There are a lot of chefs in the kitchen for the Canadian premiere of Sarah Ruhl’s Passion Play, a triptych set in three time periods that tells the stories of amateur actors (played by real actors) involved in staging performances of the story of Christ. Three different Toronto independent theatre companies, all with reputations for innovative staging and creation in their past work, each tackle one of the three acts. Ordinarily, such a complicated arrangement would be to a show’s detriment, but not in this case. While you need to be prepared for a marathon of theatre (the show runs four hours, incluing two intermissions), you’re certainly going to get your money’s worth.

“A cross between Woodstock and the Algonquin Round Table,” is what Michael Redhill called it. Dorothy Parker grinding out an electric cover of “The Star Spangled Banner”? Well, not quite. Rather, Redhill, the literary curator for Luminato 2013, was describing A Literary Picnic, the annual festival’s celebration of storytelling, creativity, and the written word.

The 2013 Toronto Jazz Festival descends on the city this Friday with a huge “free for all” event. That means all of Friday’s programming at every Jazz Festival venue is, yes, completely free of charge. There will be concerts from local favourites Molly Johnson and Mary Margaret O’Hara, plus a show by Smokey Robinson and Martha Reeves, who will be launching the fest from its epicentre, Nathan Phillips Square.

Here’s a rundown of some of the shows worth checking out on Friday—and during the rest of the festival, when you’ll actually have to pay.

Folks who are planning on having a swim in the pool at Scadding Court Community Centre over the next few days may find themselves a little disappointed. Those who want to go fishing, however, will probably be ecstatic.

For the rest of the week, the Community Centre will be holding its annual Gone Fishin’ event, meaning its indoor pool will be an indoor fish pond. The pool has been drained, dechlorinated, and refilled with 2,000 rainbow trout, to be caught by local children and families.

Music videos, often seen as indispensable for promoting an album, are seldom appreciated as an art form in and of themselves. While the videos are often creative and powerful, containing strange, sometimes psychedelic imagery and complex, unconventional narratives, all constrained by the length of a single song, it’s a form of filmmaking often confined as an auxiliary product to the music itself. The Prism Prize, founded in 2012, seeks to counteract this by becoming the first “national juried award recognizing the artistry of the modern music video in Canada.”

The winner of the first annual prize was announced last night, with the honour going to the video for “Brian Wilson is A.L.I.V.E.” by Halifax-based indie rock musician Rich Aucoin, off of his Polaris-Prize-long-listed record We’re All Dying To Live. The video, directed by Noah Pink, forms a biography of legendary Beach Boys singer and band leader Brian Wilson. The video includes seminal moments in Wilson’s life and career while also recreating classic Beach Boys album covers. At the video’s climax, Aucoin, who portrays Wilson, lies in a bed in a fat suit surrounded by floating pill bottles. Then he is transformed and renewed, returning to stage to perform as an older man. In addition to the critical acclaim that the award brings, the winning video also earns a $5,000 cash prize.

The Prism Prize also gave out an Audience Award, the winner of which was based on a public poll gathered by media partners Exclaim! and the Grid. This award went to Arcade Fire for their video for “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains).”

The Prism Prize was founded by current Executive Director Louis Calabro, who is the manager of the Canadian Screen Awards for the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. Calabro has also founded Goin’ Steady Productions and the performance series The End of the Internet. The prize’s creative director position is occupied by Neil Haverty, perhaps best known for being a member of the band Bruce Peninsula. Videos released from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012 were eligible for this year’s award, and a winner was chosen by over 90 jurors who went through two rounds of voting. Other nominees for the award included “Two Reasons” by Young Rival, directed by John Smith; “Genesis” by Grimes, directed by Claire Boucher; “Hoshi Neko” by Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, directed by Ruby Kato Attwood and Emily Pelstring; “HYFR” by Drake, directed by X; “The Sticks” by Mother Mother, directed by Chad VanGaalen; “Oblivion” by Grimes, directed by Emily Kai Bock; “Baby’s Got It” by Maylee Todd, directed by Reynard Li; and “Wet Blanket” by METZ, directed by Scott Cudmore.

Behold, music fans: some favourite shots from this past week.

Rub your eyes, take a big stretch, unplug your ears, and cut off your wristband—for the 2012 Canadian Music Week has come to an end, to the sadness of our dancing feet, but much to the relief of our sleep-deprived brains.

We started out the week by asking “What do we really think about CMW?” As the festival is so often described as the colder, more industry-focused version of NXNE, why do we keep going out year after year for musical acts big and small? With another CMW under our belts, well, it’s impossible to say for sure. Each individual experience varies so greatly, and one person’s disappointment is another person’s triumph—sometimes based solely on uncontrollable factors like weather, timing, or a last-minute cancellation. There does seem to be one constant from year to year, though: umbrellas.

It’s hard to make a “mistake” during CMW, if you choose to participate. There is something for everyone, if you’re willing to look for it. For a music lover in Toronto, really, the only mistake would be to ignore the fest completely. So bring it on, CMW. You’re not perfect, but we would never want a music festival that was.

Last night was the official close to the festival, so here’s what we checked out, along with a summary of our favourite acts of the entire week.

Pinky Piglets
FROM: Tokyo, Japan
PERFORMED: March 25, 9 p.m. at Horseshoe Tavern

Pre-Show Hype: Notably low. Despite being openers for the Horseshoe’s Closing Night Party, any hoopla over the headliners—antiquated British rocker David Gedge and whatever backing band he is calling The Wedding Present these days—is not what it used to be.
Crowd: Just a small gathering, perhaps owing to the fact that the band hit the stage about 10 minutes prior to the posted start time. Most fans cluttered the front of the room; some emphatically pumped fists.
Performance: First of all, Pinky Piglets are no more. They now call themselves Toquiwa, announcing the name change with a large banner behind the drummer even as a Pinky Piglets sticker on one of their guitars hinted at the band’s former identity. They laid down an infectious confection of punk-pop that veered from easily digestible Go Go’s–style candy to four Japanese girls doing their best Rage Against the Machine. Often, it was hard to distinguish when the singing was in English or Japanese, though every once in a while there was a discernible instruction about moving to the left or the right.
Best Moment: At one point, the lead singer declared she was thirsty, and urged a drink to the stage by adorably cheering, “Come on, beer!”
Miscellaneous: The association with Gedge dates back to taking part in his self-curated Edge of the Sea festivals. When Toquiwa was accepted to play SXSW this year, Gedge invited the band on his North American tour.
Verdict: 6.5/10

The Elwins
FROM: Toronto
PERFORMED: March 25, 11:00 p.m. at Rancho Relaxo

Corbin Smith/Torontoist

Pre-Show Hype: High, as fans of The Elwins had been awaiting the band’s return to Toronto after their US tour.
Crowd: It’s always difficult to get a good crowd out to a Sunday show at Canadian Music Week, let alone to a show that bleeds into Monday morning—which is what makes the fact that Rancho Relaxo had to turn people away at the door that much more impressive.
Performance: The Elwins showed no signs of road-weariness from their tour, and blasted out a fun, high-energy set.
Best Moment: The coordinated audience dance-and-singalong to “Foxtail” at the end of the set.
Miscellaneous: The Elwins were glad to be back home, and we were glad to see them.
Verdict: 7.5/10

Topanga
FROM: Toronto
PERFORMED: March 25, 12:00 a.m. at Rancho Relaxo

Corbin Smith/Torontoist

Pre-Show Hype: Moderate, but definitely growing.
Crowd: Though a few fans of The Elwins called it a night before Topanga took the stage, the crowd was still pretty packed. Extra points for impromptu mosh pits.
Performance: The shouty-yet-melodic pop-punkish set was definitely turned up to 11 on the energy scale.
Best Moment: Seeing that Topanga was nervous about playing a brand new song as their encore performance, only to have the crowd love it just as much as every other song the band played throughout the night.
Miscellaneous: We’re starting to hear more and more good things about Topanga. Some big CMW acts are big-time supporters of this band, as we were told by both Wildlife and Rich Aucoin that we would not be disappointed by Topanga. They were so right.
Verdict: 7.5/10

The Joel Plaskett Emergency

Corbin Smith/Torontoist

Our review

Jenn Grant

Corbin Smith/Torontoist

Our review

John K. Samson & The Provincial Band

Corbin Smith/Torontoist

Our review

Dan Mangan

Corbin Smith/Torontoist

Our review

Rich Aucoin

Corbin Smith/Torontoist

Based upon popular vote, the 12th annual Sirius XM Independent Music Awards celebrated Canada’s favourite, or at least most recognizable, names in independent music. Though the words “popular” and “independent” could not be used in the same sentence at one point, many of the “independent” artists that hit the stage Saturday night (in an odd tradition, at the Royal York Hotel) are on their way to becoming the darlings of both the fans and industry execs.

And pardon the cliche, but dogs are clearly a fan’s best friend: The Sheepdogs walked (strutted?) away with four awards—every one they were nominated for—including Group of the Year, Favorite Single of the Year, Favorite Rock Artist or Group of the Year, and Favorite Live Artist/Group of the Year. No one’s arguing the mass appeal of the new sultans of the ’70s and their summer single “I Don’t Know.” You’re popular, Sheepdogs! Enjoy it. But this last award struck a particular nerve. Also nominated was Haligonian Rich Aucoin, positively renowned for his confetti-clad parachute parties, and in our opinion, deserving of the title. But alas, if we were to gripe about every voter’s choice award, we’d have time to get little else done. And at least Aucoin was the surprise winner of the SiriusXM Emerging Artist of the Year.

Here were some of the night’s main acts, and how they fared…

Treble Charger
FROM: Toronto
PERFORMED: 8:40 p.m.

Pre-Show Hype: As the festival, and the band’s admission into the Indies Hall of Fame, was the catalyst for Treble Charger’s reunion this year, buzz was high.
Crowd: People were generally pretty excited, but a few people were really excited. Like, really excited.
Performance: It only lasted two songs (“American Psycho” and “Red”), but it was cool, we guess. Nostalgia FTW.
Best Moment: The crowd joining in that really fast part in “American Psycho.”
Miscellaneous: We did end up feeling really old by the end.
Verdict: 7/10

Dan Mangan
FROM: Vancouver, B.C.
PERFORMED: 9:05 p.m.

Pre-Show Hype: Riding the wave of his second album Oh, Fortune, a few Juno noms, and an epic nearly-two-hour secret show at the Horseshoe the night before, Mangan is beginning to create quite a cult around him.
Crowd: Mostly responding with the typical Toronto head bob, still they were rapt with Mangan’s relatively stripped down set.
Performance: Dressed in a pair of jeans and well-worn plaid shirt, Mangan seemed a tad under-dressed against the lights and video projections around him. Similarly, his rustic music added a dose of humility to the evening, a genuine no-frills-needed performance of tracks like “Row of Houses” and “Sold.”
Best Moment: Whenever Mangan would let out his grizzly vocals in an extended “Ohhhh!”
Miscellaneous: Pleased with his win for Favorite Solo Artist of the Year, he thanked the audience for voting, and mentioned a tender moment with Rich Aucoin backstage when they first met and Mangan remarked “Isn’t it amazing what can happen in five or six years.” The guy loves his job.
Verdict: 8/10

The Sheepdogs
FROM: Saskatoon, SK
PERFORMED: 9:45

Pre-Show Hype: As far as notoriety is concerned, the Sheepdogs were probably the most recognizable name of the night, second only perhaps to Passion Pit.
Crowd: The crowd had already seen the Sheepdogs a number of times throughout the night on the side stage accepting various awards, so the suspense leading up to their performance was heightened that much more. The crowd sang and head-bopped along to most of the songs. Though some people absolutely lost their minds when Paul Rodgers joined them on stage and performed “Alright Now,” the majority of the crowd was too young to recognize one of rock ‘n’ roll’s greats.
Performance: An amazing, absolutely entertaining, bad-ass rock set. That said, seeing the Sheepdogs and Rich Aucoin back to back while knowing that Aucoin lost the title of Favorite Live Artist/Group makes us scratch our head.
Best Moment: Two generations of rock royalty on one stage.
Miscellaneous: The Sheepdogs have come a long way since we first saw them play a (probably illegal) venue in a basement on Queen Street as part of an unofficial CMW after party in 2009. We hope that they’ll continue to crack out quality rock tunes for years and years to come.
Verdict: 8/10

Pre-Show Hype: Aucoin is worthy of his Emerging Artist win, now getting recognition for his music as well as his legendary live performance acts.
Crowd: The most interesting thing about Aucoin’s show was how he treated the massive crowd—just as he would have at a smaller venue like Wrongbar or The Drake. Not fearing to show the same genuine appreciation for the audience, the audience gave it right back. When he dove into the audience, they responded with the same joy as a lost dog looking for a loveable owner.
Performance: It’s really quite hard to sum it up in a small blurb like this—but here goes. Rich Aucoin’s show was a YouTube mash-up/group hug/kindergarten gym class/partytime, with stellar tunes to boot. Having to cancel an earlier in-store show at Sonic Boom due to illness, he didn’t show a bit of discomfort. Just love for the audience.
Best Moment: Too many to pick just one.
Miscellaneous: He’ll take Favorite Live Performance next year.
Verdict: 10/10

Passion Pit
FROM: Boston, Mass.
PERFORMED: 11:15 p.m.

Pre-Show Hype: The last act of the night was the heavy draw for the crowd. Their 2009 album Manners, in particular the singles “The Reeling” and “Sleepyhead,” is still a pretty unique offering in the electro-pop genre.
Crowd: Dancing, jumping, and plenty of fist-pumping.
Performance: Hitting their major faves, opening with “Moth’s Wings” and ending with “Sleepyhead,” and including a brand new one off their recently completed album titled Take a Walk, the set lasted about four songs without a proper conclusion. While the drums, guitar, keyboards, and synths were relatively on-track with their records, Michael Angelakos’s vocals were comparatively weak. It was fun, but rather a disappointment for fans who waited over three hours to see them.
Best Moment: Getting a hint of something fresh with “Take a Walk” was a nice surprise, though it doesn’t sound exceptionally new from the offerings from Manners.
Miscellaneous: Tokyo Police Club’s Graham Wright was a special guest on the keyboard.
Verdict: 6.5/10

Check out the full list of the night’s winners here. (Among our highlights: Bon Iver for Favorite International Group of the Year, Adele for Favorite International Solo Artist of the Year, and Dan Mangan for Favorite Solo Artist of the Year. )

Dan Magan plays the Haliax Pop Explosion in November 2011. Photo by Corbin Smith.

Screw fighting, Saturday night’s all right for music. Sunday, too.

Fanfarlo
Mod Club (22 College Street)
Saturday, 8:30 p.m.

This London, England-based quintet broke onto their home scene in 2006, but didn’t make the jump across the pond until their debut full-length album Reservoir dropped in late 2009. But they found a home with their blend of pop and folk, the adorable vocals of Amos Memon and Cathy Lucas, and a unique orchestration with an eclectic assortment of instruments. Since then, they haven’t stopped adding to their arsenal of musical tools. Their latest album Rooms Filled With Light, released last month, mixes in a heavy dose of ’80s electronica—which works much better than it sounds.

Go if: You don’t have enough musical saw in your life.

Bravestation
Horseshoe Tavern (370 Queen Street West)
Saturday, 8:30 p.m.

Describing music to someone can be an undeniably tricky endeavor. It’s always important to proceed with caution when trying to reduce an artist’s sound to a complex formula employing mash-ups of genres and other bands—sometimes qualifying this amalgam even further by then placing it in a quirky location—like, say, space or the rainforest. So to say that Toronto’s Bravestation are like the long-lost stepbrother of The National who happen to have been raised by the Killers in a small African village, may not entirely do the group’s rich textures any justice.

Perhaps some music simply needs to be heard, and that’s what is happening more and more for Bravestation these days. Having confounded rock critics even further by earning Peter Gabriel comparisons with their new single, “Signs of the Civilized,” they are readying their debut full-length for release later this year. If it sounds anything like their previous output, it will be both surprising and likely to blow up the super-computer that creates these hybrid genres.

Go if: You want to take your own shot at classifying the unclassifiable.

Artist Select Series: Brendan Canning
The Garrison (1197 Dundas Street West)
Saturday, 9 p.m.

A new element in this year’s festival is a joint production between local music agency Young Lion’s Music Club, Spinner, Canadian Music Week, and Red Bull Music Academy: the Artist Select Series. Three Canadian artists were handed the Garrison and six to seven time slots, and got to program their own evening of CMW music. Shad was up first on Wednesday, followed by Jeremy Greenspan of Junior Boys on Friday, and Saturday ends with Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning, who will host and DJ in between sets. He’s got a doozy of a show, featuring top-notch TO talent like the Balconies, ALX, and Teenage Kicks, plus Montreal’s Uncle Bad Touch and Yardlets. Even a band from down under, Melbourne’s Husky. A guaranteed stellar evening.

Go if: You want a small peek at Brendan Canning’s iTunes library.

Dan Mangan
Canadian Room (inside Royal York Hotel) (199 Queen Street West)
Saturday, 9:05 p.m.

As part of a solid line-up at the Indies that includes Passion Pit and Rich Aucoin, Dan Mangan somehow manages to remain a standout. The singer-songwriter has been on a steady ascent since he first picked up a guitar, and specializes in the kind of lush, intimate tunes that seem only a natural by-product of his Vancouver hometown. There is an earnestness and literate quality to his evocative lyrics that cuts to the core of a myriad of complex emotions.

His rise to prominence began with 2010’s Nice, Nice, Very Nice, which was shortlisted for the Polaris Prize and released in the United States and Europe on the Toronto-based Arts & Crafts label. He has branched out his spare arrangements on his newest effort, last year’s Oh, Fortune, and the result has been an unequivocal success. As evidence, he has been nominated for Junos this year in four categories including, inexplicably, Best New Artist.

Go if: You’re feeling a little melancholy and in need of a big musical hug.

Rich Aucoin
Fairmont Royal York (100 Front Street West)
Saturday, 10:25 p.m.

Rich Aucoin doesn’t do anything halfway. His breakout EP, 2011′s We’re All Dying to Live, is a towering, anthemic achievement that, by recording standards alone, is already day-makingly good as it is. Now imagine that it was written as the soundtrack to a film Aucoin himself edited, spliced together from dozens of others, and that the whole idea took root during a cross-Canada cycling expedition for cancer research a few years back. Oh, and that there’s something like 500 unique contributors on the record in total. No big deal.

We first saw him in his element last summer, at a bar in Halifax called Gus’s. Months later, in January, it was the Drake. No matter where it happens, a Rich Aucoin show is its own universe with its own natural laws, where energy is utterly limitless and confetti cannons are bottomless. There aren’t enough glowing adjectives for what this electro-pop phenom is doing for Canadian music.

Go if: You ever played with a parachute in gym class and totally want to again.

Grahmzilla
Wrongbar (1279 Queen Street West)
Saturday, 1 a.m.

Saturday’s a fine night for dancing, and Toronto favourite Grahmzilla is expert in ensuring that sort of thing goes down. Known for being the music end of ill-fated local duo Thunderheist, and more recently for some sweet slow-jam mix-tapes, he can throw down electro, hip-hop, breaks, and more as if it wasn’t any kind of thing. He also does live PA and DJ performances as Nautiluss, a deep techno project signed to Montreal’s Turbo Records. So… he’s pretty sweet, I guess.

Go if: You’re fixin’ for a throw-down.

Band Oberhofer
Phoenix Concert Theatre (410 Sherbourne Street)
Sunday, 8:15 p.m.

It’s a good thing we don’t go to concerts to read, because with songs like “o0Oo0O0o” and “Away Frm U,” a track list can look more like your 13-year-old sister’s text history. They’d probably be about the same thing too, since Oberhofer’s forthcoming LP Time Capsules II (March 27) revolves around frontman Brad Oberhofer’s broken heart as he moved from Tacoma to NYU and lost the girl. The lyrics are like a page from his diary, but the music is strong and Oberhofer’s voice is bold. With the band on the brink of blowing up, we’re sure Oberhofer will break his fair share of hearts along the way too.

Go if: You’ve never cried and danced at the same time before.

Ali Shaheed Muhammad
Cheval (606 King Street West)
Sunday, 10 p.m.-ish

Known best as the producer and DJ for hip-hop pioneers A Tribe Called Quest, Ali Shaheed Muhammad has had a rocky career since the group broke up in 1998. For a while afterwards, he joined members of En Vogue and Tony! Toni! Toné! to form Lucy Pearl, which only put out one album. In 2004 he released a solo album which, while not being a smash hit or even close, showed that he’s actually not a bad MC. But for his CMW show, he’s going back to his roots—manning the decks at Cheval at an as-yet-undisclosed time. Unlike those cheesy MCs who get lazy and go on DJ tours, Ali Shaheed Muhammad is the real deal, so expect a quality DJ set, creative mixing, and some seriously sweet jams.

Go if: You are a serious nostalgic for back in the days and/or want a reason to go inside a King Street West nightclub.

Tupper Ware Remix Party
Bovine Sex Club (542 Queen St. W.)
Sunday, 11 p.m.

The men of Tupper Ware Remix Party are superheroes. Or maybe they’re aliens. Or are they alien superheroes? Okay, so it’s hard to tell exactly what they are, but what they do is a little more transparent: incite dance parties and get bodies gyrating. Dressed in outlandish costumes befitting their nature, they create what could be the soundtrack to a lost ‘80s video game or cartoon. With pulsating drums, crunchy guitars, and dramatic synth lines, the band earns high scores without any need for vocals.

Ostensibly from a distant planet from which they have taken their name (but more than likely calling Halifax their home), the relative newcomers to Earth have self-released albums like 2007’s Sex Is A Machine That Likes To Dance and 2010’s Poised To Dominate. They possess a refreshing, tongue-in-cheek sense of humour in an industry saturated with artists that take themselves far too seriously, and would make an excellent choice for those looking to close out their fest with a bang.

Go if: You want to dance, stupid! Or, if you just want to see a man wearing an oversized parking cone on his head.

Toronto-honed comedic wit Levi MacDougall and his TV boss Demetri Martin play two shows at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre tonight. Detail of a photo by Robyn Von Swank.

COMEDY: Comedian Levi MacDougall plied his craft in the backrooms and stages of Toronto for nearly a decade before Demetri Martin found a clip of his set online, loved it, and offered the lanky comic a writing gig on his TV show. Now, Martin is touring Canada, and MacDougall is opening for him; tonight’s early show sold out, resulting in a recently added late night set by the two absurdist life observers. Queen Elizabeth Theatre (190 Princes’ Boulevard), shows at 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., $39.50.

COMEDY: Comedy Bar’s third annual Festival of New Formats wrapped up last weekend and when the dust settled, a few shows were clear standouts. Tonight, two of those shows—Personals and Can I Get a Relationship?—will get encore presentations after Friday night (and festival) favourite Catch 23 Improv. Comedy Bar (945 Bloor Street West), $8 for 8 p.m. show; $5 for 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. shows, or FREE for attendees of 8 p.m. show.

MUSIC: The Wrecking Ball (not the activist theatre one) brings together local music writers with a penchant for chronicling our city’s rock, punk, and metal scenes, and bands from said scene. Tonight’s readers are Liz Worth, Liisa Ladouceur, and Natalie Zina Walschots; the rockers are Battlesoul, Corpusse, and Into Exile. The Garrison (1197 Dundas Street West), doors at 8 p.m., $10.

MUSIC: Halifax’s Rich Aucoin, whose prodigious live performances we’ve covered in detail, has been making waves on the ‘net by finally releasing his video for “IT“, featuring classic film recreations (his recent Nosferatu mash-up for “Living to Die” went up just this week.) Aucoin returns to the Drake for an official Toronto album release tonight, with guests Sandman Viper Command. Drake Hotel Underground (1150 Queen Street West), 10 p.m., $10.

MUSIC: Maylee Todd, Matt McLaren, Jay Anderson, and other musical devotees of classic soul music are collaborating on an intimate late night jam at the Holy Oak tonight, joined by guests Emilie Mover, Thom Gill, and more. Come to A Soul · Winter Party, they say. “Don’t fight it. Feel it.” Holy Oak (1241 Bloor Street West), 10 p.m., PWYC.

THEATRE: We went to all 10 productions showcased in the Next Stage Theatre Festival, so you don’t have to. The fest is having a record-breaking year, and the performances are good enough to stand up to the attention. Here are the best shows of Next Stage 2012, on until January 15.

Urban Planner is Torontoist‘s guide to what’s on in Toronto, published every weekday morning, and in a weekend edition Friday afternoons. If you have an event you’d like considered, email all of its details—as well as images, if you’ve got any—to events@torontoist.com.

When you’re “doing TIFF,” days of the week stop existing. Every day is a workday or every day is a weekend (depending on how you happen to be “doing TIFF.”) When you’ve lost track of what day it is, it becomes absolutely acceptable to party hard on any given night of the week—and that’s exactly what people got up to Tuesday night at the Drake Hotel Underground TIFF party. Moon King (who sit somewhere between electro, punk, and folk music) opened for Haligonian headliner and good-times uplifting party-pop master Rich Aucoin.

Though the show got under way over an hour and a half late (conceivably due to the shocking emptiness of the room at show time), once things got started we were happy that we stuck around for the party.

What you can hear of Moon King online is a lot softer and calmer than what we experienced last night. A good number of tunes churned out by ex–Spiral Beach members Daniel Woodhead and Maddy Wilde were “world premieres.” For a band debuting so many new tracks, the duo were impressively polished and thoroughly enjoyable. A particularly lovely moment occurred when Woodhead dedicated one such debut, I Found a Body, to his friend Alex, who is new to Canada via Mexico but couldn’t attend the show due to being under legal drinking age. We’re really looking forward to seeing how Moon King develops as they continue to put out new music. (A split EP with Polaris nominees Hooded Fang is due out sometime this fall.)

Though we have no shortage of praise for Rich Aucoin and his uplifting, engaging, and interactive party-time performances, we’ve got to say that this show wasn’t one of Aucoin’s best. (It should be noted that a Rich Aucoin show, even if he isn’t on his A game, is still a joyous, mind-blowing experience.)

Aucoin made the best of what he was working with, which unfortunately included a lack of his standard wireless microphone and some finicky cables which occasionally caused his keyboard to cut in and out. The crowd still worked itself into a dancy, sweaty fervour for Aucoin’s crowd-pleasing “Push” and “Four More Years.” Most wore huge smiles as they danced, as confetti cannons exploded overhead.

Everyone has a reference point for what a music festival should be like. In the minds of certain generations, SARSStock was a pitch to Woodstock; for others, NXNE is, due mostly to its name, expected to be like SXSW, which many will assure you is simply not a fair comparison. A concert is noticed for its lineup, but ultimately remembered, and persists, for its atmosphere.

How can one festival separate itself from most others and from its audience’s expectations? Could it aim towards some other summer standard? Something more personal? Hard to say, but putting a body of water between you and the city seems like a good place to start.

Last Saturday, the Toronto Island ferry docks were swamped with families and weekenders, people waiting in droves to board the Centre Island ferry to go picnic, cycle, and purchase overpriced Pizza Pizza slices. But a smaller portion of the ferry travellers stood awaiting the Hanlan’s Point ship, destined for a different celebration: the ALL CAPS festival. “The island can be pretty laid back,” said Ryan McLaren, an organizer of the Toronto music series Wavelength. “I think a lot of that comes from the feeling that Toronto just feels like a high-stress place. Once you get on the ferry, it begins to become a very different kind of experience.”

McLaren, along with the folks at Artscape and the Whippersnapper Gallery, have a lot invested in the island’s oft-overlooked gifts of beauty, since last weekend they hosted another edition of their ALL CAPS festival at Gibraltar Point. “The festival grew over a number of years,” explained McLaren. “ALL CAPS was a monthly all ages music series. I did one outdoors show at Dufferin Grove Park, and of all the things I did, it was definitely the most successful. It had this really great, positive vibe, which as you know isn’t always that easy to create. I met Lisa from Artscape and we decided to try it here on the Island instead.”

Wavelength events are known for putting a spotlight on Canadian acts, and this year’s ALL CAPS was no different; the lineup included nerd-leaning rapper More or Les, Eric’s Trip alum Julie Doiron, party jam incarnate Rich Aucoin, avant-funk Muskox, teenage hip-hop-rock siblings Dog Bus, and well-hyped acts Evening Hymns, the Wooden Sky, and DD/MM/YYYY. The buzz about the bands combined with the island mystique proved to be a (flattering) disaster for McLaren, who was forced to turn away floods of patrons who had travelled across the water when his festival sold out within minutes of starting.

“Get closer and sweat on us so we can jump in the lake after and feel refreshed,” said Daniel Woodhead during a performance. Woodhead, a member of festival starter Moon King and generally familiar face to city showgoers, felt that playing outside of the city is key to the festival’s success. “I think it’s super important for bands to play on the island. Once you do it, you’re just like, ‘Hey, this is absolutely the most relaxed time I’ve ever had. We’re sitting on the beach right now and just played a show.’ When can you ever do that? It’s important that we keep the island a place you can be away from the city while still being downtown”

The Artscape studios were open for visitation. Guests could peek in on a variety of creators, working in all sorts of mediums. Some artists prepared installations in what was once the island’s grade school: Eva Kolcze set up a television in a book-clogged closet that played still-flickering footage of the infamous Gibraltar lighthouse, making it seem even more haunted than usual. Kathleen Brown and David Ip were, instead, working on “PeepSqueak,” in which guests were invited to tell stories about the island based on a randomly picked word. Kathleen shared one of her favourites, spoken by a strong-voiced, long-time islander. A bold diatribe about “good spots to do that” triggered by the suggestive word combo “dancing, kiss, fuck.” David Ip supplied guitar murmurs over the recordings. Once done, Kathleen will share them on her SoundCloud.

Kathleen Brown plays a story from her new collection while David Ip supplies chords.

Singer Jennifer Castle carried out a performance art piece with Yuula Benivolski. They invited the audience to the beach and greeted them with a mound of wilting flora, a burning silhouette, and two girls draped in sheets who made their way to the water while a dreary rendition of Alicia Keys’ “Fallin’” played over the waves. A sombre image, indeed, though it was hard for the audience to bite their tongues when a jet ski whizzed by.

Of course, there were songs by the shore. Evening Hymns sang to an audience planted in the sand, the breeze in the trees singing along with their melodies. Several times throughout their set, singer Jonas Bonnetta couldn’t help but be distracted by striking scenes in the distance, from the glowing moon to a ship that reminded him of the one from The Goonies. “Tonight’s very different, feels very special,” said Bonnetta. “We’ve only played two shows all summer and both have been island shows. We played Wolf Island Festival last weekend in Kingston, and this. We play so many shows in rock clubs. That’s not where I write my music or think about my music being heard. That moon…I mean Bon Jovi couldn’t buy atmosphere like that.”

This isn’t the first ALL CAPS festival, and not the first on the Island, but this year there was a simple, substantial change-up and, if you ask anyone with sand in their toes and paint in their hair, it was a game-changer. “From the beginning I pushed to get camping,” said McLaren. “This year they went for it.” After the Saturday acts wrapped up, attendees who weren’t camping rushed off to catch the last city-bound ferries. The overnight campers prepared to kick back, since their tents were set up during the day (except Bonnetta, who said he was an “expert” at setting up tents in the dark). Campers then tackled the first of many night swims, another round of beers, and conversations with old and new friends. Two girls with a bike-powered ice cream cart began selling various flavours of homemade popsicles that were served on small, cleaned sticks of dogwood, lit by a moon so perfectly bright, one barely needed a flashlight. Near midnight, some surprises set up shop. Things unbeknownst even to McLaren.

City meanderers may know of the Lemon Bucket Orkestra, a gypsy music gang who are known to pop up at parties and festivals around town. It seems an area disconnected from the mainland is no exception. People got a real second wind when the Orkestra brought out incense and three vats of paint. Shirts were promptly removed and replaced with layers of red and white acrylic. The parade of the painted and players walked across the street into a grotto the campers had no idea existed: the “ship graveyard,” a waterside venue crafted out of stray vessels and infinite creativity. The band sang while half-naked folks danced and fireworks shot into the air. It wasn’t until sunrise that bonfires on the shore, moonlight swimming, and the Orkestra-accompanied sing-a-longs came to an end.

Rich Aucoin caps off the festivities with energy and party confetti.

The next day’s music started up after a few more hours of beach lounging. Dog Bus, a rap-rock team composed of teenage siblings ranging in age from 13 to 19, stuck to subject matters they knew best, such as ice cream and hopscotch. A fan favourite, the Wooden Sky, played in the shipwreck grotto. Fireworks shot off into the air, at first spooking lead singer Gavin Gardiner, who eventually came around to the fact they were awesome. Some drops of rain came down, so DD/MM/YYYY’s set had to move indoors, but that doesn’t mean they used indoor voices. Rich Aucoin’s video introduction warned that there was no guarantee a festival like this would ever happen again. That may sound like a sobering way to begin a party set, but in Aucoin’s case it was a good reason for him and the audience to give it their all.

The ALL CAPS experience wasn’t based on many common expectations about what a music festival should be. In fact—between taking a bus there, eating from a mess hall, the surrounding foliage, bonfires, and instant friendships—it really felt like summer camp.

“The parties where you make new friends are the best,” said McLaren. “If you can inspire euphoria in an audience, you win. As an event organizer, that is the goal.”

Photos by Corbin Smith/Torontoist.