Chaos erupts at the RYE Market festival

Ah springtime! The air is crisp, the animals are all confused by their instinctual first quarter rituals and the weather is doing its part to help the plant life thrive. Unfortunately for the artists performing at this year's installment of the RYE Market Festival at Dundas Square (corner of Dundas and Yonge), the weather brought nothing positive to the all day festival.

The RYE Market festival (Ryerson Youth Entrepreneurial Market) is an annual event designed to help promote young entrepreneurs across Canada still in Colleges and universities. The organization responsible for the event is called SIFE Ryerson (Students in Free Enterprise) headed up by Leslie Bradt and Indie Music manager Marco Capo of Lynxz management. The goal is to provide these students with a test market to show their products, receive feedback and earn a profit while networking with their entrepreneurial peers. 3 years in the making, originally located in the Ryerson Cafeteria, the festival has grown to a 25 booth fairway at Dundas Square where 60,000 people walk through every day…. unless it’s pouring rain.

Marco Capo of Lynxz Management

But on to the concert...

Although the skies draped the day in a dismal rainy grey, the lineup of Fake Reality, The Cunninghams, SOPE, Word People, George Reefah, Easy Way Out and DJ M-kutz were all in agreement that, short of a flood, the show would go on... and for 5 of those acts, it did.

Fake Reality took the Dundas Square stage around 1:00 and performed amazingly. Being the first act of the day at an outdoor festival is never easy. The sound team often uses the first act to tweak the audio in order to make the whole festival sound sharp and although monitors may not have been loud enough and backings we're a little quiet, Fake Reality was able to convey their brand of heavy trip rock and make it look effortless. By the time these indie stalwarts reached their 3rd song "Pilot Season", the RYE festival sound team had nailed it. Fake Reality barreled through their set for a growing crowd that didn't seem to mind a light drizzle from over head. Looking around, fans could be seen singing along to songs, which is no big surprise since fan favorites like "Tragic Helpless Romantic" and "Deeper Further" have stolen air time on stations like Y108 in Hamilton, Kingston's K-rock, Rock 95 in Barrie, 105.1 the River and Toronto's own Indie Love Radio. Fake Reality certainly started the day off on the right foot and the audience was ready for more.

Fake Reality

Fake Reality live @ Dundas Square - Pilot Season

Next up, the Cunninghams! Fresh off their win of the Mazda Muzic Fest and an opening slot for Sam Roberts at the Opera House, the Cunninghams were in fine form chugging through their set bursting with straight forward balls to the wall rock n' roll. A sound tried tested and true, the Cunninghams delighted onlookers with tunes like "Keep movin' like a butterfly" and "Black & White". If you head over to their Myspace page, you'll notice the only tracks available are acoustic, however they are slated to begin recording their electric debut that reflects their killer live show in less than a week and you can expect that EP sometime in the summer.

The Cunninghams

the Cunnighams live @ Dundas Square - Move Like a Butterfly

The rain remained consistent and near harmless as SOPE (Stuck.On.Planet.Earth) pummeled the crowd with their twisted mix of punk, garage rock and pop. Loyal are SOPE's fans, and they proved it with every cheer and scream as the band unveiled new tunes such as "Paradise" and played a barrage of indie ear candy off their most recent self titled EP. It should also be noted that SOPE's covers of the Police's "Can’t stand loosing you" and Justin Timberlake’s “Lovestoned” were stellar to say the least.

SOPE

Sope live @ Dundas Square - Lovestoned (Justin Timberlake) Cover

The rain began to subside as Word People took the stage. These staunch Hip Hop archetypes may have taken a little extra time to set up, but the performance was well worth the wait. Spewing forth rhymes off their up coming People's Eatery CD, the audience was nothing short of mesmerized by the motor mouthed machine gun delivery and keen hooks emanating from the band shell. I'm not entirely sure if the word "shell" is appropriate however, since a shell is, by definition, something that protects it's contents. A shell does not empty collected pools of water through its apex. A design flaw in the canopy covering the Dundas Square band shell resulted in the soaking of Word People's Drummer, but they pushed on and finished their set with class and style.

Word People

Word People live @ Dundas Square - Thats Life

The bad weather crept back in and continued to haunt the RYE Market festival. But the crowd collected in far larger numbers than they had all day. Quintessential Hip-hop innovator George Reefah was about to make his entrance with the 5 Deutsche crew (Kastro & Young Grova). Rippin' through singles off the up coming album titled Public Service Announcement, Reefah was joined by a pair of choreographed, minimally uniformed, foxy female members of Toronto's finest who proceeded to manhandle and arrest him through his first 2 tracks including the single "Freak'em". Then Kastro and Young Grova stepped in and showed Toronto what the 5 Deutsche are all about and why they are so magnificent.... appropriately with the song "I am magnificent". These three hip hop super heroes amplified the electricity from the crowd and set Dundas Square alight proving why Reef's music has been standing strong on the charts at Flow 93.5.

5 Deutsche

George Reefah

George Reefah live @ Dundas Square - Freak'em

Reefah and co. just barely made it off the stage in time. As Easy Way Out began setting up their gear, the rain picked up and the wind shifted. A huge "crack" was heard, followed by a "crash" and the canopy broke dumping another flood of water onto the stage. The rain was now attacking at an angle, drenching every piece of equipment on stage. The fate of the monitors, amps, heads, effects pedals, mixing boards and more were now questionable and the sky seemed as if it was falling. Panic struck the sound techs as they clamoured and tripped over each other trying desperately to save any equipment they could. Tents in the market began toppling and booth covers took flight. The RYE Market was over for the day and the concert was sadly called off with 2 acts to go. Before long, the rain had subsided and the sun came out, a kick in the teeth for Easy Way Out and DJ M-Kutz, but in the end no one was hurt... although there were a few close calls.

For the acts that did play, the RYE Market provided a tremendous opportunity for exposure and a great addition to their bios and gig resumes. That alone, should fill the organizers with gleaming pride.

For more information about the Rye Market, SIFE, Lynxz and the artists…

Visit:
Rye Market at www.ryemarket.ca
Lynx Management at www.myspace.com/lynxzmusic
Fake Reality at www.fakereality.net
The Cunninghams at www.myspace.com/thecunninghamsband
SOPE at www.myspace.com/sopeband
Word People at www.myspace.com/wordpeoplemusic
George Reefah at www.georgereefah.com
Easy Way Out at www.myspace.com/taketheeasywayout
DJ M-Kutz at www.djmkutz.com