My NxNE... final tally.

I managed to see more than 30 bands at this year's festival. For the most part, I stayed for full sets, though I got in late to a small handful of them. Here's the complete rundown, from start to finish:

WEDNESDAY

J. J. Ipsen @ The Drake Hotel (Underground) -- nice, but the wrong setting
The D'Urbervilles @ The Drake Hotel (Underground) -- love these guys
Lioness @ The Drake Hotel (Underground) -- Vanessa Fisher is a great lead
Woodhands @ The Drake Hotel (Underground) -- had me dancing for an hour despite my exhaustion

THURSDAY

Dinosaur Bones (in-store) @ Sunrise Records -- reminded me that I do really like this band
Spiral Beach @ Young-Dundas Square -- fun!
Zeus @ The Courthouse -- really good classic rock with new-indie infusion (to my mind)
Flotilla @ Rancho Relaxo -- charmed and pleasantly surprised me
The Most Serene Republic @ The Courthouse -- I wanted to like this set more than I did
You Say Party! We Say Die! @ El Mocambo (Downstairs) -- really fun, better live than on their records
Green Go @ El Mocambo (Downstairs) -- all the people who left after YSP!WSD! missed out
Zoobombs @ The Silver Dollar Room -- blistering performance
The Schomberg Fair @ Lee's Palace -- fantastic performance, new songs sound great

FRIDAY

Green Go @ Yonge-Dundas Square (side stage) -- had me dancing in the sunshine
Black Hat Brigade @ Yonge-Dundas Square (side stage) -- so many people!
Parlovr @ Supermarket -- I loved their somewhat unpolished sound and great energy
Zeroes @ The Silver Dollar Room -- had some great moments
Dinosaur Bones @ The Horseshoe Tavern -- great, I hope they had people talking afterward
Mika Miko @ Sneaky Dee's -- unmemorable for me, but I don't have much experience with punk rock (and they played for no more than 20 minutes)
The Sadies @ El Mocambo (Downstairs) -- amazing!
These Are Powers @ The Silver Dollar Room -- HOLY HECK, their primal electro dance grooves had me dancing like a maniac
Mark Berube & the Patriotic Few @ Rancho Relaxo -- played until past 4am with a good chunk of people still dancing

SATURDAY

Laura Barrett @ Rolly's Garage -- enchanting, perfect (except for that weird guy who interrupted her set)
Boxes & Bags @ secret/not-so-secret afterparty -- terrible technical troubles, but they got something
Japanther @ secret/not-so-secret afterparty --wow, was not expecting this!
DD/MM/YYYY @ secret/not-so-secret afterparty --I was distracted doing door duties, unfortunately, 'cause this is a great live band

After that I caught snippets of Steamboat and Gravity Wave at another secret/not-so-secret afterparty.

SUNDAY

Candy Coated Killahz @ Yonge-Dundas Square -- unoriginal, but when I turned off my music-snob brain they were pretty fun
Mardeen @ Rancho Relaxo -- really good Canadiana pop-rock, made me happy
Brent Randall & his Pinecones @ Rancho Relaxo -- 60s pop, much fun
Diamond Rings @ The Rivoli -- so much better than the last time I saw him, really solid performance
PS I Love U @ The Rivoli -- my friends have been talking this band up for months, and they are right
Wax Mannequin @ Sneaky Dee's -- great
La Casa Muerte @ Sneaky Dee's -- their energy was infectious, even though they claimed to be really low energy that night

All-in-all, I saw 15 bands that I've seen before, and 16 bands that I hadn't. None of the performances were disappointing, though in a few cases I wanted to like the bands more than I did. The best: These Are Powers. The worst: Candy Coated Killahz. But considering both those bands had me dancing despite my sore feet and general tiredness, I really can't complain. What a great five days of music! I learned a lot about a lot of things, including that I need to get out to see more electro bands. I love them so.

[I went to see Hank & Lily @ The Drake Hotel (Underground) on Monday night, just 'cause I'm nuts.]

I did a bunch of interviews during the festival, so stay tuned for a few special NxNE podcasts with all those plus more than 2 hours of great music!