By Tanner McCord
Staff Writer
In 1987, The Edge radio station held the very first Edgefest in Toronto as a thank you to the listeners of the station. Tickets were for $5 each and the event held primarily Canadian bands that were on the rise to Rock & Roll stardom.
This year marks the 20-year anniversary of Edgefest Dallas. Since its start in 1992, the festival has grown to be one of the biggest concert events held in the great state of Texas and can now be ranked up there with South by Southwest (SXSW) and Austin City Limits.
The collaboration of artists has been held 21 times in Dallas due to two appearances in 2008 and in its years, the event has seen some big names in today’s music. In the past, Edgefest has been host to Pearl Jam, Blink 182, Weezer and Switchfoot as well as other popular names. Also, making an appearance in 2008 was Coppell’s very own Brian Rohloff and his band, Miser.
This year however, the main attraction of the event was the Black Keys, making their first appearance at the annual celebration of music. Also making inaugural appearances are the Arctic Monkeys and Garbage, two bands that have been making music for quite some time but have never been a part of the fest.
Edgefest was held on Sunday, and the doors of FC Dallas Stadium opened at noon with the first band, Aranda beginning at one on the main stage. According to past attendees, the ball gets rocking and rolling very quickly, this year, there was a mosh pit by the fourth main band. Sometimes fans have not gotten home until around 2 a.m. in the morning due to the large number of bands and traffic.
Two stages on either end of the soccer field held a total of 16 bands, nine on the main stage and seven on the other, the larger of the two obviously holding the bigger names.
Tickets for the fest were on sale for quite some time and ranged anywhere from free to over $80, prices relying on where you want to sit or stand, or if you won them. More expensive tickets held standing room only in the pit where dedicated fans crammed close to each other as well as the rail that separated the enthusiasts from the performers. The cheaper tickets provided seating in the actual stadium seats surrounding the two stages that didn’t allow fans to get close, but they did get to sit throughout the ten plus hour fest.
The Neon Trees as well as the Arctic Monkeys played its brand new singles that they had released in March and every band that had released a CD in 2011 or 2012 featured a few of its new tunes. For Cake, playing songs from its new CD was a huge deal, as they released it on its old independent label and the success it had was a surprise to the band members themselves.
Between the new music, large venue, atmosphere, and fantastic line up, Edgefest 2012 proved to be a greatly successful event that will not soon be forgotten.
