Sled Island 2014 - Day 3: An Emergency Solved by the Joel Plaskett... Emergency

Day 3 was a bicycle-powered adventure. In more than one way. We ditched walking for the day and switched to two-wheels to get further afield. A gorgeous sunny day (to start at least).

First up! A quick stop at Local 510 early afternoon. A favourite, 510 has the perfect look and atmosphere for some indie music. A shockingly solid set by Outer Minds, a kind of electro-psych rock that is impossible not to enjoy. Seeing them again at Bamboo on Saturday, an incredibly engaging sound: 

Using our wheels, no problems making it over to Containr, a weird shipping container art-park in the ever-hip Sunnyside / Kensington area of Calgary. A very beautiful day. Bicycles, rock music, skyscrapers, reused shipping containers, and a constant stream of C-Trains cruising by. The music was even partially powered by bicycles, through a innovative idea by Open Streets for pedal-powered festivals. The scene was truly a Calgary urbanist's dream: 

Highlight of the Night: It was about that time that the news broke: Neko Case cancelled at the last minute for her headlining show at Olympic Plaza set to go early evening. In a surprise twist, Joel Plaskett Emergency stepped up. One of the festival's biggest draws was replaced with a free show by the festival's biggest draw. Huge!

One problem: Joel Plaskett is cursed. His much anticipated 2013 headliner show was a victim of Sled Island's cancellation due to the flooding that crippled the festival and the city. As soon as news broke a dark cloud appear over the city and on-again, off-again monsoon rains coated downtown as we made our way to Olympic Plaza for with 9pm show.

By the time we made it during a lull in the rain, Blitzen Trapper was rocking the rain-soaked plaza, now covered in about 2 inches of water:

But the word had gotten out, the city was decending on Olympic Plaza for crowd-favourite Plaskett. As Sled Island keeps saying, no one rains on our parade:

Except it definitely did. Joel Plaskett opening with one of his biggest hits, and a never-more-perfectly-timed-tune Lightning Bolt just as the skies opened up and thunder and lightning exploded across the sky. 

The crowd went into euphoric, ecstatic uproar that kept going the entire set of soaking-went, crowd-surfing goodness as the sunset illuminated downtown Calgary and the lightning storm above.

This will be the classic Sled Moment of 2014.

The adventure didn't end there on Day 3, but that's a moment I don't want to cloud with other awesomeness. 

Pun definitely intended.