Riot Fest Toronto 2012

Last Sunday was Riot Fest's first year in Toronto, and it was phenominal! Thanks to a good friend, Lauren and I were able to go despite a serious lack of funds. Since apparently I live under a rock, I wasn't even aware it was happening until a week beforehand when Dan offered us the tickets, but once I learned who was playing I knew I couldn't pass up the offer. I've been listening to NoFX for at least 10 years now, and somehow had yet to see them. Needless to say, I was beyond stoked. On top of that, Andrew W.K. was also there (without his backing band, but who cares) as well as the Lawrence Arms, who I feel in love with many a year ago. The rest of the bands I either hadn't heard of before, or simply missed getting into back in high school. Unfortunately, they didn't allow DSLRs in without a media pass, and I've been seriously slacking on figuring out how to make my point and shoot take bomb ass pictures (which, according to the results of others who have the same camera as me, is entirely possible) so the quality of the pictures I took leave something to be desired, but oh well!
Practicing the art of being a total goof. They chose Fort York as the venue, which seemed a bit odd to Lauren and myself given it's historical nature, but it turned out the fest wasn't held in the area where the actual buildings were. This was slightly disappointing since it meant we couldn't take any suggestive pictures with the cannons. However, since Fort York is across the street from the Amsterdam Brewery, Dan and Lauren got a few pre-show beers (I don't have a taste for beer and sat that one out) and we sat around a bit up the street from the entrance while they drank and the three of us... Partook in certain activities involving nature.
Me, Andrew, Dan, and Lauren. Thanks to our pre-show chilling, and the time it took to get through ID checking and the beer tent, we missed the first couple bands, though we didn't know who they were and therefore couldn't be bothered about it. By the time we made it to the stage, Mockingbird Wish Me Luck was playing. The three of us weren't altogether interested, and their sound didn't seem to fit with the dynamic of the day, but they did play well. Just not something I'd be likely to see independantly.
Andrew W.K. Once Andrew W.K. took the stage, I finally started going crazy. Between all my jumping and headbanging and that of everyone else around me, half of my drink ended up not in my mouth, and by the end of the day everything I was wearing reeked of beer and whiskey. Towards the end of his set, possibly the last song (I can't quite remember), he dedicated his set out to an amazing friend of mine by the name of Rob "Rab" "Balfabar Nosugref" Cranny who sadly passed away earlier this year, and that's about when I went completely insane. While he was pumping up the crowd, I kept screaming "Rab!" and as the song started I'm sure everyone around me was at least slightly annoyed by my complete lack of caring for balance or being mindful of those around me.
The Lawrence Arms We were back at the beer tent when the Lawrence Arms came on, and I half ran back to the stage once I realized it was them. I'm mostly only familiar with Oh! Calcutta! and was borderline worried I wouldn't get to enjoy them properly due to not knowing the songs, but apparently it was my lucky day because most of what they played came from that album. 9 years later, I finally got to see them and, much like the other two bands I was most excited to see, I went buck wild. They played an awesome set, and I was glad that my years of waiting and hyping myself up weren't met with any sort of disappointment.
Less Than Jake Pretty well everyone I knew in high school always loved Less Than Jake, but for whatever reason I missed out on learning who they were. I'd certainly heard the name more times than I could know, and more likely than not they were background noise through those years, but I couldn't name a song or even recite one line if my life depended on it. Lauren was stoked for them, though, so I was too. And then I saw the trombones and got really excited, and again I was blown away by the band on stage and made a mental note to collect their entire discography and catch up on what I should've already known.

We sat the next band out in favour of food (5$ hot dog -__-) and more alcohol, and hung around the edge of the pit (with a bit of time in it) for Fucked Up. The band members with wives and children had them on side stage, which was just worlds of adorable.

NOFX!!! I. Lost. My. Shit. I was that drunk punk stumbling, stomping, dancing, and headbanging around, knocking into complete strangers who were doing the same. I hit the pit at one point because of the obvious necessity, but spent most of the time at the edge just going batshit crazy. 12 year old me was in awe, 14 year old me kept saying "see, that's what they look like! How did you forget?", 16 year old me was more excited about seeing Talli (Nubs) hanging out side stage than the band itself, 20 year old me was still pissed at missing out on seeing them then, and all of me was grinning ear to ear completely astounded that I was finally there. Finally seeing NoFX in the flesh, ears assaulted by the sheer volume of their awesomeness.

Perfect day was perfect. We left before the Descendants took the stage, exhausted from all the day drinking and moshing, so they're still on the bucket list. I had a friend staying with me from Kingston that I hadn't seen in three years (apart from apparently a couple years ago when I was too sick to even realize he was there), and ran into a handful of people from back home in Belleville who I had yet to actually spend time with in Toronto. I moshed, I stomped, I banged my head and threw my body around like a crazy person, and spent the next day in a great deal of pain. Riot Fest was full of good music and good people, and I sincerely hope they bring it back next year!

If you made it this far, thank you for suffering through my ramblings! This was me cutting it short. :)