It began, at least for us, in the park behind OCAD. A large, loose gathering of like-minded cyclists laying in the grass in the park with their rides splayed alongside them as a folky, bluegrass band, The Rucksack Willies, played on a quickly assembled stage. Considering the previous day had been scheduled it was prime weather with sun and warmth for the rain date. When the music stopped there were a few minutes for everyone to get everything together before the crowd amassed for the trek to Trinity Bellwoods to complete the day. With plenty of direction and safety in numbers we rode through the streets of Toronto all together, primarily on backstreets but also venturing onto Queen and Spadina on a couple of occasions. Most bystanders seemed happy to see us pass by and even the motorists didn't seem overly perturbed by the 70 or so two-wheelers moving along. The Toronto Bicycle Music Festival was an empowering ride.
The Wilderness of Manitoba played a set at T-Bells (ha!) which remains in the books as every other WoM set I've seen (besides their Sunday morning sessions at Hillside). That is to say that it's alright at the time, the female singer is fine and the backing male musicians also do a decent job but there is little of note or interest to me. That's not completely fair as they did perform an enjoyable cover of the "brand new roller skates" song. Perhaps it is just their music that doesn't strike a chord
Following a short female set on a side 'stage' The Strumbellas came on to end the day in good fashion. With their catchy, folk jams they had a couple of potentially inebriated guys dancing from the get-go while others were quick to join in after that without chemical encouragement. Playing mostly My Father the Hunter tracks they did include a song from the album they have been working on this summer. As an even newer addition Simon played a song he wrote especially for the festival just that weekend - so fresh, in fact, that he had to read the lyrics from papers spread across the keyboard. You know it wasn't a terrible song either despite the seemingly juvenile chorus of 'I love bicycles'. Nearing the end of the set they proposed a dance contest and curiously gave away what appeared to be a used skateboard to a young girl. Regardless of the gimmick it got everyone left in the park up and moving and kept them on their feet for their closing song, Pistol. That is until they had an all-natural curtain call and jammed out one last tune in the park before we pedaled away grinning.
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