The Priddle Concern - El Mocambo

There is a familiarity to this music. That singer-songwriter spirit evoking vivid images that flows naturally. The band is a cohesive force, sweeping roots-tinged rock, uplifting, high-energy, demonstrating the ability to keep songs sounding fresh and classic at the same time. Perfect in it's execution. In the heartland we call Toronto.

Let It Be/Songs Of Lennon & McCartney - Roy Thompson Hall

The Beatles are still a reliable floor-filler, even in a classical music venue. It’s always easy to scoff at those who reduce The Fab Fours' tunes to thumbnail cliches, but when you have Rik Emmett, Damhnait Doyle, Andrew Craig, and Fergus Hambleton--entertaining, in a refined, commercialized kind of way. It wasn’t a radical parody, but more a back-to-the basics extravagance. Most of the audience knew the songs by heart, recreating the nostalgia people still continue to appreciate. Next up. Paul McCartney covering Triumph songs.

Adam Faux & The Exploding Band - The Drake

A tight energetic sound that flows, poised musicianship, steady percussion, vintage lyrical approach. An upbeat rock-inspired sound that takes it's cues from all things dynamic, bluesy, with a spirited rough-edge.

Radius & Helena - Centuries Lounge/Massey Hall

Welcome to a prog'd-out cabaret of beauty and fury. That was a great set at Centuries Lounge. An innovative, fearless musical path of the natural order in our own backyard. A juxtoposition of influences and pulling it off with dynamic flair. Brit-inflected hypnotic art-rock, pyrotechnic-drumming, and a supercharged frontman weaving a spell. Genre-bending music as an art-form underscored by a fluency to push the rock idiom to it's limits. RAH are bohemoth of a band guaranteed to whip you into a positive frenzy.

The Shenanigans - El Mocambo

Get out the 50's vinyl, get out that 70's post-punk decadence, The Shenanigans captures that rock and roll urgency, a crude garage-rock tornado fused with that rockabilly snarl. This isn't exactly uncharted territory, but a delirious guitar-driven workout shows that going up there and bashing it out continues to reign supreme, like a roadster cruising and whipping-up a trail of dust.

Dr DFunkt - The Annex Wreckroom

Hustling funk grooves fused with a rock spirit, Kamran's Jamiroquai vocals is soulfully smooth, elements of RnB, guitar-driven rhythms, an energetic performance demonstrating that the flame continues to burn brightly.

Rural Alberta Advantage - Silver Dollar

A rootsy, catchy, mix of wonderous textures that clutch your heart and make you move your body at the sametime. Along with supercharged percussion, The RAA is a kaleidoscope of melody and raw-energy like being caught in neo-psych bubbles of champagne.