I did a bit of the Gladstone and a lot of the Horseshoe for my second night out. For those that don't already know: the 'Shoe has extended last call until 4am. I decided to stick it out until the very end...hoping I would live to tell the tale.

I started my night with The Junction, who previewed a bunch of new songs at the Gladstone. The crowd filled up very quickly while the trio were setting up and there was a lot of positive energy in the room for their set. Both band and attentive audience seemed excited about the more rockin' feel the new material has. Their set was a great mix of intensity and poppy, groove-oriented jams.

I made it to the Horseshoe just in time for The Acorn. The place was packed and The Acorn played an amazing set. There was talk of eating "morning after burritos" after hooking up during CMW and throwing panties on the stage between their spiritual indie pop songs. I was really surprised by how casual and silly the band is in contrast to their very touching and intimate music. They sounded great and it was one of the best sets of the festival so far.

Lead singer Rolf Klausener said during The Acorn's set that Sunparlour Players are "crazy shit". He is very right. And I'll add great to that. This my second time seeing them and I'm now a huge fan. For those that don't know them - all three band members sit side-by-side across the front of the stage and all play their own kick drum. Singer/guitarist Andrew Penner has a manic but wise and almost mystical stage presence. When all three kick drums are thumping, you can't help but nod your head along with everybody else in the room.

Newish indie rock locals Oh No Forest Fires hit the stage around 2:30am and if their live show wasn't full of laughs and high energy rock hooks, I probably wouldn't have made it to the end of the night. Drummer Adam Nimmo is just as great in this band as he was in The Most Serene Republic and front man Rajiv Thavanathan is so much fun to watch. There were at least a couple instances where he almost fell over while playing his 60's Strat, or knocked over one of his bandmates. They were awesome and I'm about to take a nap so I can do it all again tonight.

Photo: Carlos Weisz.