Saves the Day / Moneen / Choke

The first band to hit the elevated stage at the Cultural Centre was Edmonton’s Choke, who weren’t even listed on the bill. (They were filling in for Circa Survive, who didn’t cross the border when the words "fireworks” and "caught on fire” came up on singer Anthony Green’s police record.) Moneen started slowly, but drew the crowd in to their latest batch of songs with massive sing-alongs. The energy level from Saves the Day was oddly mellower than expected and the sound in the Croatian was near appalling, but with front-man Chris Conley’s head aglow in a halo of flaming pink hair, and with his angst-ridden, self-deprecating voice, the crowd slowly became transfixed and as the set progressed. He and his comrades delivered a balance of new material with some of their oldest, and with "Three Miles Down” and "Holly Hox Forget Me Nots” to "Anywhere with You” and an acoustic version of "Shattered,” they satisfied the thirsty crowd and every moment was drunk in deeply.