Extreme heat and rain bookend HARD Toronto

By: Curtis Sindrey and Colin Rabyniuk –

With the 30+ degree heat gone with the afternoon sun, the stagelights went down and Toronto fans couldn’t wait to catch a glimpse of the French electronic duo, and Hard Toronto 2012 headliners Justice.

Coming off a performance at last night’s Osheaga Music Festival in Montreal, Justice didn’t skip a beat as they blasted right into playing many of their hits including “D.A.N.C.E,” and “Audio, Video, Disco,” energizing all of the rain-soaked fans standing in the muddy field that was Fort York in Toronto on Saturday.

Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosna of Justice at HARD Toronto. August 4th, 2012. Photo: Curtis Sindrey

Playing atop a large illuminated cross, similar to the one featured on their debut album, 2007’s †, Justice was silent for most of their performance, allowing their disco via funk blend of electro house do the talking for them.

After the cool drizzle before their set, a palpable heat emanated from the stage while the audience was drawn in by M83’s great energy and powerful dynamics. It felt like they played not in Fork York’s large, open field beside the highway, but rather in a small and intimate venue.

Anthony Gonzalez of M83 at HARD Toronto. Photo: Curtis Sindrey

Perhaps it was just the festival’s locale, with the nearby expressway and the towering condos, but the music seemed to rise and fall like the dreamland cityscapes of Christopher Nolan’s Inception. Everything is as expected until suddenly the road and towers before you are thrust up, the rhythm and volume exceptionally different, and a sublime transition to the band’s next verse and your dream’s next turn. This is something frontman Anthony Gonzalez has perfected over the band’s 11-year history.

Indeed, the band’s showmanship more than equaled their superb musical talent. Bassist Yann Gonzalez slid and stomped across the stage the entire set, either at his station next to brother Anthony, at the drum machine beside Morgan Kibby’s keyboard, or on top of drummer Loic Maurin’s kick drum. At the end of the set, Yann crashed to the stage, exhausted, with his arms extended to embrace the coming rain. Their show was a subtle display of lazers and fog, perfectly complementing the band’s pounding crescendos and the corresponding quietness.

Katie Stelmanis of Austra at HARD Toronto. Photo: Curtis Sindrey

The Toronto-based Austra played a loose and ethereal set under the sweltering heat early in the day.  Named after lead singer Katie Stelmanis’ middle name Austra, which is also the name of the Latvian goddess of light, Austra’s electropop is fittingly mystical and effervescent. Stelmanis and her backup singers, twins Sari and Romy Lightman of the Toronto-based indie folk band Tasseomancy, performed like sonic pixies moving through time and space and speaker to form the band’s expansive voice.

The rolling bass of Dorian Wolf, member of the Toronto-based indie rock band Spiral Beach, drove some their best songs. He provided some of the band’s noisier background elements, gurgling static and sweeping, distorted arpeggios, and seemed to act as an informal conductor during some seemingly improvised segments.

Charli XCX at HARD Toronto. Photo: Curtis Sindrey

Portugal’s Buraka Som Sistema helped open the show after a short set of the electropop stylings, ala Lights, from British singer Charli XCX who played tracks from her recently released EP “You’re The One,” including the single of the same name. Buraka Son Sistema combined techno and dubstep with fast, Angolan dance music inspired by old reggae and dub. The group could have easily played at Caribana which took place just down the street.

Buraka Son Sistema at HARD Toronto. Photo: Curtis Sindrey

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