TURF 2016 was once again a weekend filled with good music, chilled vibes and frankly, good execution. It always feels good when people know what they are doing at a music festival and Collective Concerts definitely knows what they are doing. How do I know? Let’s count the ways
- Plenty of food options
- Stages with minimum sound interference
- Plenty of outhouses
- Relaxed security staff
- Easy to get in and out
Still, there are some ways to improve:
- Better beer selection
- Cheaper beer selection
- More then one water truck
- Multiple exits (why wasn’t there an exit on Strachan?)
Still, very well organized festival.
I think there was some music. Let’s look at a few highlights
Barenaked Ladies
A super fun set filled with all the hits you would expect. The Barenaked Ladies are a cheesy, fun and incredibly self aware band, joking that they played their first show at the battle of 1812. Obviously one of the best singalongs of the festival was “If I Had a Million Dollars,” in which someone threw Kraft dinner on stage. “Brian Wilson“ and “The Old Apartment“ also brought back memories and I wasn’t missing Stephen Page at all. The set ended with a super odd medley of popular pop songs which was disappointing considering tracks like “Jane“ or “It’s All Been Done“ would have easily made a better substitute.
Matthew Good Band
The tracks “Apparitions“ and “Hello Time Bomb“ brought me back to my university days. Damn I’m old.
Jimmy Eat World
The kids went craaaaaazy over the band from Arizona. I was rather dismissive of emo music in my 20s so my enthusiasm for the band was muted. Still the group played a powerful set that led in “The Middle,” a glorious track that had everyone fist pumping and singing along. Curiously, the group had a rather strict photo policy that irked a lot of photographers. i don’t even know why they would do that as I doubt many people are looking for Jimmy Eat World 2016 concert photos.
New Pornographers
What’s a music festival without the New Pornographers? Despite the absence of some more famous members (which at this point, is the norm), the group played a steady set in the steady sun. Bands should study these guys, one of the few consistently good bands of the past fifteen years. They are like Mac & Cheese – comfortable and always good, no matter what the ingredients are.
Bathrooms
There were three types of bathrooms available at TURF, let’s take a look!
Outhouses (for normal people) – Your standard outhouses, I like the ones with a Purell thing on the inside which theses ones have the one time I used it.
East Side VIP area – Impressively lit with real toilets, the VIP bathrooms this year were great, and these ones had a light on each stall so that I didn’t piss all over the toilet and the seats. They also had functional working sinks on the outside. Highly impressive.
West Side VIP Area The most impressive one of them all, the west side VIP bathroom was inside a trailer-ish building and came with air conditioning and it’s own PA system. I bet a third of people at TURF don’t have air-con at their own apartments but this toilet has it. So VIP.
Anyways, in conclusion, TURF was fun.
