Toronto Urban Roots Fest finished with a flourish on Sunday

Jean Cook and The Burlington Welsh Male Chorus

I got my earliest start (after my latest night) for the third and final day of the Toronto Urban Roots Fest, and it was worth it.

Jon Langford, backed by members of The Waco Brothers and frequent contributor Jean Cook on violin, came on stage at 1 p.m. to perform songs about southern Wales from his 1998 Skull Orchard album and this year's follow-up, Here Be Monsters. The early focus was on three newer songs ("Drone Operator," "Mars" and "Lil' Ray O' Light") and the vintage "Tubby Brothers" before the musicians were joined by a few dozen members of The Burlington Welsh Male Chorus to sing material they recorded on the Skull Orchard Revisited re-do of that 1998 album as well as a few other tunes.

It's quite an amusing collection of songs in its own right, especially with Langford's witty introductions of them, but the choir adds another entertaining element. The addition of vocalist and longtime Langford musical foil Sally Timms was the icing on the cake as the small but appreciative audience of fans and choir family members were treated to "Pill Sailor," "Butter Song," "Youghal," "Inside the Whale," "Deep Sea Diver," "Come Home Tom Jones," "Tom Jones Levitation" and "Are You an Entertainer?" The choir then sang a Welsh folk song that none of us could understand, but it's apparently about how angry the Welsh still are with the Romans, according to Langford. The set ended, fittingly, with a sing-along rendition of one of the frequently-referred-to-in-the-set Welsh superstar's signature hits, "Delilah."

Twin Forks

I was much less familiar with Twin Forks, the Americana music project from Dashboard Confessional's Chris Carrabba. I arrived just in time at the west stage to hear a jaunty, acoustic-based cover of Talking Heads' "And She Was." That was my highlight of the country-folk-based set from the sextet, which I liked but certainly wasn't blown away by. The female harmonies were a nice counterpart to the frontman, and I got to hear "Blister In The Sun" for the third time during the festival (joining Violent Femmes on Saturday and a cover by Hollerado on Friday), which was okay by me.

July Talk

July Talk has been creating a buzz and playing to increasingly larger audiences, which was evident in the reaction it received on the east stage at 3:20 p.m. There's great chemistry and vocal counterbalancing going on between Tom Waits-like singer Peter Dreimanis and cohort Leah Fay, who definitely adds a degree of sex appeal. The quintet's self-titled debut album has a unique mix of indie rock and Americana, but it's taken to another level on stage and the group proved it can hold its own on a big one. "Guns + Ammunition" and "Paper Girl" may have been the standouts, but the entire set showed that July Talk is a band to continue to look for big things from.

I confess that I spent more time chatting with friends than paying attention to Jenny Lewis during her set on the west stage. There was nothing wrong with the performance; it just didn't make much of an impression.

Gogol Bordello

That certainly wasn't the case with Gogol Bordello, which was probably the most frenetic and eclectic act of the festival -- and that energy carried over to the healthy-sized crowd. "My Companjera," "Last One Goes" and "Start Wearing Purple" were standouts from the rotating cast of gypsy punk masters fronted by wine bottle-swilling Eugene Hutz. An encore was demanded and granted. Good times were had by all.

Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy will release his Sukierae solo debut album in September and he's assembled a new backing band that includes his 18-year-old son Spencer on drums. Much of the new material was on the mellow side, and the sometimes plodding delivery was, frankly, a comedown after Gogol Bordello. While the pacing didn't pick up much, and Tweedy banished the band to play solo towards the end of the set, my enjoyment heightened with such favourites from the Wilco catalogue as "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart," "Passenger Side," "Jesus, Etc." and "I'm The Man Who Loves You." Tweedy also performed: "You Are Not Alone," the title track he wrote for Mavis Staples' Grammy Award-winning 2010 album; Uncle Tupelo's warmly welcomed "Give Back The Key To My Heart;" and Woody Guthrie's brilliant "California Stars" from the 1998 collaborative Wilco-Billy Bragg Mermaid Avenue LP.

Neutral Milk Hotel is one of those bands that inexplicably flew below my radar when it was in its prime back in the '90s and I've never made a major effort to remedy that -- even after group member Julian Koster played his singing saw in my living room at a Christmas party I hosted a number of years ago. But I've appreciated everything I've heard and was happy to have the opportunity to see the influential band perform since it looked for so long like that would never happen again.

We ducked over to the south stage to catch a couple of songs by Hollerado and I was pleased to see that not everyone at TURF was watching Neutral Milk Hotel. The young Canadians had a large throng of folks eating out of their hands.

Waco Brothers

The TURF staff party was held at the Horseshoe Tavern, but open to the public, and the Waco Brothers performed for the fourth and final time to end the festival. There were no concerns with repeating songs from the first two nights, just with letting loose and having a great time. Mission accomplished.

TURF has made great progress in its two years and hopefully has established a strong enough foundation for it to become a staple of Toronto's busy summer schedule from now on.

TURF 2014 started strong out of the blocks on Friday

Lucius

The Toronto Urban Roots Fest showed a lot of promise in its inaugural year and followed it up with a bigger and better event in 2014.

A third and smaller stage was added to Toronto's Fort York location this year, and that's where I found myself sitting on a hill at 4:50 p.m. on July 4 to see Lucius, a Brooklyn, N.Y. band fronted by two sweetly harmonizing blonde women in matching yellow mini-dresses. The indie pop quintet had an interesting look and songs that sounded familiar yet different enough from each other to keep your attention from wandering. Guitars, drums and keyboards were augmented by additional percussion on some songs in a 40-minute set that included "How Loud Your Heart Gets," "Wildewoman" and my favourite, "Turn It Around," which closed things off and incorporated some of Whitney Houston's  "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)." If you like Rilo Kiley, you'll probably enjoy Lucius.

Willie Nile

Willie Nile has been making music for 40 years but has never received the acclaim he deserves for his rock and roll, and that wasn't likely to change judging by the exodus before he began his 55-minute set. Guitar, bass and drums played by black-clad musicians younger than Nile brought added life to his singing and playing in a performance that opened with "This Is Our Time" and also included "Heaven Help The Lonely," "Holy War," "Give Me Tomorrow," and covers of The Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane" and The Jim Carroll Band's "People Who Died" before finishing strong with another original, "One Guitar."

The Waco Brothers

The Waco Brothers have been one of my favourite live bands since I first saw them more than a decade ago, and they've now become friends, so that's added incentive to see them as much as possible. That wouldn't be difficult since the Chicago-based group was booked for three shows of their own and a fourth playing songs by Jon Langford along with a Welsh choir, and the goal was to avoid duplication.

The quintet began its south stage set at 7:20 p.m. and zipped through a performance that provided its usual share of roots, punk, rock and roll and humour -- with lead vocals shared by guitarists Langford and Dean Schlabowske as well as mandolin player Tracey Dear. "Fox River," "Walking On Hell's Roof Looking At The Flowers," "Do What I Say," "Red Brick Wall," "Plenty Tough, Union Made," "Do You Think About Me?," "Blink of and Eye" and covers of "I Fought The Law," "Small Faces' "All or Nothing," George Jones' "White Lightning" (with Jo Walston joining the band on harmonies), Johnny Cash's "Big River" and Bo Diddley's "Hey Bo Diddley" were all part of the fun.

Deer Tick

The south stage audience grew considerably for Deer Tick, a solid roots rock band I'd liked but never seen in person. Now I'm glad I have. They're talented players that form a tight unit and lead singer John McCauley's raw delivery suits the material well. The Rhode Island quintet had people in its hands from the beginning and didn't let up as it played "Main Street," "Houston, TX" and "Mr. Sticks" among others. The group also played "Shitty Music Festival," which certainly didn't apply to TURF, but was still good to hear.

Beirut

Beirut is another group that I've enjoyed only on record until I finally eased myself over from the south to the much larger east stage for its 9:30 p.m. slot. Zach Condon's project was unlike anything else I saw on day one,  full of horns and accordion and fusing Balkan folk with baroque indie pop to create a distinct sound that more than made up for a lack of magnetic stage presence. "Elephant Gun" and "Scenic World" were highlights.

I caught a couple of songs from Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears from afar, and his crew sounded as soulful and tight as ever. This is definitely a band to catch if you haven't before.

Club shows at Lee's Palace and the Horseshoe Tavern awere also part of TURF, and a cab got us up to Bloor Street to that first venue to see the last couple of songs by Andrew Jackson Jihad -- which I'd previously seen open for Frank Turner. But with festivals like this, it can sometimes be pretty difficult to see all of everything you want to and I'm sure there will be other opportunities.

Hollerado

But we certainly got our money's worth with Hollerado, the only Canadian band I saw on Friday, and which was expanded from the usual four-piece lineup on occasion by three female backing singers. We've come to expect confetti canyons at Hollerado shows, which add to the party atmosphere that their music and good-natured approach to their fans engender, and several were fired off during the course of the gig. "Fresno Chunk (Digging With You)," "Juliette," "Fake Drugs," "Americanarama" and covers of The Count Five's "Psychotic Reaction," Violent Femmes' "Blister In The Sun," Blink 182's "Dammit" and Neil Young's night-closing "Rockin' in the Free World" drew deservedly fervent responses from those in the packed club.

Boat cruise, Yonge Dundas Square and The Great Hall wrap up NXNE

Saturday meant not going to my office and a full day to partake of the North By Northeast Music Festival. And since it was a beautiful day, why not spend three hours of it cruising Toronto's harbour aboard the Captain Matthew Flinders soaking up sun and suds, chatting with folks and enjoying some rock-and-roll below deck.

My invitation aboard the "Bruise Cruise" from M for Montreal came with a free Moosehead beer, which I sipped while wandering around the ship and checking out DJ Jonathan Toubin spinning some great vintage pop, rock and soul 45s, which created a smooth transition for Hooded Fang's performance.

Hooded Fang

The Toronto band's Tosta Mista was my seventh favourite record of 2011 and made my initial ballot for the 2012 Polaris Music Prize to choose Canada's top album. The 25-minute live set lacked some of the subtle exotica lounge charms of the record, but the group's pop hooks and garage rock licks were irresistible.

I went on the deck to talk to friends and have a beer in the sunshine while admiring the view, and I missed Teenanger's performance and the first part of Mac Demarco's set. I wasn't familiar with the artist or his band, but I enjoyed their rootsy rock so much that I was whisked away from a conversation with a lovely woman to take part in a "gay dance party."

Bleached

Bleached was the headliner and I liked the partial set I caught of the three-woman-fronted, garage rock-influenced, pop-punk act in March at the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas. The vocals were mixed too low, but that didn't stop lots of people from dancing. "Think of You" from last year's Searching Through The Past was my favourite, but a new song also caught my attention and a cover of The Ramones' "Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World" was a fitting closer for the Los Angeles combo.

I made a beeline for the LCBO after disembarking and picked up a couple of cans of Denison's Weissbier for my walk up to Yonge Dundas Square to see Hollerado. It's been more than a year since I've seen the band and I was due. I arrived mid-set to hear a new song played in front of a good-sized crowd, which clapped and sang along to "Got To Lose." Singer/guitarist Menno Versteeg shot off a lone confetti cannon in honour of headlining act Flaming Lips, who he called the pioneers of the prank. "Americanarama" and an extended "Do The Doot Da Doot Doo" ended things on a major high.

Hollerado

I wasn't familiar with Oberhofer, so I used the opportunity to go across the street to the Eaton Centre for some delicious Indian food from Amaya and to the LCBO for two more cans of band-watching provisions, and still made it back in time to hear some Oberhofer. The quintet leaned to the enjoyable rather than pretentious side of indie rock, so I was satisfied.

Some of Of Montreal's recorded material had left me wanting, but I thoroughly enjoyed a set in Austin a number of years ago, so staying at Yonge Dundas was the best 7 p.m. option. Flamboyant frontman Kevin Barnes and his collection of psychedelically theatrical bandmates show their rock influences more live than on their records, which I feel can tend to be too artsy and precious. And having a number of dancers who made repeated costume changes enhanced the spectacle considerably (one of them crowd-surfed over us from the stage and we were around the midpoint of the square for the set).

The playfulness and music made Of Montreal a good fit for Flaming Lips, and a song list that included "Miss Blonde Your Papa is Failing," "The Party's Crashing Us," "Forecast Fascist Future," "Plastis Wafers," "Id Engager," "Helmdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse" and more ensured everyone in the ever-growing audience had a good time.

I only had fleeting knowledge of Portugal The Man from a few songs I'd heard online, but the music had a quality roots rock edge to it live. One song segued into The Beatles' "Helter Skelter," which was welcomed and was my favourite part of the performance. I feel no need to acquire any albums or see the band again, but it certainly wasn't a waste of 40 minutes. I like Portugal The Man much more than Portugal the annoying car horn-honking soccer fans that plague my neighbourhood every Euro Cup soccer tournament.

The crowd had filled in the closed down Yonge Street when I made one last trip to the LCBO at 8:25 p.m. Where there was no lineup in the store 90 minutes earlier, I waited for almost a half-hour on this second sojourn. I found out about the stage collapse that killed a man and injured others at the Radiohead concert that was supposed to take place at Downsview Park earlier in the day, and it seemed that many of the more than 40,000 people who had purchased tickets for that show squeezed themselves into Yonge Dundas Square as a consolation prize after that gig was cancelled.

Flaming Lips arrived late and each member came out individually starting at 9:30 p.m., with fur collar-clad singer Wayne Coyne bringing up the rear in his signature giant clear inflatable bubble in which he rolled over the crowd. Once he made it back to the stage, he shot off a confetti cannon, picked up a megaphone and watched the release of giant balloons that were kept aloft by fans throughout the show. It was a rock-and-roll circus.

Female dancers in school girl outfits graced the stage for a brilliant run through "She Don't Use Jelly," and things didn't let up with "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song (With All Your Power)."

Coyne then acknowledged the Radiohead tragedy and directed good karma to the man who died and those who were injured, as well as the band. "Peace be with these hearts tonight," he said before a song that sounded a bit like Radiohead's "Karma Police."

"Waiting For A Superman" and some slower and mellower songs with no on-stage antics followed. Coyne seemed to be quite affected by the day's events, which may have drained him and the performance of a little of the normal exuberance seen at Lips' shows, taking away from the spectacle aspect that most Lips shows possess.

After Coyne made another heartfelt tribute to the people at the Radiohead concert, the set ended with "Do You Realize?" and more of a party vibe again as confetti cannons went wild. There was no encore.

A streetcar was waiting at the corner when the show ended at 10:50 p.m., so I hopped on because I thought it would be the best way to get across town to The Great Hall at Queen and Dovercourt. It took an hour because of all the traffic, so I could have made it just as fast by walking all the way.

Teenage Head

The delay made me miss the Celtic punk drinking songs of The Mahones, but I was right in front of the stage when Teenage Head came on and ripped into "Let's Shake." Pete MacAulay is now fronting the band after singer Frankie Venom's 2008 passing and, while he lacks some of the charisma of the band's founder, his voice could handle the band's garage punk material well. He was joined by guitarist Gord Lewis, bassist Steve Marshall and drummer Jack Pedler.

"Picture My Face" was followed in quick succession by "Wild One," "Top Down," "Take It," "Teenage Beer Drinkin' Party," "Bonerack," "Lucy Potato" and "Infected." It's been 35 years since some of these songs were written and they still sound great, and a lot of us old punks were totally in thrall to them. "Disgusteen" was on the set list, but unfortunately wasn't played. I'd seen Sadies bassist Sean Dean on the cruise earlier in the day and he also made it here. I'm glad he shares my fine taste in music.

The Nils

The crowd thinned significantly, but old school ska on the sound system kept me happy until another vintage Canadian punk band, Montreal's Nils, took the stage at 1:10 a.m. Bassist/singer Carlos Soria (who formed the band with his late brother Alex) said he was 15 when he first played on a bill with Teenage Head, and he just turned 50, and then called the Hamilton, Ont. outfit the best band in the world.

There was no classic after classic like with Teenage Head, but The Nils' brand of punky power pop was enjoyable until it abruptly ended just 20 minutes after the band began. The group returned quickly, however, which was a relief since this was the first (and probably last) time I'd see it. But I was shocked and disappointed that the quartet didn't play what's perhaps its best known song, the timeless "Scratches and Needles."

It was almost 2 a.m. and though there were some other bands I wouldn't have minded seeing playing at other bars until 4 a.m., it had already been a full day and I was a 10-minute walk from my house, so I think I made the right decision in ending my NXNE and going home.