Austinist on the Road: NXNE Recap [Day One]

We arrived in Toronto on Thursday afternoon and made our way to the Hyatt Regency, the Hilton-esque HQ of this fest to pick up our credentials. To kick-off our first evening, we headed to Yonge Dundas Square and were greeted by the sight of one of the members of Burning Brides crowd-surfing in the middle of Toronto's Times Square. Unfortunately the raucous set ended right after and we inched closer to the stage for Black Lips. With Canadian darlings Metric's Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? blaring on the P.A., the crowd got denser and finally, Damian Abraham (from Fucked Up) took the stage and introduced the band, "This is the only band that has been banned from India and also from a gay club in New York, I want to see a riot tonight." The Georgia band has actually been banned from venues in their home state as well and although they didn't indulge in any of the antics that may have led to those dismissals, they diligently charged through a plethora noisy garage-punk ditties. The energy generated at the Square was palpable -- the generally well mannered audience mouthed every lyric and a few finally started rushing onto the stage midway into the set.

By the time the Lips performed "Cold Hands," there were at least a dozen or so fans dancing around the band. The next guest on stage however was solicited -- King Khan (who we had seen rushing to the Black Lips' room at our Residence Inn by Marriott hotel a couple of hours ago) joined the band to perform "Too Much In Love." Apparently, this "supergroup" is called The Almighty Defenders and they are recording an album to be released in September on Vice Records! Yes please!

Quite the location, the Square is hosting free concerts through Sunday and is surrounded by massive billboards and entities like Hard Rock Cafe, H&M, and AMC Theatres, among with a plethora of other restaurants, bars, and shopping spots. Although the enthusiastic crowd close to the stage was comprised of Lips fans, there were plenty of interested parties who had stopped in for a bit, latching on to their shopping bags and occasionally sporting befuddled expressions. We fled from the Square towards the end of the Lips' set to catch Austin pop act Built By Snow at The Boat. Kicking off with "Invaders," the band instantly had the crowd dancing and bouncing to their synth fueled anthems. "Something In 3D," "Underneath," and "Algometric Touch" all followed before the band wrapped up with "All The Weird Kids Know," which, along with "Something In 3D" has been featured in Under The Radar magazine's sampler CD series this year. Based on the CD and shirt sales at their merchandise booth after the gig, they definitely garnered many new fans in Toronto this evening.

We topped off night one at The Legendary Horseshow Tavern where Canada's own The King Khan & The BBQ Show captivated the extremely crowded venue for a good 45 minutes with a healthy sampling of psychedelic garage-rock. Erick Khan and Mark Sultan wore dazzling turbans and had the crowd (which included GZA) chanting along and pumping their fists during the high-octane set. L.A. band HEALTH ensured our ear drums would not rest easy this night with incredibly loud math-rock which contained moments of rhythmic brilliance amidst bludgeoning cacaphony. All in all, it was a solid the start to our first NXNE experience.