More Beer, Less Pants!

Cutting Edge music festival - Grand Bend
Concert, camping (campcert) and drag racing.

After a gorgeously lazy day, biking down to the park and reading/napping in the shade of a tree Sonya picked me up and we began our journey to musical sanctuary. A couple hours and some livestock/graveyard driving game later we pull up to what we see will be an absolute gongshow. There are 700+ tents by our conservative estimate in a giant field. It's only 6pm but we already see people everywhere. Picking our way through we see a giant slingshot bombing people 3 rows over with water balloons, we are asked if we're drunk yet and see all sorts of other shenanigans and people running about semi-clothed and everyone with a drink in hand. Finding a relatively quiet corner we set our tent up in the wind and wander about to check out the grounds.

The Reason are on first and play some fun and slightly poppy but still respectable punk. Sonya loves them, i think they are decent and we head back to our site for a drink. All weekend there is just the one stage and usually about 20 to 30 mins between bands, just enough time to make the 5 minute walk back to the tent, have a drink, and then walk back for the next act - a regiment we followed for most of the weekend.

Next up are Ill Scarlett who bring "the reggae the rock and the ska punk and dub." They're fun and upbeat and got the reggae vibe at times.. the small frontman packs a punch, and the dred-locked guitarist is the visible reggae inspiration. They play an energy-packed set that the crowd lovingly appreciates. Finishing with smoke-em-if-you-got-em "Mary Jane." but disappointingly not playing "life of a soldier" :(

This time back at the tent some of our neighbours are sitting about so we join this mixed group of about 6 or 8 guys for a bit of a chat and drink. Back for the night-closers, Moneen. The crowd is perhaps half the size of Ill Scarlett's but they rock every bit as hard, in fact much harder. they absolutely rip on those guitars, trying to shred my face off and doing a damn good job. the sound is spectacular from the front row and i join the mosh pit for personal fave "are we really happy with who we are right now?" and then for some other songs that went over so well. ("Passing America", and the final tune "Don't Ever Tell Locke What He Can't Do.") The singer sings from on top of the crowd, standing-surfing style and then climbs up on the speakers while another member does the same before crashing back to the stage in unison. Quite a spectacle and it is incomprehensible how small the crowd was, considering these guys have been busting out this kind of energy at their shows for years.

It's about midnight now and Sonya and I walk back to the tent a lil drunk and we have another drink, while wandering about checking everything out. We come across a few fires (despite the full-out ban in the county) and chat the fire-tenders up. Play some drunk football in one of the aisles and just take in the scene of punkers getting their drink on. (and a fight rolls up on the side of our tent at one point)

I head out to the parking lot to grab more drinks and on my way back stop at the dance tent. Honestly these guys just brought their own gear and are mixing a sick dance party for a horde of people who are just loving it. i don't partake but smile broadly as i walk by. back at the fire there are a few cute girls hanging about and debating (Old School vs. Anchorman etc) and just loving life. A few more trips around the campground and a visit from (honestly) super-cool security who tell us we can keep our fire as long as we keep it small. People start to disperse as it's after 5am now and I don't even know how that happened but I crash til about 930am.

Sonya wakes me and says she's going to check out the races which we can hear. I groggily agree to join her and we walk over. There's just some souped up cars racing a straight 1/4 mile and it's cool enough. I read a bit and nap, check out some more races (the fastest guy i see hits 197mph and does the 1/4 mile in 7.06s.

Saint Alvia Cartel (an apparently up and coming band) are up first at noon. They play some punk rock with a lead singer that reminds me of the guy from Smash mouth and generally don't impress.

Shad is next, a rapper from London On., who has some decent flow. "I self-deprecate more than I boast, and I boast a lot" is the gist of one of his lyrics. There's a few seconds of Kanye tossed in there, over a remix of a Kanye song supplied by this kick ass DJ. He plays a bit of local hero K-OS ("every day is saturday night, but i can't wait for sunday morning" in honour of his set being real early on a sunday) He jokingly rips out some Boyz II Men. I like the set and the crowd is decent for an early in the day hip hop set at a punk festival.

The Junction, who a friend loves -and I wanted to see based on that- are a 3-piece that play rock that is okay with me but just doesn't translate live. I find I'm kinda bored and Sonya comes up 1/2 way through and I tell her she hasn't missed much. the drummer is the most interesting of the three though.

I catch a huge crowd of about 200 people form in about 30 seconds as the promise of a fight happens. by the time i arrive one guy is telling the other to punch him. he obliges. twice. the third time is dodged and the guy getting punched now becomes the puncher and just packs a flurry, punching and kicking and going crazy til people realize he's not actually landing any blows, just phantom punches. He's joking! the first puncher is visibly relieved and as the little girl behind me sums it up "they were going to fight, but then they hugged."

the crowd is a mix. there is obviously a good contingent of 19+ people but there's also a lot of young punks. 15-18 age group that are there for a good time, and to get drunk and out of control. In fact the crowd at the stages is bigger on the all-ages side than the 19+ side.

I go back and catch Social Code while being puke-splattered on by some mid-afternoon drunk guy. Yuck. Also a guy dressed solely in a garbage bag slips onto the stage, does a back flip off of it, and runs off exposing himself to the entire crowd. i laugh real hard and the band gets a kick out of it (i imagine the garbage bag guy gets a kicked-out because of it) The set is decent and they are catchy enough though their lyrics leave a lot to be desired. I believe the word "forever" was present in every tune they played.

Ten Second Epic are up next and they have a pretty-boy singer, but at least he has a good voice and some stage banter - albeit pretty generic things to say. I like them cuz they are better musically and lyrically than social code, but not as catchy and hooky. toss up.

Attack in Black play some straight up rock and get the first encore of the festival - mostly cuz their set is barely 30 mins (when most people are doing 50+) They come back and play a yawner, wasting the opportunity.

Protest the Hero are a hardcore band with a lot of hardcore fans. They have some sick guitars but i m not familiar with the music and after my buzz starts to wear off a bit im not feeling the mosh pit much more and go to MSTRKRFT who are spinning in the dance tent. they ve got a decent sized crowd and though they sound like most of the other beats i ve heard emanating from this tent all day, at least i recognize the DJs and there s a crowd to dance in. i do get my groove on for awhile, i watch a girl dump an entire beer on her chest by accident and then just dance it off. They only use one sample i recognize from their album (it's 2 djs, including ex DFA'79 Jesse Keelor, who kinda take turns/work together to mix) a bit of fun.

Alexisonfire are the headliners and main event. All the other bands had some people coming to see them but Everyone was here to see alexis. the place is packed up but i get close enough. They play 1/2 their songs off the new album which is fine with me cuz it was my overall favourite from last year and by far my favourite of their 3. Opened with "Mailbox Arson" and kicked out "No Transitory" as an older track. There was no ".44 Calibre Love Letter" which is usually a fan favourite at the live shows of theirs that i've caught but the encore is "Accidents" and is solid. At one point they cut a song 1/2 way through, turned up the lights and told us all to step back cuz the barriers had begun to buckle. that's how intense the crowd was. it was near the beginning though so it didn't kill the mood too much. They overall rocked and were really sweet to see live as a headlining set, since i ve only ever seen them in opening/short festival sets before (warped tour).

Everyone comes back from the set sweaty and ready to party. We get a fire started and curl up around it with the neighbourhood girls and boys. We have our fire put out twice (and start it back up each time) Fireworks are going off around us. All sorts of shenanigans ensue.

i was woken up by a man with a megaphone at my tent window the next morning, which wasn't the coolest thing in the world, but after he moved on i watched a couch fly by with a very dust-covered young man laying on it (being dragged at top speed by a car that was rallying around corners). The rest of the long weekend was thankfully spent recouping on the beach.

Oh my goodness the things i saw at Cutting Edge. It was like it's own society with no-word-of-a-lie 700+ tents in a field filled with music (and alcohol) fueled punks just having a great time. The things that went on are so ridiculous if taken out of that setting that i was amazed. Some of the bands were duds, as expected, the headliners rocked, as suspected. The racing was fast, the camping was nuts and the festival was a success. I hope this was Year One of a lasting tradition!