2011 kicks off with ELEVEN (WL 515, Feb. 16-20), Wavelength’s 11th-anniversary festival, renamed to match the calendar year, reflecting the series’ fortuitous year-zero start in 2000 (and because the end of the weekly took with it the clean, 50-shows-a-year numbering).
Highlights of the five-night, multiple-venue fest include local heroes Hooded Fang and Maylee Todd topping a stacked bill at the Great Hall — a show opened by emerging Montreal electro-pop artist Grimes, just months before she blew up — and a packed psych-rock closer at the Garrison, featuring Hamilton proto-punk legends Simply Saucer. The weekend also includes some educational events, including a Toronto music history talk with authors Stuart Berman and Liz Worth.
Wavelength continues to embrace its love of the outdoors in the Toronto summer with a conceptual show called Band on the Run (July 23), a “musical treasure hunt” consisting of a series of guerrilla gigs in outdoor spaces, each unveiled by a series of clues on Twitter (back when it was new and innocent). And the second ALL CAPS! Island Festival levels up through a visual arts partnership with Whippersnapper Gallery and the addition of overnight camping on Saturday. There’s late night swimming, bonfires, art installations, sets by the likes of Rich Aucoin, Jennifer Castle, Julie Doiron, More Or Les, and the Wooden Sky, and only a little bit of rain.
Behind the scenes, Wavelength makes another important step towards professionalizing by establishing a Board of Directors, separate from the programming team.
Memorable shows:
- Fucked Up premiere an original live score to the 1928 silent film West of Zanzibar for the Images Festival (WL 518, April 9 @ Toronto Underground Cinema)
- Hooded Fang fête the release of Tosta Mista in the parking lot of Academy of Lions’ crossfit gym on Dundas West (WL 526, Sept. 24)
- “Closed Loop” night of loop pedal improvisation at Holy Oak (WL 527, Oct. 6)
- Soupcans, Tonkapuma and others bring the noise to legendary DIY space Soybomb HQ (WL 530, Dec. 3)