In the city's worst kept secret, CFNY Edge 102 unveiled the lineup for this year's Edgefest at the Molson Amphitheater on July 1st. Billy Talent will headline, Alexisonfire will go second last and a few other bands will be there but I'm fairly unfamiliar with all of them. Let me be the first to say, on the record, that this is the worst Edgefest lineup ever. Now let me pronounce this fact Comic Book Guy style. Worst. Lineup. Ever.
As readers of this blog know, I think Billy Talent's debut is great. Their first three singles released all made SLS and the fourth will likely be on SLS13 this June. The whole disc is great, but it's one disc of twelve songs. How does one release of twelve songs make you the headlining act for a concert like this? To put things in perspective, I bitched last year because the awful Good Charlotte was headlining, but at least Billy Talent and Finger Eleven were hitting the stage first. Billy Talent at that time had the same catalogue of music, one album of twelve songs. Billy Talent and Finger Eleven beats Billy Talent and Alexisonfire, right? In other words, last year's brutal lineup was a stronger lineup than we have this year and that's pathetic.
Edgefest isn't so much about the music than it is about maximizing profits. You know this year's lineup came awfully cheap, and Billy Talent probably gave CFNY Edge 102 a discount because of their past history. There were no big bucks to shell out for a big name band like Audioslave, Green Day, Foo Fighters, Our Lady Peace or Sum 41. Heck, there aren't even any of the wicked new Canadian bands getting international praise these days, like The Arcade Fire, Metric, Broken Social Scene, Hot Hot Heat or The Dears. If you combined the entire catalogue of music from all bands announced today for Edgefest 2005 I suspect there are only a handful of songs your average rock fan would recognize, and four belong to Billy Talent.
Edgefest has certainly seen better days, but it will probably turn a profit this year. To Alan Cross and the gang at CFNY, that's truly all that matters. What a shame.
