More than 500 bands and 50 venues scattered in downtown Toronto, all accessible with a $30 wrist-band. It’s by far the most affordable way to enjoy a seasonal bar hop in the early summer.
By day, NXNE organizers hosted a conference for film and music at the Holiday Inn on King St just off of Spadina featuring keynote speakers ranging from celebrity artists to renowned artists, producers, directors, record label executives and promoters.
This year, NXNE ran parallel to the “Taste of Little Italy†which takes place on college street between Bathurst and Ossington – June 15th to 19th 2009. Accessing such venues as The Mod Club & The Revival required a monopod to poke through the crowd flooding the street (which is closed down to all vehicles and the TTC).
In addition to thousands of pedestrians blocking college street, there were bands and buskers on every corner. Some of these acts were a real compliment to NXNE while others were a complete clash (European Music versus Canadian Music).
There was one artist that stood out though… Dr. Draw. Not Dr. Dre, Dr. Draw the violinist accompanied with a live band and a harp player. It’s a very vivid rendition of classical music with high energy swells and rapid movements. All instrumental.
Our team was so drawn to Dr. Draw we nearly missed the hip hop show at the Operah House with Pumpkinhead, Freeway and AZ. Rumour has it that 3 people were shot outside that night and as usual the lineup of artists were 2 hours behind schedule.
What became so apparent was the “screwface” audience that Theology 3 spoke of at last year’s NXNE music festival. Never before have I seen such a tough crowd.
To be perfectly honest, I was pretty upset with how late things were going cause I had other things to cover in the festival too. To make matters worse for themselves, I think some of the first few opening acts were not true to themselves. Hence the screwface audience questioning their honesty.
Read more about the BEAT LOUNGE Beat Battle
My favorite part of this year’s festival was The Beat Lounge Beat Battle hosted by an up and coming label in Toronto called UNKNOWN FUNK HERO. The Beat Lounge is a monthly event currently held at the Silver Dollar on the first Thursday of every month. It’s a hip hop showcase of instrumentals arranged by the next wave of Canadian producers.
It’s less than a year old and has laready landed a showcase with NXNE, where they brought in the best producers of their monthly showcases to “beat battle” for a cash prize of $500 and free MOOGAUDIO gear.
After the beat battle we headed over to Dundas Square for the last hip hop show of the festival featuring GZA a founder of the Wu-Tang clan and The Cool Kids. The crowd was huge and nothing like the screwface audience we saw at the Opera House on Friday night.
We almost missed GZA’s performance trecking through the endless pit on college street from the “Taste of Little Italy” but managed to shoot his performance with King Kon playing his guitar for the most entertaining hip hop performance of the festival.
GZA fans crushed themselves up against the railing to the point that media couldn’t even exit the baracade let alone enter. In light of this admiration, GZA had the courage to walk down and shake the hands of his fans. It was at this point that an audience member was stabbed in the stomach.
Imagine being stabbed for not letting someone through to shake his hand… that may not have been the case, to my knowledge no one really knows what provoked the stabbing.
The night ended with a performance by The Cool Kids (Antoine “Mikey Rocks” Reed and Evan “Chuck Inglish” Ingersoll) who have an EP called “The Bake Sale” released in 2008.
These boys are young and still quite fresh in the mainstream music market, but they exude the kind of confidence that most people only dream of having after watching their favorite Hollywood picture. After all, they had to play after GZA’s set with King Kong on guitar and a die hard fan getting shanked in the gut. That’s something most rappers would never have the nerve to do.
Coverage from previous years
 View video of The Vulcan Dub Squad |
 View video of The Flatliners |
 View video of Hostage Life |
 View photos of DJ Champion |
 View video of Theology 3 |
 View video of AnR |
For more information about North by North East, visit www.nxne.com
