The weather could not have dawned more perfectly for the second and final day of the brand new All Your Friends Fest in Burl’s Creek, Ontario. After a stellar first day, there was even more to look forward to for Saturday, with headlining performances from Fall Out Boy and Jimmy Eat World and an undercard of amazing artists. Campers trekked to the event grounds bright and early to grab some food and catch some throwback sets- once again Atlas was right in the thick of things and we’re bringing you the best of day two!
Girl Power Starts the Day Strong
All Your Friends Fest did an excellent job of combining newer acts with scene staples and this was abundantly clear with the additions of Charlotte Sands and Fefe Dobson. Canadian-born Dobson has been active in the scene since the early 2000s and is making her comeback in a huge way this year. Her set drew a crowd to the Tent Stage in the heat of the afternoon and her rockstar energy took center stage- along with a setlist of fan favorites.
On the other side of the grounds was Charlotte Sands, a relative newcomer who’s been touring nonstop and building a ride or die fanbase all her own. Whipping her signature blue hair, she rocked out with her band through “Use Me”, “Dress” and more- a fitting first visit to Canada.
Grandson and The Maine Get the Stages Fired Up
It wouldn’t be a rock fest without a healthy dose of righteous anger and Grandson brought that to the Main Stage in spades. His material can certainly take a heavy turn when it comes to subject matter but he combines that weight with a stage presence that turned the growing crowd into a roiling mass of shaking fists and purposeful movement. The set was a fast and furious sprint through “Drones”, “Dirty” and “Blood // Water” to close things out as usual.
The Maine journeyed all the way from Arizona to rock out on the Tent Stage and the 8123 family swarmed as close as possible to sing along. The band is also fresh off their Sad Summer Fest run and they brought that festival set to All Your Friends and fittingly so. With their self-titled album capturing hearts since its release, adding “Blame” and “Leave in Five” got the audience dancing and trying to keep up with the rapid-fire lyrical stylings of singer John O’Callaghan. Their wholesome vibes had both the band and the fans smiling ear to ear as the festival headed into its final hours of the weekend.
Rain or Shine
Unpredictable weather is the risk associated with any outdoor event and the rain started to fall in earnest as the Plain White T’s reached the “Hey There Delilah” portion of their Main Stage set. A little downpour couldn’t stop the fun, however, and once the sun reappeared, the show indeed went on. Many fans took shelter at the Tent Stage, just in time to catch Dashboard Confessional bring a healthy dose of mid-2000s emo to their headlining performance. Singer Chris Carrabba still has the looks and the pipes that catapulted the band to stardom and absolutely no one could resist shouting the words to “Screaming Infidelities” and “Vindicated”.
(Tour) Dust Reunion
Jimmy Eat World and Fall Out Boy spent months on the road together this year and reunited for the final two slots of All Your Friends Fest. The sun was just starting to set as Jimmy Eat World took the stage- another Phoenix band far from home but thrilled to be back in Canada. Another group with a huge discography behind them, they had an overabundance of material to choose from and certainly picked the very best for the set. From “Big Casino” to “Sweetness”, the crowd was singing along from the first notes of these playlist staples. They even threw in a cover of Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”- a win for emo Swifties- before ending with “The Middle”.
On the road to When We Were Young Fest, Fall Out Boy has been testing their own Eras-style setlist, taking fans on a meandering trip down memory lane. Starting with Take This to Your Grave, the band carefully selected songs from each album and changed their stage to match each iteration of their prolific career. Infinity on High and Folie a Deux found the album covers coming to life onstage and fans from every generation had their moment with the albums that meant the most to them.
The band quite literally lit up the night with a massive wall of fire on “The Phoenix” and “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark”, with Pete Wentz blasting the audience with the heat from his flamethrower bass. The audience was mesmerized by the experience and there was still so much more left to the lengthy set.
Patrick Stump took a turn at the piano with an emotional interlude of “What a Catch, Donnie” before remaining there for the tracks chosen from their latest album. It wouldn’t be a proper Fall Out Boy set without the addition of the Magic 8-ball track and they launched right into “Of All the Gin Joints in All the World” to the delight of older fans. The festival ended with a bang as Wentz jumped into the crowd during “Saturday” and masses of fireworks bombarded the crowd with a spectacular display.
The first All Your Friends Fest was a massive success- the fans were smiling all weekend, the bands were energetic and excited and never once did the event grounds feel overwhelmingly packed tight with people. Attendees exiting the grounds could be overheard hoping for another installment of the fest next year and we’ll be first in line should that happen- cheers to a fantastic weekend!
