Edgefest 2009

I've never really blogged about music here beyond that entry about A.F.I. album poetry. Wings of My Heart is my primary music blog, but I feel that entries about English language music would fit in better here than on an Asian music blog, so they'll be going here. Enjoy!

I went to Edgefest to see A.F.I. and Billy Talent. I caught a bit of Alexisonfire as well, but that was it. My Edgefest experience was short compared to other people's, but I knew exactly who I was going for and saw them, so it was worth it for me.

Absolute highlights of the night:

1. During A.F.I.'s set, they were about to play Totalimmortal.

Davey: I don't know when the last time we played this song was.
Jade: We played it in rehearsal yesterday.

PWNED! XDD I DIED.

2. Someone threw a rubber chicken onto the stage during Billy Talent's set. Ben just couldn't let go of the fact that someone had thrown a rubber chicken of all things. At one point he starts going, "You want your chicken back now?" etc. Then they start playing Pins and Needles, an emotional song...

Ben: This song is about chickens.

HE KILLED HIS OWN SONG BUT LOL. I was getting into the mood for the song and then he said that and I died laughing, omg.

3. People were throwing around muddy things and a mud-soaked shirt landed directly on top of my head. So I came home caked in mud. XD That was special.

And now for the details!

As the bus I was on was pulling up to the show, I could hear Alexisonfire playing Young Cardinals. I was definitely happy that the bus went right to the show and I didn't have to do any walking around, though there were other kids en route to the show on my bus anyway. There was no lineup to get in, and there was an area filled with outhouses that had no real lineup, so I really didn't have to deal with lineups at all, thank goodness. Convenience, how I love thee!

I only half paid attention to Alexisonfire, and mostly just tried to get a feel for the place so I'd know where everything was for future reference. It was muddy as hell because of the on-and-off rain (which never came down too hard, fortunately), so people were rolling around and sliding in the mud as they do at these shows. It was impossible not to at least get your feet and pant legs covered, so I felt bad for Hiro (my best friend who also came, but who got there later than I did) who I knew would be wearing his nice shoes - and he was. A white pair, no less. D: I did, however, manage not to slip and fall into the mud at any point, which is at least one thing I can be grateful for, even though I did wind up dirty soon enough.

I was pretty restless waiting for A.F.I. by myself, but finally they started, about ten minutes earlier than they'd been scheduled to play. I had a decent enough spot; at first I was far enough back that I had a good view of the entire stage, but then I decided to move closer because even though it was harder to see over people there, I wanted a closer view of the band, having never seen them before. Hiro got there and we found each other a few songs in, during Days of the Phoenix, which was the only song from The Art of Drowning, but I can't complain. They seem to go a lot farther back in their repertoire than Dir en grey do, as they played Totalimmortal from the All Hallow's EP, A Single Second from Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes, and one of the first songs they ever wrote that was on some compilation (Love is a Many Splendored Thing). Davey said "If you know the words sing along, because you'll be one of the five people who know it," or some such thing. I was disappointed that it's not a song I'm too familiar with, so I couldn't prove myself to be a hardcore fan. XD

Aside from the Jade pwning Davey highlight, also notable was the technical fail that occurred a few times. During Summer Shudder fairly early on in the set, Jade's guitar died, and he wandered back out onto the stage shrugging and just went to his mic and did the harmonies for that chorus, oh my god. What a sight, the guitarist standing empty-handed at his mic doing the harmonies. XD Then before the second verse as Hunter and Adam went on playing, Davey was like "We've played this song without a guitar before, it's okay." XDD The guitar came back soon enough though. Later on Hunter's bass went out between songs, he got it back, and then Jade's guitar went out again, but none of that happened in the middle of a song again. Good times. This was actually their first show in six months, and their first show of any real length in like two years, apparently. It felt really great to be there for that. <3 href="http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/36441179.html">here at ohnotheydidnt; I never remember these things myself. They did a David Bowie cover, but I didn't even know the song. Davie was like "Do you guys remember the 70's?" and I was like "No, you're old compared to us." XD

I'll also mention Davey mentioning that a member of Fucked Up saved him from getting mugged once. He said to ask the Fucked Up member about it sometime. XD I would like to hear that story.

It was during A.F.I.'s set that the muddy shirt landed on my head. Hiro ducked and it missed him, and he and I were both kind of in shock that out of everybody in the audience, it hit me. I was kind of stunned and marvelling at the crazy bad luck I have sometimes, but I didn't get too worked up about it - it's Edgefest, who cares? People took a picture of me, lmao. I'd been making fun of the mud-covered people in my head before that, but then I had to stop because I'd become one of them. Lawl.

A.F.I. were finished a full hour before Billy Talent were scheduled to come on, so I got a chocolate-dipped ice cream cone and just chilled with Hiro. I think Billy Talent came on a little earlier than they were supposed to as well. Hiro and I stood a lot farther back for this because we'd both seen Billy Talent before anyway, and we didn't want to get near the mud again. By standing farther back we had a full view of the stage, anyway. But since the band members were so small from far away anyway, I didn't try to watch them that much, and only made any real effort to watch Ben. Because I love Ben. <3

Here's a setlist. I virtually didn't headbang at all to A.F.I., but for Billy Talent I let loose despite being waaaay in the back, and got particularly energetic during Try Honesty, because I can't not jump around and headbang during that song. <3 I love Billy Talent to death, so naturally any setlist of theirs is enjoyable for me, and I headbanged and sang along and enjoyed myself. Hiro and I kept hoping for them to segue into Standing in the Rain (as did someone whose account of the show I took a look at online just now, heh), since it was raining all day and all, but they never did wind up playing it. Ahh well. (The one time they did so during that Intimate & Interactive on Much Music when it was raining was awesome, but sadly I was at home watching that on TV.) I was happy to hear The Navy Song because it isn't usually a favourite of mine, but if I can get in the right mood to listen to a slower, sad song such as that, I can get very into it. It's quite emotional, and it gave me shivers live, helped by the fact that it was getting darker as they played it and everything looked really dusky and pretty. There was, of course, the wonderful rubber chicken moment in which Ben ruined the beginning of the emotional Pins and Needles with "This song is about chickens," but I adore that quote and will never forget it. I died. Also, pretty sure that I hadn't heard Pins and Needles live before, and I love that song!

I also enjoyed pointing out the moments where they like to drag out certain parts of songs. Considering I'd only seen one Billy Talent show before, I'm not sure how I knew about those habits as well as I did, haha. I don't usually like watching bands' performances on DVDs or whatever, but I guess I've somehow seen enough Billy Talent performances regardless. They draw out the intro to This Is How It Goes quite a bit, and then they play that part before the last chorus of Try Honesty for a long time while Ben talks. It's all part of the Billy Talent experience, so I was jokingly complaining about it. XD

One major highlight was that they played a couple of new songs that I wasn't really familiar with. I already know Turn Your Back quite well (and love it), and obviously everyone's familiar with Rusted from the Rain by now, but they also did Saint Veronika and Devil On My Shoulder, both of which I enjoyed. I think I'd heard a bit of a fan recording of the latter on Youtube at one point, because the first line sounded familiar to me, and I really liked that song. I'm definitely looking forward to the new album even more after this show.

The show ended and everyone began to leave, but I wondered if they'd do an encore, so we walked slowly. Sure enough, they came back out literally a couple of minutes later, and did Nothing to Lose. <3 And then it was over. No Standing in the Rain, but still awesome regardless.

One thing Hiro mentioned to me was that when Ben was listing all the bands he was honoured to share the stage with again, he never said anything about A.F.I. Alas, I like to uphold at the very least the illusion that the members of my favourite bands appreciate each other, so that is what it is. A.F.I. never mentioned Billy Talent either, for the record. For whatever it's worth, it did seem that Ben was mentioning Canadian bands. He also said something at one point about the audience loving Canada because it isn't America or something awesome (to me) like that, and though I have to say I love that sentiment (no offense to my American friends though, I mean it), I felt kind of bad for A.F.I, who'd just played before them and are from California. But...hey, this is Canada. You've got to expect that, particularly from the ever-political Billy Talent. Whom I love dearly.

After the show my parents picked us up, because we didn't want to deal with the insane crowds getting onto the buses. We managed to get home pretty quickly. And that, my friends, was my Edgefest experience! I washed the mud out of my hair, ate, went online for a bit, took a Tylenol and headed to bed. And I didn't rise until after 1 this afternoon. I'm still in my pajamas now. =)

I have now officially seen Billy Talent twice and A.F.I. once. And Dir en grey three times, for the favourite bands tally. Life is good, and I'm looking forward to both bands' upcoming new albums, and future shows. I believe it was Billy Talent who said they'll be playing again in the winter, so I will definitely be making time to see that. =D

I am now waiting for the Much Music Video Awards to start; I don't really want to watch the entire show, but I want to see Billy Talent's performance. Perhaps the rest of the show will be enjoyable, anyway.