Our Very Own NXNE Showcase… A Huge Success!

The music portion of the North by Northwest (NXNE) festival got underway Thursday with our first and very own North by East West Showcase in The Gladstone Hotel Ballroom. On the bill were seven bands that we're very happy to promote the hell out of. And, we were lucky enough to have CBC Radio3's Craig Norris as the evening's emcee.

Saskatoon's Volcanoless in Canada gave the night an appropriate kickoff with the same energy and pace that fans have come to expect in their guitar driven melodies. The Mountains and The Trees out of St. John's NF, followed with a set of wonderfully introspective pop folk that captivated the audience to stand-still silence as Jon Janes unplugged and stood in the middle of the ballroom floor.

One band I personally lobbied for on the bill, being a homer was London's Olenka and The Autumn Lovers. Knee deep in the process of recording a new album, they brought a mixture of new and old material and wowed the audience with their talent and delivery. Following suit was a rare live set by hogtown's Rock Plaza Central who've taken a bit of a short term leave of absence from the touring life. They haven't lost a step in their live show and as the ballroom – now close to capacity – agreed en masse. The Coast also from Toronto picked up the pace of the evening once again delivering an onslaught that had people – a rare occurrence in the 416 area code – breaking from the cross-armed indie music stance and breaking out in what might construed as dancing. It was great to see people letting loose!

The one-two punch closing out the evening was another London act A Horse and His Boy got the dance floor ablaze with an energy and sound bridled on the edge of over the top, but just enough in control to keep it together. And the final act on a very long and amazing night of music was Ottawa's Amos The Transparent whom a lot of people were very excited to see. And they didn't disappoint, delivering a set laden with the hooks and harmonies to end the night on a high.

And as if the music wasn't enough justification, that we had CBC Radio3's Grant Lawrence, and his beautiful wife Jill Barber there for part of the evening, Paste Magazine was there, and BlogTO picked our showcase as one of their must do events for the evening. Which may sound like us tooting our own horn, but really it's just proof that we all like really good music.

See you next year!

And if you weren't able to get there, or haven't done so yet, there's still time to download our FREE showcase sampler that features a couple tracks from each of the bands, thanks to Zunior and the bands.