh My Heart are some of my favorites from them. They put on a great show,  I just wish the sound was better.

Wintersleep was a little mellow for the outdoor rowdy venue, so Scott and I went to find some disappointing dinner since we knew we didn't want to stick around to City and Colour. Northlands had a monopoly on the food, so they offered overpriced crappy burgers with no condiments, just meat and a soggy bun... and there was no in and out privileges, so we were trapped there... which was unfortunate. I think for next year, the food situation would have to improve dramatically before I would pay for a ticket.

Weezer made it up by rocking out in a major way, with Rivers dancing around the stage, climbing on trailers and up scaffolding, wearing a wig and at one point the whole band was pounding away at the drum set. They even played my favorite Weezer song, El Scorcho.  Rise Against finished it off with true Canadian rock flair, really giving it their all. My favorite Rise Against song was Savior.