Nuit Blanche 2010: Part 3 > Until The Night Is Over

Feeling re-energized by Daniel Lanois's performance, 3am seemed like a good time to visit the installations along Bloor Street in Zone A. One subway ride later, and we arrived at the Royal Conservatory of Music.

At the RCM and the lush lights of Aurora continues to draw audiences in (a5); calming
by the2scoops via iPhone at 10/3/2010 7:28:28 AM3:28 AM Sunday, October 03, 2010

The atrium of the Royal Conservatory of Music was filled with these remarkable creations, with calm waves of light and sound reacting to the crowds passing underneath. Aurora was created by Philip Beesley Architect Inc. as "a responsive forest of light". The mechanics of it looked fascinating, but what we found ourselves in was a technological Northern Lights as we were washed in strangely calming sounds.

We made our way to the auditorium of the Royal Conservatory of Music, hoping to find some live performance, but only to find a player piano on stage. It was the first of many disappointing installations that seemed to shut down before the sunrise. Some installations closed not by choice, such as Iskootāo, a performance in the heart of Yorkville that was reportedly ended after noise complaints from a neighbourhood condo. Some installations just seemed to pull up stakes early, such as KortuneFookie, which was nowhere to be found at 4:30am.

Finally got a look at Lower Bay Station. Sadly no Starbucks built yet
by the2scoops via iPhone at 10/3/2010 8:14:16 AM4:14 AM Sunday, October 03, 2010

One installation that was open and still drawing an audience was the Interactive landscape Dune set in Lower Bay Subway station. A relic of a 3-line subway plan that was never implemented (Wikipedia - Lower Bay Station), Lower Bay Station is seldom open to the general public. But for Nuit Blanche, it was opened up and turned into "an interactive landscape of light".

The lights resembled a wetland full of glowing bullrushes and flickered with each noise from the audience, but the real show was when the subway trains passed above through Bay Station.

Only our 2nd coffee of the night, the hopping the subway down to the TIFF Lightbox in Zone C
by the2scoops via iPhone at 4:46 AM Sunday, October 03, 2010

By 5am, the streets had taken on the air of post-apocalyptic zombie movie. Survivors staggered the streets, in search of the installations still open. Empty cans of energy drink piled into the gutters. As much as we wanted to check back in to some of the Zone C exhibits like Erik Satie’s Vexations (1893) and The Task, but we likely only had enough energy to take in one more stop. For us, our goal was to check out the brand new Bell Lightbox complex at King and John. By all reports, the new home to the Toronto International Film Festival was a stunning addition to Toronto, and I hadn't had a chance to see it yet.

The building was, as promised, a testament to film. We found ourselves in a beautiful, bright space, warmly greeted by the volunteers. We took a peek at the The Essential Cinema exhibit and grabbed a seat for some stunningly disturbed clips from their Grindbox! trailer screening (Make Them Die Slowly is a very messed up film that surely influenced the Saw series).

Nice to end the night with a singalong to Always Look On The Brightside of Life at c47 Singin' in the Dark, Sunday, October 03, 2010 6:02:24 AM via Twitter for iPhone

Shaking off the Grindbox, we sat down in the cinema that was home to Singin' in the Dark. Early in the night, a host was rowsing the crowd in a singalong to traditional movie musicals, and later more eclectic selections. By 6am, the audience was comfortable just taking in the clips, laughing and cheering the stranger selections. At the start, we had scenes from "Reservoir Dogs" and "Blue Velvet", charming clips from "500 Days of Summer" and "Almost Famous", and then just outright weird clips like "Clockwork Orange". To end the show, and the clip that finally got some singing from the crowd (or at least me), it was Always Look On The Bright Side of Life from "Life of Brian".

As we were leaving the Lightbox, a volunteer asked if we had seen the Atom Egoyan's 8 ½ Screens. It wasn't really on our radar, but was part of the exhibits marking the opening of the Lightbox. We told the volunteer no, and he in turn responded like we needed to catch the last helicopter out of Saigon. "It's your last chance, it closes tonight! Go, run to the elevator!!!!"

And you know, he was right, it was pretty spectacular. The cinema experience is inverted: from a projector mounted on the stage in front of the main screen, a key sequence from Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2 is shown. It flickers out into the cinema seats where various screens in all shapes and forms are hung.

It was something very unique to see, and we would have missed out on something cool if we hadn't listened to the volunteer. We made sure to thank him for his enthusiastic directions on the way out.

Thanks to all for a terrific Nuit Blanche. And with the last notes and the first glow of sunrise, adieu
by the2scoops via iPhone at 6:49 AM Sunday, October 03, 2010

As the sky glowed with the pre-dawn, we passed through Nathan Phillips Square where Daniel Lanois was overseeing the teardown of his installation. Within an hour or so, the city would be restored to its normal state, and bleary eyed, despite a mixed bag of an evening, I absolutely look forward to the next year.

The morning was creeping up on us, and I was looking forward to taking advantage of a late checkout time from the Metropolitan Hotel, and all-day breakfast at a favourite diner.

I'll post a little wrap-up tomorrow with some final thoughts on Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2010.

Nuit Blanche 2010: Part 2 > Here Is What Is or Saved by Lanois

Part 1 of my Nuit Blanche night here

The hours between 11pm and midnight were not kind to us.

We fought our way north for the better part of an hour, browsing the Atrium on Bay and make it into Ryerson. By now the crowds were thick with drunken partiers, giving the night a bacchanalian flavour. And I don't mean that as a compliment. The streets were noticeably strewn with garbage, discarded samples from the corporate advertisers. The exhibits around Ryerson were, for the most part, underwhelming in scale and our Plan B falls apart when I couldn't find any sign of the shuttle to The Distillery District. All in all, about an hour and a half bogged down in the crowds, nothing "cool" seen, and the wind starting to flag from our sails.

But there's hope yet. We dove straight for two of the installations put on by well-known musicians. Sight Unseen was the more abstract of the two, from Lee Ranado of the band Sonic Youth and Leah Singer creating a fluid musical and visual landscape within the confines of the Old City Hall. Then it was on to Nathan Phillips Square.

Packed in at B1 Later At The Drive-in w/ Daniel Lanois & friends drawing us in by the2scoops via iPhone at 10/3/2010 4:58:59 AM12:58 AM Sunday, October 03, 2010

Daniel Lanois's installation Later That Night At The Drive-In turned Nathan Phillips Square into his personal canvas: screens and speakers of every shape and size filled transformed the square into a forest of sound, abstract video collages playing. We made our way to the small stage set up in the heart of the installation where we found the man himself at work. Every hour or so, Daniel Lanois and friends would play a few songs, their images projected onto the screens. It was like seeing him jam a house party that he invited a few thousand close friends to.

And now the cold quiet hours that tends to thin out the crowd to manageable levels
Sunday, October 03, 2010 2:03:43 AM via Twitter for iPhone

A highlight of the show was a gutsy performance from a brave salsa dancer on a cold night.

B1 Daniel Lanois just wrapped up another set, time to move north to Bloor

by the2scoops via iPhone at 2:48 AM Sunday, October 03, 2010

Nuit Blanche 2010: Part 1 > Fly By Night

Considering this is only its 5th year, Nuit Blanche has become a Toronto mainstay in a relatively short time. I think it's the romance of the concept: 12 hours from sunset to sunrise when the city is teeming with people until the wee hours, roaming the streets in search of art and spectacle. And like any romance, there's good (witnessing a city at play, seeing the gleam of discovery in people's eyes) and the bad (the drunks, navigating the crowds, not every installation connects with me). But every year, the streets are thriving and alive at 4am and I want to be a part of that.

This year I served as one of the Nuit Narrators for the event, sharing the night as I went. It proved to be a great motivator for staying out for the whole event. Also, it helped piece together the next afternoon after 4 hours sleep.

If you want a few tips for getting through the night: wear good walking shoes, dress in layers, and pack some supplies. On the supply side, packing light is good as you're on the move and need to maneuver through the crowds.

6:51pm all signed in at the Scotiabank Nuit Blanche centre at Yonge and Dundas. One of the changes this year was Yonge Street being closed to traffic from Bloor to Front Street, and it proved to be a highlight, walking down the middle of the road at 7pm. Pedestrians turned out in the thousands to take advantage of the festivities. Woe unto any drivers who didn't get the memo.

By 7:15PM I've met up with my partner in Nuit, Ms Rita, and we're off into the night. It takes a little while to come up with a plan of action: the challenges are 1) don't miss anything cool; and 2) avoid those areas that get clogged with crowds. You'll see later I forget about #2.

We decide to plunge south into Zone C, curated by Christof Migone. When the exhibition is named "SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO", how can I resist.

Auto Lamp, C1 shining into the night. Ms Rita wants to make it into a Lite Brite

by the2scoops via iPhone at Saturday, October 02, 2010 8:00:51 PM

7:45PM we reach Yonge and Queen and the sun's gone down. The twilight is all the better to take in Auto Lamp by Kim Adams.

A van turned into a landlocked lighthouse, it's skin punctured with holes and insides filled with light. It shines out into the night:



"The vehicle's consistency is compromised, it's barely there, it's more holes than whole. "

C2 scape with 6 and 7 sound installation sounds like it's stalking us, the sound of breathing altered into something menacing

by the2scoops via iPhone at Saturday, October 02, 2010 8:31:46 PM

We walk further and find ourselves at the Cloud Gardens on Richmond. We're drawn to the noise of Annie Onyi Cheung's installation "_scape with 6 and 7".

C14 The Task at 8:32pm moving bricks back and forth all night without building anything. An endurance test?

by the2scoops via iPhone at Saturday, October 02, 2010 8:34:25 PM

South of Adelaide we find one of the open call projects selected by the curator. The Task by Chris Shepherd proves to be one of the most fascinating projects I saw that night. A man stacks and unstacks cement blocks all night. It's not in the effort of building anything, but simply the task. Nothing will be built, nothing destroyed.

We talked with the artist, Chris Shepherd, about how the repetition of the task is a meditative thing, as much mental as physical. He found the murmer of the crowds akin to white noise, nice and comforting. Chris wasn't doing the task for a purpose, "I'm just doing it because I want to do it."

C13 Wait Until You See ... I can't spoil what's behind the curtain
by the2scoops via iPhone at Saturday, October 02, 2010 8:46:40 PM

As a perk of my role as Nuit Narrator, I was given a media pass that allowed us to bypass any lines and head straight in to an installation. At "Wait Until You See This", my "skip the line" media pass was my undoing. This installation was based on the idea of lining up, the anticipation. And when you line up for 5, 10, 30 minutes, and finally peek behind the curtain?

Well, I skipped the line and wait straight in, to see what everyone else would eventually see: nothing.

My reaction was amusement, but what would my reaction be if I had waited like the piece intended me to?

Wedged between two buildings, three enormous inflatable clown heads.

Creepy but satisfyingly held at a distance, stuck with no place to go. One of the most popularly photographed installations at Nuit Blanche.

C8 Endgame squishing your fears

by the2scoops via iPhone at Saturday, October 02, 2010 8:55:24 PM

C10 1850 where the waters of Lake Ont reached
by the2scoops via iPhone at Saturday, October 02, 2010 9:08:25 PM

At the southern tip of Zone C, we arrive at the point where Lake Ontario once reached. The water once stretched inland to Front. Those days are gone, but the shimmer of blue lights creates a ghost of that long gone time.

C9 Vexations the cycle continues song, sculpture, song ,sculpture
by the2scoops via iPhone at Saturday, October 02, 2010 9:18:16 PM

I seemed drawn to these installations themed around repetition and time. Vexations was a remarkable project. Built around a composition which instructs the player to play 840 repetitions, this installation had to accomplish the task in 12 hours. 2 pianists, 12 hours, each of the 840 repetitions printed on an individual sheets which, after playing, were taken and transformed into a paper sculpture.

The dancing clock of The Endless Pace (C7)

by the2scoops at Saturday, October 02, 2010 9:34:28 PM

In the Bay Adelaide Centre we found what was one of my favourite installations, Big O by Žilvinas Kempinas. Like The Task, it was beautiful in its simple concept: a loop of magnetic tape precariously balanced between a series of fans. It wavers, it flows, but still remains aloft. It's like some simple game we played as children, growing anxious every time it touches the floor that the game will be over.

Area around Ryerson is crowded, prob a good time to check out The Distillery District by the2scoops via iPhone at 12:16 AM Sunday, October 03, 2010

Greatly pleased by the pieces we found in Zone C, we take a break for food, and that's when we're struck by indecision: it's 10:30pm, either we head back into the main zones where it's likely the crowds are out, or head to one of the outlying areas like Liberty Village or The Distillery District. We decided to check out the exhibits around Ryerson University, which in retrospect was a wrong turn.

Nuit Blanche 2008 Heart of a Saturday Night

Nuit Blanche Toronto 2008

Heart of a Saturday Night

(all photos by the2scoops/Jason Carlin - see something you like, drop a line)

6:45pm - Finished an 8 hour shift at work that dragged into 10 hours, leave the office and immediately hit Shopper's Drug Mart for supplies: Red Bull, trail mix, water, spare batteries for the camera. I'm determined to go as late as I can.

6:46pm - Curses! Left the flask of good rum at home. Now I have to rely on my scarf and gloves to keep me warm.

7:45pm - My companion for the night is The Doctor, who meets me for dinner. I applaud my common sense as I fully predict downing several Red Bulls, so makes sense to bring my own physician.

7:53pm - The Doc downs a drink. Looks like I'm looking after my own well being...

9:05pm - Finish dinner and hit the streets. Already the intersection at Queen and University is packed with people going everywhere. We follow the strategy to stick to the bigger public pieces until the crowds die down around midnight. The downtown core exhibits will be jammed.

9:17pm - Make it to the Stereoscope exhibition at Metro City Hall. The installation is by the German group Project Blinkenlights, who've placed lamps behind every window in the twin buildings of City Hall, wired into it, and turned the iconic building into a pixelated computer screen. The public gets to use controllers and cell phones to manipulate the screen. It's the type of large scale exhibit that I hope to see more of around Nuit Blanche - huge in ambition and the public can participate.

9:26pm - Oh look, they're using this miraculous contraption to play Pong.

9:46pm - Walk up University to see "Waterfall" by Katherine Harvey. Recyclable plastic waterbottles are woven into a net quilt to form a suspended waterfall.

While crowds pack the front of the exhibit, we check out the view from behind the falls.

10:00pm - We make our way across University of Toronto. Disappointed there isn't any big projects making use of all that space at the centre of campus. We make our way up to the Gardiner Ceramics Museum to browse a bit.

>

11:30 pm Hollander York Gallery in Yorkville is hosting Painting to The Beat with live music and artists at work.

Tucked at the back of the Hollander Gallery, we found this painting by Toronto's Bev Rodin. It's part of a Forest Light series, and she captures it beautifully. We take a few minutes and just take it in.

11:45pm - Circus of Dreams at the Metro Reference Library.

12:20am - Everyone seemed to get a shot of Into The Blue at the Eaton Centre.

1:20am - The Doc calls it a night, so I set out for Liberty Village at King St. and Dufferin Ave. I'm looking forward to exploring the neighborhood, a new area to Nuit Blanche. The area's exhibit is Beginning to See The Light, the title from a 1969 Velvet Underground song.

In addition to the clear connotation of daybreak, the phrase implies anticipation, hope, expectation, enlightenment and a gradual epiphany. The works in the show embody these ideas, employing a variety of strategies such as play, protest, agitation and resistance.

1:25am Imagine Peace by Yoko Ono.
Make a wish, tie it to a branch. So many wishes shining like cherry blossoms in the night.



1:39am I Promise It Will Always Be This Way, 2008
Jon Sasaki - Toronto, Canada

In a stadium, rock music plays and mascots entertain a crowd for a game that never comes. Fun and oddly energizing.

2:00am - I follow a crowd and stumble onto the 2am show for SMASH! Droppin' Stuff by The Custodians of Destruction. We're going to see trash getting trashed. Computer monitors, a Nintendo, office furniture, a microwave, a TV. You know the saying that goes "I don't know art, but I know what I like"? Well I liked this.

2:20am - Warm up with a coffee at Balzac's, or as Amy says phonetically, "Ball Sack".

2:36am Purified by Fire - Video loops of fire are rear projected onto the windows. Hypnotic and a sense that something is amiss, that we're seeing fire but no destruction, no sound, no smoke.

2:45am Overflow by Michel de Broin. In a former prison chapel in Liberty Village Park, Michel de Broin summons a waterfall to flow from a 3rd story window, with all the appropriate detritus and debris. Would have been stunning up close...

...but this was as close as we could get. Someone didn't get the memo on this being a public art event as the park was entirely fenced off and no one was allowed near the exhibit. Stupid stupid stupid decisions that make me angry. Left a bad taste in my mouth.

4:25 am - I've been at St James Cathedral at King and Church Street for about an hour now. I had really hoped to catch some of the performance aspects of Don Coyote & Quixotic, but I've hit the wall, nothing left in the tank. I've been sitting here, listening to organ music blasting and watching video installations. I'd hoped to make it to the next stage of the live performance around 5am, but I'm bagged. I get the subway and a cab, and get to bed by 5:30am

Should have managed one more Red Bull, because here's what I missed as around 5am, Quixotic built up to "a phantasmagoric roaming ritual" as "'La momma morta', (The Dead Mother), reveals herself in protest as a spectral divine" (video from Dear Toronto):

Count me in for next year - I just have to make sure I clear my day ahead of the night. We staggered out that night, in search of a city brought to life from dusk til dawn and teeming with art. We found that people really like things getting smashed, wishing, and finding beauty in the strangest places.

"Organic Firewood for sale"

I'm back from Hillside Festival, dry and happy. I can't begin to tell you how much fun it was - great performances, delicious variety of food, a community atmosphere. I'm tied up for today, but I've got the pictures and words all sorted out and will have the write-up going tomorrow. I may divide it 3-fold

• Hillside - The Music, where I see some great bands and get blown away by a couple of performances, notably a video of Thunderheist putting on a clinic on how to hype a crowd into a dancing booty shaking mass.
• Hillside - The Festival Experience, where we see get the ideal experience of how a festival is run, and I rave about how f'n clever the organizers are.
• Hillside - Lessons Learned for Next Year, where I jot some notes down about what worked for me this year and what I would do differently next year - and you're all coming with me.

NXNE Night One - Coasting on a Quick March

There's this feeling - it's when you wander a song or a band for the first time, and you somehow know you're going to be a fan of that band for the rest of your life (or at least until they get full of themselves, make a pretentious half-assed album, and in-fighting pulls them apart). That feeling is a rush, euphoric and empowering all at once. And I love that at the NXNE music festival, I get a shot at feeling that sensation more than once.

NXNE is one of my favourite festivals of the year. It's not as big as SXSW, but it's a great time in Toronto - hit as many bars and see as many bands you can see in 3 days. Throw in some sleep deprivation, unpredictable weather, a 4am last call at some venues thanks to event licensing, and the fact that apparently no concert venue in Toronto has air conditioning, and it makes for some fun times.

You have a couple hundred bands in town at dozens of venues in the city. Each band has about 40 minutes to play, and if you start late, you don't usually get to make up the time. Most of these bands are looking to make a name for themselves - either on independant labels or looking to get picked up. You pick some must see bands and take a chance on some you've never heard of. You decide to camp at one venue or you hop cabs and streetcars to hit several stops in one night. And all this excitement available with the purchase of a $29 NXNE wristband for 3-days (or $19 for a one day pass).

My Thursday night stop was the always reliable Legendary Horseshoe Tavern on Queen Street. A bottle of 50 and fresh batteries in the camera, and I was set.

The Coast @ The Horseshoe Tavern
NXNE Festival
Thursday, June 12, 2008

First up from Toronto - The Coast (myspace). I hadn't really heard of them, but they were really impressive. They had a relatively early 9pm slot, but after the first couple songs, the room was starting to get packed and the screaming and cheering started. The songs were catchy pop-rocks of hooks and harmonies, love lost and found. Singer Ben Spurr worked up a sweat, much to the pleasure of the girls in the front of the stage, and 3 guitars worked together to put a smile on your face - call it joy rock if you will. They had that infectious stage presence that makes you want to root for them to succeed. With this much energy and some really good songs, I can easily say I look forward to seeing more from them as they build a fanbase - I'm already hoping a Lee's Palace gig is in their future. "Tightrope" in particular had a great sing along chorus that you could pump your fists in the air to.

The Coast @ The Horseshoe Tavern (credit by the2scoops)

The Wet Secrets @ The Horseshoe Tavern
NXNE Festival
Thursday, June 12, 2008

How could I pass on a garage rock-party band dressed in marching band uniforms? It's The Wet Secrets (myspace) from Edmonton with a killer set of tunes composed of one part sly lyrics, and another part kick-ass rock with a side of brass. This is one bad-ass marching band with a thumping bass guitar/drum beat with big brass.

The Wet Secrets are from Edmonton and everyone seems to have another gigs - Lyle Bell (lead singer, bass) plays in Whitey Houston and Shout Out Out Out, drummer Trevor Anderson's a filmmaker and festival producer; trumpet and tuba player Kim Rackel and trombonist Donna Ball run Capital City Burlesque; and keyboardist Doug Organ runs a record label and plays in jazz bands. With busy schedules and logistics (you ever try to fly a marching band on Air Canada?), that makes The Wet Secrets appearance a rare live show.

The Wet Secrets @ The Horseshoe Tavern (credit - the2scoops)

And damned if they didn't deliver. They took to the stage in band uniforms, but one couldn't help notice the hint of rock and roll flirtation - maybe it was the red lighting giving a sense of danger and menace to the atmosphere. Maybe it was the 6-inch platform boots the ladies in the brass section were wearing. Guess I'll never know.

Now just because they wear band uniforms that you're seeing some novelty band - these players are no joke. Not even with a keyboardist with the last name Organ. Which is like a boy named Jeeves - you're sort of pre-dispositioned to a calling. But these guys rocked out with some loud fuzz guitar and a some clever song tunes like "Grow Your Own F*cking Mustache You Asshole" and "It's Hard to Meet Somebody (Living As A Disembodied Head"). The tunes had an aggressive surf-rock vibe in places, and the crowd was grooving to the beat.


Pictures -
NXNE Night 1 by the2scoops @ Flickr

Recommended Listening:
The Wet Secrets "Rock Fantasy" - available at Zunior Digital Music Store -MP3s/No DRM
The Coast "Expatriate" - available at Zunior - MP3s/No DRM and iTunes

Links:
The Coast - Official Band Site
MySpace - The Coast
CBC Radio 3/New Music Canada - The Coast

The Wet Secrets - Official Band Site
MySpace - The Wet Secrets
CBC Radio 3/New Music Canada - The Wet Secrets
NOW Magazine // Music // Music Feature // The Wet Secrets

NXNE Music Festival - Fun For All Ages

(picture by Rock//Paper//Pixels)

Six Shooter Records
NXNE Backlot BBQ
Toronto
June 14, 2008

That would be Sal, son of Suzie Ungerleider aka Oh Susanna, jamming on his white fender strat.

I'll start posting my NXNE weekend reviews Tuesday morning.

Hitting Hillside Festival

One of my highlights of the summer will be my first trip to the Hillside Festival in Guelph, ON. Hillside takes place July 25, 26, and 27, and offers a unique festival experience with a fantastic line-up, gorgeous setting, and environmentally responsible practices. Remember all the footage from the chaos that was Woodstock 1999? This is the complete opposite of that.

Hillside has a lot going for it that makes it stand out amongst all the other music festivals:

• attendance is limited to about 6,000 - 7,000, spread between 5 stages, so if you want tickets, you need to move fast - they tend to sell out the weekend passes on the day of sale.
• the venue is the gorgeous Guelph Lake Conservation Area
• the line-up is heavy on Canadian talent
  
• there's an emphasis on environmental responsibility - there's wet/dry recycling on site, you're encouraged to bring your own plates with many wash stations set up, and beer is served in a re-usable Hillside mug. Ever seen a field full of plastic beer cup empties after a concert?
  
• tickets go on sale before the full line-up is announced, so the emphasis is on the event rather than one or two headliners.
• speaking of tickets - no Ticketmaster involved! Tickets are sold through their own website, phone, and outlets like The Bookshelf in Guelph and Soundscapes in Toronto.
• the price for a full weekend pass is only $95.00, compared with twice the amount for festivals like Virgin Music Festival.
• you're encouraged to bring reusable water bottle as they offering free drinking water (take that 4 dollar bottles of water at the Rogers Picnic!)
  
• the Festival depends alot on volunteers and the local community - many of the food vendors are from the area offering a multi-cultural selection of food.
  
• camping is available at the Conservation area, but sells out every year well in advance. Might I recommend looking up the University of Guelph summer hostel accommodations for a low-cost alternative to a hotel
  

Performer Line-Up
A complete list won't be settled until July, but here's what's been announced so far. Bands I'm looking forward especially to seeing are marked with an (*).

• The Acorn (*)- looking forward to seeing them live after Nicole at Ranting and Raving has spent so much time, well, raving about the band and their live show. Their album Hope Glory Mountain is a lush celebration of life set to guitars, marimbas, and a river of rhythm. So yeah, I'm looking forward to them.
• The Sadies (*) speaking of kick-ass live shows, I'm so glad I'm finally going to see these guys who I consider to be the Canadian bar band. Crack open a beer and go listen to their live album The Sadies: In Concert Volume 1 (Disc One and Disc Two) and tell me otherwise. They toss garage rock, country, surf guitar all in a blender, and then turn that sucker out loud and fast.
  
• Joseph Arthur
• Akron/Family
• Bell Orchestre (Sunday)
• Black Cabbage
• Elliott Brood (*) - always love seeing this band
  
• Jason Collett (*)
  
• Born Ruffians
• The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir (Saturday Evening)
  
• The Burning Hell
• Cowboy Junkies (Friday) (*)
  
• Jaymay
• Jenn Grant
• Hayden (Sunday Evening) (*)
  
• Land of Talk
• Harry Manx
• Moshav
• Po'Girl
• Plants & Animals (*)
  
• Kelly Joe Phelps
• Justin Rutledge (*)
  
• The Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean (*)
  
• Hawksley Workman (Friday) (*)

Aside from the musicians involved, Hillside also offers workshops, spoken word artists, all sorts of art and craft vendors. Obviously I won't be able to see everything - 5 stages means there'll be a couple of scheduling conflicts for me, but that's part of the fun. I'll be sure to blog and take as many pictures as I can.

Wikipedia - Hillside Festival