The 5 Rules of Being Adrian

So Edgefest was Saturday. I didn’t take any pictures of the bands because by the time Alexisonfire came on the crowd was so packed I couldn’t move let alone pull my camera out of the bottom of my back pack. You can look at a picture of my muddy shoes though.

We rolled in just as The Stills were finishing their set on the second stage. I like The Stills but frankly they haven’t put out an album I’ve been interested in since Logic Will Break Your Heart. Without Feathers just really wasn’t my thing, and Oceans Will Rise is no different. They just strike me as a kind of bland, prototypical, indie-rock band. Like a cuter Canadian Coldplay with more cred since they wear plaid and are on Arts & Crafts. If they come on the radio I’m certainly not going to turn it off, I might even bob my head around a bit, but there’s no way I’m going to go “Yeah! The fucking Stills!” or even know what the song is. I mean COME ON, can you tell the difference between “Being Here” and “I’m With You,” because I sure as hell can’t.

We headed down the muddy-ass hill for K-Os, who frankly I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would. I don’t know any K-Os other than “Sunday Morning,” “Burning Bridges” and the fabled “Crabbuckit,” so I’m not sure what else to say other than there were a lot of people lighting up joints during his set. He managed to work all the bands names into his songs, and played some Radiohead riffs, a fact I only know because I was with Peter & Jonathan. I’m not sure if this is part of the recorded version, or if he was just fucking around live. See my lack of K-Os knowledge is really prohibiting me from saying anything intelligent here, so I’m going to quit before shit gets worse.

The band that really shocked me was Metric. I was certifiably obsessed with Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? when it came out and liked Live It Out, but have never seen them live. When Emily Haines walked out wearing sunglasses (it was raining) and a Williamsburg hipster outfit, I thought “Oh great, she’s going to do the indie thing and stand there looking cool and NOT MOVING for the next 30 minutes,” but girlfriend proved me wrong and rocked the fuck out. Their set was energetic as shit and the crowd went nuts for “Gimme Sympathy.” They even gave a little empowering speech about following your dreams, which I am such a sucker for.

Alexisonfire played next, it was my fourth time seeing them so there weren’t any surprises there. Not that that is a bad thing, that band delivers. They’re also responsible for my favorite Edgefest moment which was George Pettit thanking everyone for coming out in the rain to see them play, and then picking up a chunk of mud off the stage and smearing it all over his white shirt. I just thought that was a nice gesture.

As opposed to Davey Havok who announced he was not getting his shoes dirty about 30 seconds into their set. First of all, I was shocked when I saw AFI on the bill because they haven’t done anything in so long. I’m still not exactly why they were there. There were a bunch of die hard fans in matching Decemberunderground hoodies lined up on the barricade (and a girl next to me who drove 12 hours to see them) but I’m not sure if the AFI army has enough soldiers to significantly raise Edgefest attendance. Regardless, they were great live even though their set was plagued with technical difficulties (first Hunter’s bass gave out, then Jade’s guitar) and their “Ziggy Stardust” cover didn’t make me want to die. I’m still unsure of my stance on Davey’s flamboyance, I can’t tell whether he is more Freddie Mercury or Perez Hilton.

The thirty minutes or so between AFI and Billy Talent was bizarre. I saw a security guard pull a bag of bread and peanut butter from behind a speaker and start making a sandwich. I saw Dean Blundell repeatedly throw Meatus into a mud pit for the cameras. I saw a girl (and a relatively hot girl, I might add) make out with Adrian through a fence. He then proceeded to suck her finger. I then proceeded to vomit in my mouth.

Thankfully Billy Talent came out and put an end to my suffering. I cannot remember what they opened with, I just remember it wasn’t “This Is How It Goes.” They played three of the new songs, “Turn Your Back,” “Devil On My Shoulder,” and “Saint Veronika,” which were fucking great (well minus “Turn Your Back” which I still maintain sucks.) After their set ended they came back and did “Nothing to Lose” as an encore, inadvertantly turning a song about teenage suicide into a giant feel good singalong.