Yesterday hopefully marked the beginning of a new era. It was the first day of TURF aka Toronto Urban Roots Festival, a new and hopefully longstanding new tradition in Toronto. A summer festival in downtown Toronto in the summer, how convenient! It’s also the first festival in Toronto I can remember where you can drink anywhere. How European of us. The beers however, were nine dollars. How non-European of us. Still, it is a step in the right direction. Thursday’s lineup was an exceptional one, featuring the Barr Brothers, Camera Obscura, Joel Plaskett and She & Him. The crowd was fantastic, it was pleasantville.
After I got home last night, I saw my friend Adam of the blog Never Had to Fight had posted his opinions. At first I thought, what an ambitious jerk, getting his review up so early. Then I realize it was a good opportunity to just use his review as a starting point for my own reviews. It’s always good to hear different opinions on a show, after all, that is why we are all here, right? So here is a ‘he said, he said’ sort of review.
Editors Note: I broke this into three posts, because it ended up being way too long.
Camera Obscura
Adam: Camera Obscura, You want to be Belle & Sebastian. All these years later, you still want to be Belle & Sebastian. You’re not Belle & Sebastian… BUT BELLE & SEBASTIAN WILL BE AT TURF LATER IN THE WEEK! OMG! OMG! OMG! You’re pleasant. You write nice songs. They’re not great, but they’re fun. Your bass player has a TARDIS sticker on his bass. I approve of that. Sadly you didn’t play your best song, “Suspended From Class.”
Ricky: While the B&S comparisons are obvious (they are Scottish and also their first album was produced by Stuart Murdoch), I like to think that Camera Obscura are just their own sunny disposition twee/indie pop band. Having just released their fifth album, Desire Lines to glowing reviews the band was in good spirits on Thursday. Despite not getting Suspended From Class, we still got some classic gems including Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken”, Teenager and French Navy. The new tracks blended in nicely with the old, which was not a surprise as all the albums have that consistent sound to them (sometimes to their detriment). I regret not wearing my Camera Obscura t-shirt, but that might have been lame. Camera Obscura had my favorite banter of the night, saying how they don’t always wear shades on stage as well as mentioning how much they love the weather once the sun was down. I guess it’s very UK of them to talk about the weather. Way to fit stereotypes. Still, A pleasant way to start off the evening.