BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE, KEVIN DREW, HYDRA, FUCKED UP, CONSTANTINES, SHAD, INTERPOL, CHVRCHES and many more as part of FIELD TRIP at Fort York Garrison Common, Saturday and Sunday, June 7-8. Rating: NNNN
Field Trip came back for a second year over the weekend, bringing 25 acts to two stages at Fort York Garrison Common – plus food trucks galore, hula-hoops, bouncy castles and a kids’ stage (they really cranked up the family-friendly factor this year). Unlike its first hurrah last summer, the Arts & Crafts-founded fest branched out beyond its own label in 2014, adding artists like Shad and day 1 headliners Interpol to the mix, but remained firmly grounded in its own brand. Broken Social Scene alumni Kevin Drew and Feist were everywhere, and the original BSS supergroup closed down the party on Sunday night.
Day 2 definitely had a distinctly different vibe than the blazing-hot, flower-child ubiquity of day 1 – it rained for most of the day – but the lineup was arguably better, and definitely more exciting in terms of local talent. Hydra – Feist’s collaborative project with AroarA and Snowblink – provided beautiful three-part harmonies singer Lauren Mayberry’s voice rang clear over rain and wind for Scottish band CHVRCHES electro-pop set and Fucked Up’s show actually brought out the sunshine, as well as an aggressive moshpit. Acknowledging how uncool he would have thought it was a few years back, Damian Abraham even brought out his young son to help out between trips onto the grass to high-five fans.
But, the Constantines reunion drew the most excitement by far. The Guelph indie-rockers’ huge sound proved worthy of the gigantic Garrison stage (other bands seemed puny up there) and they elicited crowd freak-outs for old favs like Shine A Light and Young Offenders.
