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As any seasoned showgoer will tell you, it’s best to plan ahead before stage diving into the mosh pit to avoid coming up with a mouthful of concrete. Stretching that metaphor one step further, it’s also wise to map out your course of action before leaping headfirst into the madness of a music festival. With the fourth annual Sled Island careening into Calgary next week, we at Fast Forward Weekly wanted to offer a quick list of tips to ensure maximum fun plus bang for your buck.
1. Get a bike
This year’s Sled Island is spread across more venues than ever before, so bouncing from show to show will be key. Taxis, public transit or your own vehicle could all work, but there’s no better or faster way to festival-hop than on two wheels. If you’re coming in from out-of-town, perhaps you can even follow my plan from a previous South by Southwest in Austin: Buy some cheap bicycles from Craigslist or Kijiji, ride them around town for the fest, then give them to grateful teenagers before heading home. Win-win!
2. Check out artists outside of your comfort zone
The big shows on the Olympic Plaza main stage and the No. 1 Legion are a guaranteed good time, but it’s also quite possible that an unknown act in a smaller venue could provide a surprise highlight. Ten recommendations for lesser-known artists: Krang, Box Elders, Tension Slips, Nü Sensae, Gobble Gobble, Angelo Spencer et Les Hauts Sommets, Feral Children, Headaches, So Cow and North of America. This year, out of 231 artists total, 77 are Calgarian and 107 are Albertan. Sled Island supports the small guys, so you should too.
3. Don’t let just anyone crash on your couch
Fellow FFWD scribe Patrick Boyle shares a story from last year:
“Towards the end of the Dead Science’s under-attended set at last year’s Sled Island, the band’s frontman said/sang something like ‘The Dead Science... needs a place... to sleeeeeeep.’ Owing to a cocktail of inebriation, sunstroke and girlfriend-being-out-of-town-edness, I offered my living room floor and the band accepted. Naturally, when we got back to my place, I threw on the hippest record I could and cracked beers for everyone, anticipating a soiree of high-level conversation, impromptu guitar lessons and peculiar designer drugs. They had no interest in such cavorting; rather, their primary concerns were 1. whether I had wireless Internet and 2. whether they could take showers. In short order, they all hauled out laptops and I was Charlie Browning my way to bed, where I laid listening to them tapping out emails and catching up on Google Reader. In short, it was not very rock ’n’ roll. I gained a semi-hilarious story and a free copy of the band’s latest LP, but also had three extra towels to launder.”
4. Do more than just music, ya dummy!
On top of this year’s killer film component, Sled Island offers a wide range of other non-musical offshoots. There’s the fourth annual poster show and festival kick-off party at Sloth Records, art openings and installations at a variety of alternative galleries, standup comedy and a sure-to-be-strange 3-D edition of Talk Show Thursdays at Broken City, a comic book release at Local 510, Edmonton’s Rapid Fire Theatre troupe at the Auburn Saloon, and even a chance to check out the Telus World of Science’s Body Worlds exhibit at a discounted rate if you arrive with a ticket or wristband before 5 p.m. on Thursday, July 1. Think of it as a school field trip before the evening’s festivities, or something you can invite your grandma and little sister to if they aren’t down with Dinosaur Jr.
5. Pace yourself
Sure, it’s tempting to pop champagne or crush a Pilsner cube with your pals before this year’s opening night shows from Chain and the Gang, Quintron and Miss Pussycat, Lesbians on Ecstasy, Sharp Ends and especially C’Mon at the Ship & Anchor (sure to be a repeat of the whirlwind they brought through town in 2007). However, just remember that there are party-hardy sets spread throughout all four days from Les Savy Fav, !!!, Girl Talk, GZA and the Black Lips, just to name a few. So, unless you’re prepared for a brontosaurus-sized hangover, a lot of afternoon naps or taking the following week off of work, it might be prudent to practise a bit of pacing.
Aw, who am I kidding? The whole rest of the year is your warm-up for this weekend. Party on!
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