Wakestock 2008 – Live (July 26th, 2008)

The often peaceful, quiet, and lazy demeanor of Toronto Island was ripped a muddy new one this past weekend as the 18th annual Wakestock and a barrage of furious storms rained down on Centre Island.

I could only attend day two of the three-day festival, jam packed with moto cross demos, skate demos, water sports, bikini competitions, vendor village,
And a main stage with a range of bands including Silverstein, Classified, Hot Water Music, and The Rza.

I boarded the ferry, which was full of beachy dressed people looking eager for a fun day in the sun. But the sun didn’t last long because right around 2:15pm the thunder rolled and the lightning struck. Everyone ran for cover under tents, and some under trees (not a smart idea!!!)

I found my self in a Telus tent with about 150 other people. There was a guy rapping in the corner trying to keep everyone entertained, and as we grew listless I heard a thunder crack louder than anything I have ever heard, and saw a giant red ball as a bolt of lightning hit a tree 20 feet away from our tent. The entire ground shook, and the tree had a bite taken out of it the size of a large kayak! It was crazy, but ten minutes later the sun came out, and it was time for some cliché mud sliding and live music.

The first band I watched was Toronto/New York act The Rebel Emergency. I heard good things about this band, so I wanted to check them out. I found their sound and stage presence very generic. A very typical rock reggae sound that failed to inspire or rock me. The crowd seemed to like them however, so good on the new band for building a solid fan base.

After an up to the shins walk in the muck around the festival I decided to check out the Maritime’s most famous MC Classified. I knew very little about the rapper, who had a huge fan base at Wakestock ‘08. I was most impressed with his intelligent, no nonsense, humorous, and up front delivery. Classified is a very talented artist who I would definitely want to see perform again.

It was now time to shift from rap to rock as Burlington’s finest Silverstein was passed the mic. This is another band I haven’t really heard or seen before, so it was fun to see them shred the hometown crowd as the sun slowly started to ascend into Lake Ontario.

Finally it was time for the band I had been excited to see since they went on hiatus. Gainesville Florida’s Hot Water Music took the stage and combusted into the song A Flight and a Crash. Chuck Ragan was playing like a man possessed, and the rest of the guys looked like they were having a pretty good time too. Vocalist/guitarist Chris Wollard mentioned that this was their first gig that they had to take a plane, a boat, and a van to get to.

I guess experimenting music styles with solo projects did Chuck some good because there looked to be a renewed passion in his face, and you could tell that Hot Water Music is still in his soul. There was NO mention of any new material, but the way they looked on stage, well I would be surprised if we do not hear anything new at some point.

And finally it was time for the fan favorite’s, the Hip Hop living legend’s, the chess master’s, bringing the mother-fucking ruckus The Rza and the Gza. Now apparently these American Rappers had a tough time at the boarder, but luckily the Wu Tang Killer Bee’s have wings, and they landed on Centre Island.

The RZA came out first smoking a two-paper joint dropping Wu Tang classics like Shadow Box’n, Tears, and Liquid swords. The fans went crazy and endured a hurricane like storms to see a five star performance that proved Wu Tang Clan ain’t nothing to fuck with!

I enjoyed my first ever day at Wakestock Toronto, and it was certainly electrifying (pun intended). The bands were equally dominating in their own special ways. There were also tones of action to see in the water/skate parks and the highflying Moto Cross demos. There was always something to see or do. The line up to the beer garden was complete BS though, but I guess I can’t have it all.