Last night was CampusFest 09 at UOIT (and DC and Trent@UOIT). CampusFest is a one-day mini music festival which happens every year during “frosh week” and usually features a couple of headliner bands and numerous smaller acts, with previous years headlined by Hedley, Mobile, K-OS, Kardinal Offishall and Our Lady Peace…just to name a few. However, this year was different…and is subject to comparison to the 2006 ‘Fest.
Layout
In 06, there were 2 stages, each for the headliners and the supporting acts. These 2 stages were laid across the edge of the Polonsky Commons, and it was pretty epic since the crowd would constantly shift from one stage to the other. There were also a bunch of booths full of free swag.
This year, there was only 1 main stage for both headliners and supporting, set up in an awkward corner of the reflection pool and Polonsky Commons. The few booths present, over half of which were merely food stands, were lined across the shaded area of Polonsky Commons…and didn’t really have much swag to give. Absent was the Oshawa Centre Star with which (whom?) I had an opportunity to take a picture with in 06. As a replacement to all the sponsored swag-giveaways were 2 tents: one for sitting, and another for beer. Beer. BEER!
Musical Diversity
In 06, we had a diverse mix of music, ranging from the acoustic tunes of Kyle Dutka (if only you could read this!) to hometown beats from Kardinal Offishall, to the headlining pop-rock of Mobile (who didn’t give a shit about us, as they had to rush to Toronto for their REAL show). Our souls also had a chance to be rejuvenated by the stylings of Shad K, subtly preached to by Promise and mellow-grooving to Public. There was also Rides Again, which everyone loved.
In stark contrast, this year we only had 4 bands: The Ocean Buried, a band which formed in DC and specializes in “emo punk”; Flash Lightning, bringing a somewhat Southern-rock feel (very good); Metric and Alexisonfire. Some people have suggested I shut the hell up because we managed to score 2 of Canada’s biggest bands…but I’d say in 06 we managed to score 3 of Canada’s biggest artists, plus a whole bunch of local/indie talent.
Enjoyment
The biggest distraction last night was the constant appearance of mosh fights, where groups of people start raging around pummeling each other — I had to make sure I wasn’t caught right in the middle of them. The group of people I was with though, which included Chris, Kevin, Cody and Candace, were constantly stuck IN BETWEEN a couple of moshes…which means a lot of compacted crushing. Basically the whole night I was pressed up against a girl, and constantly had a face of hair…cheers 😉
It was great to see people flying around with crowd surfing, especially seeing one girl going from the front to the back to the front again…all in one surf. She later got flipped onto her stomach and had to surf that way for the rest of her journey to the front. Lots of bodies falling to the ground as a result of people not taking that shit. Not. Taking. That. Shit. And flippy-floppies…lots of those being thrown around. People in front of me kept getting whacked in the face with them…and they were shorter than me.
Flash Lightning’s performance was a very welcome cup o’ ale to clear my palette of The Ocean Buried. TOB might be able to keep a good beat and have a very eccentric send-off song, but it just didn’t flow with me last night. Just straight up rock n’ roll from FL — straight up. FL’s front man’s response to the crowd calling for Dallas [Green]:
Dallas won’t be here just yet. He’s getting his nails done.
Metric definitely had the crowd screaming, and the bass…oh good laud I loved the bass beating within). It’s like when Daryl from The Office sticks his hands into the bowls of food in Pineapple Express:
I like it…*squish*
One debate right now is whether Emily Haines got the city correct. Many in the left crowd quote her saying “Ottawa”, while I heard “Oshawa, right?”…in a very cute voice. Either way, as she had predicted earlier that night, we “fucked this shit up real nice” last night,and even gave the Tamil middle finger (thumbs up) as demanded by Haines. People moshed to Metric. Enough said.
If Metric got the crowd screaming, Alexisonfire set everyone’s face on fire after injecting them with ecstasy. A simultaneous release of rage, joy and other emotions from the crowd as they got onto stage. Someone was able to get onto the stage and almost stage dived…but chickened out [??]. Front man George later commented that the guy “was a pussy” for not attempting to jump 10-feet into the crowd (the stage is approx. 10 feet away from the front of the crowd), but also stated he himself “was a pussy” and probably wouldn’t try it either. Running long jump FTW eh? With the set ending and mosh pits dying out due to blood loss and concussions, the crowd demanded an encore…and demanded and demanded. Alexisonfire does NOT disappoint, and gave us…a 2-song encore. My ear drums thank you.
Second-Hand Smoke Quota
Maxed the hell out this year, both for cigarettes and weed 🙁 Close proximity with people, especially people who smoke, and you’re bound to get it all in.
Pseudo-conclusion
09 had less bands, but probably a higher intensity (especially with the whole night of human contact) than 06. For a second I’d think something like Blink 182’s “The Rock Show” would happen last night, bahahaha. Pictures from last night and the video of “This Could Be Anywhere” will be uploaded in later days…