Storms and Sunshine in Purple City
Storms and Sunshine in Purple City
Brandon Kruze
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I shot awake. My stomach was famished, the sky was filled with pounding rain, and I only had an hour and a half before I was to arrive at Purple City, a one day music festival curated by Up & Downtown Festival and featuring a cast of Edmonton musicians in Hawrelak Park. Purple City refers to an Edmonton tradition where people would go to the Alberta Legislature grounds and stare into the flood lights for about a minute before looking away. The end result distorts our perception of light and makes everything look purple. Sounds like a hell of a trip.
I sucked back a breakfast cocktail of coffee, cigarettes, and fast food. No nutrition, all poison; delicious. Before getting dressed I considered the pouring rain and the likely possibility of getting wet. Knowing how I hate the rain, I dressed in more layers than any ogre or onion. I got in Cherry, my decade old Jeep, and cruised out of small town Fort Saskatchewan doing a buck ten, my breath bated and my mind filled with thoughts about the day to come.
As I circled around the city, cutting through and driving down the gorgeous to see – and terrifying to drive – Groat Road, I finally made it to Hawrelak Park with time left to spare. Just as I arrived the storm departed and the air got warm again. Suddenly my extra layers were no longer a godsend but a burden, so I stripped down to a shirt and pants in my car. It wasn’t a flattering look by any means – I had an uncanny resemblance to the burglars from Home Alone.
Aladean Kheroufi
The first thing I noticed arriving at the park was how beautiful this place is. Open fields occupied by Canada geese and surrounded by a halo of trees. Down here I found it easy to forget that I was in the heart of Alberta’s capital city. As I entered the amphitheatre I noticed the small crowd of about two dozen people. While the stage was doing their sound check I got myself a drink, a Longshadows IPA from Blindman Brewing.
I cracked my beer, smoked me a fat one, and found a seat, vibing out to the festival’s opening act, Billie Zizi – a one woman show delivering sweet melodies through her voice and electric guitar. Her beautiful fingerpicking and soulful singing brought a tear to my eye as she played “May You Dance”, a song she described as her wish for everybody. A lyric from that song that stuck with me was “May your joy be your beauty”.
After her show I finished half my beer and smoked another doob when I came to the horrifying realization that my intoxication was increasing at a fast pace. If I were to survive the night I needed to slow down. To make things worse, the pot made my social anxiety skyrocket, making the time I spent sitting alone between sets even more uncomfortable.
Sparing me of my loneliness was the next act, Karimah, a solo artist with a lot of soul and spunk in her R&B styled music. Her opening song “This Is The End” perfectly displayed her amazing voice and empowering lyrics. Her energy carried the show through her introspection, such as the song “Letting Me Down”, about “keeping your head low and your hopes high”. Karimah hasn’t made any releases, but said she’ll have music out by the end of the year. It was a truly mystifying performance.
After Karimah’s set I began to jam out to the mad skills of DJ CREEASIAN who provided music between shows from the market area. I noticed at this point as well that the crowd had nearly tripled in size since my arrival, so I had high hopes for this increasing turnout. My main problem was gaining the courage to talk to someone, being as shy as I am. As I finished my beer I noticed on the can that this stuff was at about 7%, which explained why I felt about twice as drunk as I should. This made me all the quieter, and all I had to soothe my mind was the jams of DJ CREEASIAN.
Wares
As the storm clouds approached again the people flooded to the sheltered amphitheatre for the next act, Mustafa Rafiq’s Takleef Ensemble. With a variety of instruments including a clarinet and the violin, Mustafa and his Ensemble formed abstract soundscapes interwoven with spoken word poetry, placing myself and the festivalgoer’s around me into a trance as they lured us in with their wisdom and experimentalism. In my altered state I became momentarily distracted by what appeared to be a wedding across the pond. I thought a while about how amazing it was, two separate events bringing people joy, all taking place a few hundred feet apart.
After the show I began to suffer from mild dehydration. I headed to get myself some water and wandered around the festival observing the people, wondering why I hadn’t the gall to talk to anyone myself. The loneliness returned before being thwarted with the rain as the sky cleared up again. Once again it became warm and beautiful. Despite my lonesome, just being there was enough for now.
To accompany this glorious sunshine was Aladean Kheroufi and his talented ensemble band. I knew from the get go when Aladean came out in his white suit that this was going to be a great show, and these gentlemen did not disappoint. They were funky, groovy, danceable, and fun to watch. You could tell that everyone was having a blast watching them. One of their songs “Love Is The Answer” was a slow, romantic performance… a sexually electrifying act.
After Aladean was AG47, an electronic duo with one on the beat and one on the mic. They had bass-filled, low toned electronica with sounds reminiscent of science fiction accompanied by melodic vocals belting so hard that you could hear the strain, further adding to their chaotic, hard hitting EDM sound.
After the shows I ended up smoking a bit too much of that sticky green and decided to take a nap between sets. The dreaded cottonmouth had drained me of my water, forcing me to purchase more. I pondered over monetizing water as I dozed off in my own corner of the grass.
I arose to the sound of the next act, Wares. The storm returned once more, bringing everyone back to the amphitheatre to experience this high energy alt rock powerhouse with sprinkles of punk. The singer’s chaotic, badass performance was exemplified by the pouring rain, hitting the ground harder than it had all day. The sky had darkened so much that the stage lights were turned on, making the band visible amongst the storm. They were the first band of the night to receive a standing ovation.
Cadence Weapon
The sun returns after the set while I’m having a cigarette at the smoke pit. As always I stood alone and observed my fellow smokers. It was then that I was approached by who would become my festival friend, Carolyn. She spoke a mile a minute, and I didn’t pick up a lot of what she was putting down, but she was someone to talk to and that made me feel all the better. Unfortunately my shyness got the better of me and I said goodbye as I returned to sit in my lonesome to watch Cadence Weapon (the festival’s MC) perform an impromptu rap session just before the second last act began, Cayley Thomas.
Let me tell you, this was an amazing show. The band (many of them returning members from Aladean Kheroufi’s band) was dressed in very 70’s-esque attire – a nice bit of eccentricity added to their wonderfully lighthearted performance. Cayley had a very sweet stage presence and an amazing voice which added to the variety of songs they played, from indie rock jams with laces of folk and country, to an acoustic performance shared between Cayley and the her best friend Connor Snell. She even plays a song she had written a decade ago as a beginner songwriter. Her lyrics were about love, loss, and battling our own self critics – a feeling I know all too well. After an excellent bit of audience participation with the song “Sunshine” she and Connor ended the set with “Do It All With You”, a song accompanied by a goofy dance. It was a magical show that left me feeling elated. I began to think of Carolyn as the festival goers returned to their recreations.
I realized that I had spent the last seven hours sitting, drinking, and smoking pot all by myself, all because I feared the pain of negative confrontation – but compared to the pain of being surrounded by hundreds of people without anyone to talk to, I’d rather have my teeth punched in. I decided I wasn't going to let the day die without a friend, so I went to the smoke pit where I found Carolyn and her friends. I smoked my final cigarette slowly, getting lost in the conversation. They told me of their fondness of Calvin Love, and I told them how I was writing about him. Carolyn told me that I should write about the people I meet there. I told her that I’d be sure to mention her.
We walked arm in arm back to the amphitheatre to witness the best headliner I’ve had the pleasure to experience (and I saw Pearl Jam headline once). Calvin Love and his band (also the band from Aladean Kheroufi and Cayley Thomas – give and take a few members) got on stage, now donning dress shirts and suits, with one man even armed with a saxophone, and managed to get the crowd – which was packed at this point – to get out of their seats and make use of the formerly barren dance floor. People gathered around, smiling and dancing, even yours truly busted a few moves – a man who never dances.
From how most festivalgoer’s put it, Calvin Love is an Edmonton folk hero, and I heard many anecdotes from people who knew him, and as he stood on the stage and swooned the crowd with his clean yet mysterious stage presence, I could understand why. With the awesome guitar riffs, 80s styled synths, and a generally fun atmosphere, Calvin Love managed to get everybody moving as the sun set and the stage lights illuminated the band from the darkening woods behind them. They were also the only band to rile up the crowd so much that they performed a rather heartfelt encore. It was a beautiful end to close the curtains on Purple City.
After the show I was talking with Carolyn and her friends when she told me that I should mention other people’s denial of superficiality by only attending these events for selfish purposes, like just to get laid or to show off, rather than to have a good time and live in the moment. I wish I’d had the time to tell her I disagree, and I found it ironic how this was coming from the person who had shown my eyes and light and made me see the world purple. She helped me embrace the moment and to see that everyone else was, too.
I saw no superficiality at Purple City, only people who had seen their first live show since the pandemic started, and everyone was having a great time. I saw no conflict (except for one guy who got pissed that his girlfriend was drooling over Calvin Love), and as a guy who’s been indifferent towards music festivals, this event changed my view on them completely.
I bid Carolyn and her friends goodnight – she kissed me on the forehead – and I returned to Cherry for the drive back home. I drove in silence. No radio, no air conditioning, just soaring down the highway with all the windows down. I’d thought about the day now behind me. I thought about my regrets in being anti-social, and I thought about the joy in having not spent it completely alone due to the kind hearts of others. Purple City may have changed my meandering existence in some way or another, because I was blessed to see a side of people I thought out of my grasp; love.