Porchfest NDG - Day TWO
This is the second half of a two-part feature on Porchfest NDG 2023. Jason C. McLean’s coverage of DAY ONE can be found HERE.
SUNDAY
I returned to NDG the next day in time for the 1pm shows. Yes, the festival’s programming had started earlier, but I had been up pretty late the night before for a friend’s birthday (Happy Birthday to our co-founder Chris Zacchia!) and wanted to get the most out of the day by being awake for all of it. I swung by Encore Books again (yes, I know encore is “again” in French), grabbed the day’s schedule (and map!), and noticed that there were more choices today, undoubtedly the Saturday shows that were canceled out of fear of rain. My first stop was pre-planned, though. As I headed down Hampton, I ran into festival organizers Aurora Robinson and Sarah Ring, whom I had talked with a few weeks ago about this year’s Porchfest NDG. They were making the rounds, so to speak, and making sure things were coming off without a hitch, and (I hope) also enjoying some of this festival they had worked so hard to put together again. I also ran into former FTB contributor David DesBaillets who had left Outremont for the day to check out the shows, and, in this case, the same show I was catching.
Naghmeh is an extremely talented musician and all-around artist and performer. She’s also part of the new Forget The Box family and someone we covered on this site’s previous incarnation when she played with her band Naghmeh and the Southern Shores. I never got the chance to catch her show then, but I’m really glad I caught her solo set at Porchfest as she played original material from her days with the band and from her upcoming release. Also, I got to sit in a lawn chair in the garden. The bit of shade on a sunny Sunday early afternoon, combined with Naghmeh’s sweet folk sounds, was an appreciated way to start my second day at the fest.
I had several options for the 2pm slot, but with a definite place to be at 3, I picked my next show based, once again, on geography. This led me to The Old Monkey Gods playing on Regent. The crowd filled up both sides of the street and were really into the rock covers they were playing. So was I, but my next show was of the “don’t miss or hear about it at family dinner” variety, so I left early.
As I headed up the alley between Melrose and Draper it started to rain, for the first time at this year’s Porchfest. It was just a drizzle at first, but by the time I entered the backyard where Joe’s Family Fun Songs would take place, it started to come down a bit harder. I quickly joined Joe, who is my brother, under the giant umbrella that was set up to protect his equipment as it started to really pour. There was talk of whether the show would have to be scaled back to an acoustic set, done with the audience under the same big umbrella (there were only a few of us in this downpour), or canceled altogether. Joe was mainly concerned with making sure anything with current was unplugged, and that any damageable instruments were in the house. For a few minutes, I contemplated what this rain meant for the rest of my day, but then it stopped pouring as the audience started to fill the backyard. The show was back on, a bit late, but in full form.
Joe has been playing Porchfest since the first-ever NDG edition in 2015. At first, it was with a rock cover band Les Skidoos Jaunes, but for the past couple of festivals, he’s done a kids’ show. He’s now Joe’s Family Fun Songs, and has a more than full set of classic kids songs plus some rather clever and catchy original tunes. This was the only Porchfest performance geared at kids, so the parents already attending other shows with their young ones were present en-masse. The crowd danced and sang along as Joe switched between ukulele and acoustic guitar (both amped), throwing in some kazoo solos for good measure. Andrew MacDonald joined him on acoustic bass for a few songs, and I came up on stage, too. I didn’t play an instrument or sing, but I did throw in some clever “Did you ever see a” rhymes in his version of Down by the Bay which I came up with on the spot to varying degrees of success. Plus I said the “Yum, yum!”s and “Glug, glug”s in his version of Four Green and Speckled Frogs. So not only was I a Porchfest NDG attendee and reporter, I was also a performer!
After my time on the stage, or my time in the freshly returned sun, I decided to close out my 2023 Porchfest NDG experience with a pair of shows on Oxford Street. This is a festival by neighbours and for neighbours, and that was never more literally true than with The Duomatics followed by Gern F and the Left Wingers. They had neighbouring porches, were both set up to play, and mentioned and integrated each other into their respective shows. The Duomatics were first, and entertained the ever-growing crowd with mostly rock covers and at least one original tune (that was written for Gern). Gern was next and closed out the afternoon playing with a band that wasn’t his usual group, but was one he had been with for decades on and off, as he told the crowd. He played originals form his many bands over the years as well as covers from bands that you would only have heard of if you had a familiarity with the Canadian indie scene. He also regaled the crowd with stories from the road and from the many bars in town he has worked at. I had been meaning to catch one of Gern’s sets over the years, and I’m glad I finally did.
A great end to a great event. My first real, full, Porchfest experience. I’ll be back next year, but for now, time to sit and rest!
