Thursday

Among a few other bands we saw on Thursday, a highlight was Paper Thick Walls, a 5 piece band from Chicago which played at the Painted Lady.

Friday

Early on Friday night we again stopped by and saw Haunted Hearts, from Charlottown, PEI.

Saturday
Through the magic of Twitter, we managed to catch a secret Stars show down at Edward Day Gallery near the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art at 12:30pm on Saturday. With an audience of just over 100 people, (most NXNEers still aren’t awake at this early hour) it was an intimate setting to see such a great band.

Opening for the show was Chad VanGaalan, who later played at The Great Hall.

Then Stars rocked the afternoon:

We then moved over to Reposado, who held an impromptu, rogue NXNE show with Chains of Love, Hot Kid and Modern Superstitions, generously sponsored by Steamwhistle and Rdio in the north lounge of the bar. The heat in the room was offset by free ice cream offered by the sponsors.

After some recovery we strolled over to the Dakota Tavern for great sets from Chris Velan, Bellewoods, and Portland, Oregon’s Horse Feathers.

Sunday

On Sunday we wandered over to Trinity Bellwoods Park to watch a NXNE showcase played out among the trees in the park.

NXNE is over for 2011. What were your highlights?

As in previous years, the organizers of NXNE haven’t mastered good web servers or set-ups, so it’s difficult to search the schedule right now, but I recommend looking by date and venue, then you can see who’s playing at each venue on each day. When NXNE launches, you’ll be able to get a program and printed schedules in the free weeklies.

As more music venues pop up in our neighborhood, so do more opportunities for us to see NXNE acts. Remember to check our calendar for these and all event listings!

For those of you who haven’t experienced NXNE before, here are a few notes and tips:

• * Shows start on time. The band scheduled to play at 8PM will most likely be off stage by 8:50PM and the next artist will start playing at 9PM. Stick to the schedule, because the bands and venues will.
• * Wear comfortable shoes
• * If there is a band or artist you really want to see, get to that venue as early as you possibly can. For more well-known and/or smaller venues (ie, the Dakota Tavern) and for well known or hyped bands, there will be a line-up and you might not get in
• * Have a back-up plan.  You may not get in to see your first choice

Anyway, on to the shows! As always, The Dakota Tavern is open every night with full sets of performers: Wednesday from 9PM – 2AM, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 8PM – 3AM. Horse Feathers out of Portland, ORE, plays Saturday at 11PM.

The Garrison, at 1197 Dundas, has shows Wednesday 9P-2A, Thursday, Friday and Saturday 9P-3A, and Sunday night 10P-12A. Performers include Canada’s own Handsome Furs Saturday night at 1AM as part of the You Look Death.ly showcase

There are NXNE shows at The Painted Lady Wednesday-Friday 8P-2A, and Saturday til 3A.

Trinity Bellwoods Park is even a venue for several afternoons, so let’s hope it doesn’t rain! Called the Live in Bellwoods series, the concerts run every day starting Thursday, June 16 from 2p-5p, with stripped down acoustic sets every half hour. The shows are happening just west and north of the kids park (D5, D6 of the map). These shows are free, so bring a blanket and a picnic and listen to some tunes in the park.

Other relatively close venues include The Great Hall, The Mod Club on College, and the Drake and Gladstone Hotels. As usual, there will be free concerts at Dundas Square, including Men Without Hats and Stars this year.

With big names like Melissa Etheridge and Janet Jackson, and a Big Sugar reunion, the CMF is a industry event. But it’s not all name brand entertainment – you will also be able to hear some new and undiscovered, or just barely discovered, talent too, especially in the local vicinity.

I browsed briefly through the schedule, and, as of now, The Painted Lady offers 2 nights of CMW music, The Garrison 4 nights, including a Manitoba music showcase, and the Dakota offers 4 nights of a “Factor Breakthrough Series” headlined twice by The Schomberg Fair.

Other spots in our extended neighborhood also featuring CMF bands include The Great Hall, The Mod Club and The Gladstone. Dates are Wednesday, March 9 – Sunday, March 13. You can buy wristbands to access most shows, or individual tickets are also available.

If you don’t know the deal about NXNE already, you can buy a wristband to get into all the music and film events, or pay at the door if you’re only going to a couple of shows.  If you are going to want to check out the music on more than one night, the wristband is worth it, since you are free to walk in and out of as many NXNE shows as you can, and as capacity allows. There are more bands from Canada than anywhere else, but you’ll see artists from Europe, Asia, the U.S. and elsewhere.

Considering our neighborhood has several venues to hear music all year round, we knew we wouldn’t need to travel far for this festival. The Painted Lady, Dakota Tavern, and The Garrison will all be hosting multiple nights of live NXNE music.  You can also check out shows at The Social and The Great Hall, and many places on West Queen West.

NXNE starts Wednesday night at some venues, but Thursday is when the festival really kicks into gear, with shows in every venue.