Why were all the soldiers so tired April first? Because they had a long March. The end of the wintery weather leads to all things spring and if you have ever spent some time here when the seasons change you know exactly how strange and exciting it can be. The final evenings of the quarter final round of Emergenza Music Festival in Toronto were exactly that. The first band to take part in this weekends festivities was ‘Trap Door’ mixing prog with style reminicent of bands like Styx. Including an epic 13 minute song. ‘Spiritual Eviction’ are known for their off stage antics, this set went off without their light box creation though still maintaining their whisper to a roar signature metal style. Songs about the praries and the roots rock appeal of “Pirates of the music industry” make ‘Nickletree’ a standard in Torontos music scene. ‘Crestfallen’ a female fronted troupe that are a bit pop a bit rock followed. In their new incarnation ‘Fourin Funksion’ played their set with strong bass and guitar and threw in some keys for good measure. Energetic punk band ‘Oddworld’ met with some adversity in their set having the guitarist break a string and no one offering up a replacement, this is Toronto after all. ‘Nine hours later’ brought out the wounded guitarist for their set on thursday night. They made it through on adrenaline raised by the vocalists enthusiasm and good rock songs. ‘Protokult’ dressed for the stage and was joined bytheir sexy keyboard player dressed in red angel wings and an appearance from ”sometimes” female vocalist in a mesh top. A good hard metal ending to an already loud night. We will call this night freaky Friday, there must have been something in the air or just an extra tough work week because the corner of Queen and Bathurst was an absolute circus Friday night. Ahh, sping has almost sprung. The bands on stage included the likes of ‘Fifth Base’ with just two bass guitars, pretty groovy. ‘Harvesting Humans’ a good time metal band. ‘The Crunch’ surprise band of the night, really young players, lots of covers and pretty tight band. Rob from local hard rock band ‘Rustic’ was having a bout of the strep throat and battled through their set. ‘Fall the Loss’ thrashed what seemed like a punk/metal/core set to close out. Whispery vocals and a melodic rock feel began Saturday with ‘The Client’ on stage. ‘Zameer’ brought some traditional percussion instruments and entertwined them with their alt rock arangements. ‘Misty Flips’ sang about a failed love connection with Sara of Tegan and Sara. Power rock group ‘Stikman’ played through their set tightly and with definitive talent. ‘Illatease’ brought power pop/punk all the way from London Ontario to finish up this weekends events. Injuries sustained - 0 Equipment damage - 4