Woman in Real Life

Last week, we took our son to his very first concert - Edgefest Toronto. My niece turned 15 this week, so we took her along to celebrate her birthday. It was her first outdoor show. In over 20 years of going to outdoor shows (like Lollapalooza), I don't recall getting stuck in the rain.

The weather forecast called for a bit of rain at 10 p.m. I knew it was a bad sign when it started sprinkling on our way to the show at about 1:30 p.m.


Here's the gang, still hopeful that any major rain would hold off until later.


We got through a couple of early bands, like The Neighbourhood. "Sweater Weather" is the only song of theirs that I know. From my vantage point in the photo pit I could see that they have quite a number of female fans.


We brought a whole bunch of snacks, including one of my son's favourites, seaweed snacks.


My husband and I enjoyed Monster Truck, straight out of our hometown of Hamilton, Ontario. If you know Hamilton, you know these guys are pure Hamilton. As they promised, they put some "edge" into Edgefest.


In fact, I think I have some permanent ear damage from being so close to the speakers. As I left the photo pit, I passed a row of speakers. My whole body felt like it was about to explode.


Here's the view from the pit. You can see that people were already starting to cover their cameras with plastic bags.


And then the rain came in earnest. Luckily my husband had a few rain ponchos in his bag. He kindly gave them to the rest of us and went without. He probably regretted that decision later.

It was kind of a comedy of errors. Turns out two pens had leaked in his bag, all over one of the ponchos. You can see that my son is wearing that one. My husband's hands were all blue. Of course, there was nowhere to wash your hands. He made do with hand sanitizer.


My son's poncho also had a hole in it, so his dad tied a knot.


Late in the day, Band of Horses took the stage. Love them. If you don't know them, check them out. Their songs are incredibly beautiful.





The rain was steady and heavy by the time The Lumineers came on. I wasn't inspired to take many photos because rain was pouring off the stage into the photo pit. But I got a few pics nonetheless.





The Lumineers are amazing live. Wesley Schultz has a beautiful voice, powerful enough to captivate even across a large park in a downpour. These guys really know what they are doing and they look like they have a great time doing it.

Even my son and my niece, who are generally fans of a different kind of music, were impressed by The Lumineers. By the end of the night, we were soaked through and a bit miserable, but I think the troubles made for even stronger memories for the two kids. It was a day they (and we) won't soon forget!

Have you seen any great bands lately?