by Haley Cullingham
For some reason, concerts this summer seemed doomed to drown in precipitation. In May and June, it was sweat. This weekend, it was rain. Epic, Noah’s Ark-style biblical-flood-type apocalypse rain. The kind of rain that soaks through your raincoat, pools in the bottom of your bag, drowns your cell phone, and turned Fort York, sight of The Roger’s Picnic, into a giant muddy slip ‘n’ slide. People were literally constructing forts out of blankets, ponchos, and garbage bags.

The disjointed line up of the Roger’s Festival wasn’t helped by the deluge. The beautiful skyline that framed the stage was entirely eveloped in fog. The shade stations, adorable white picnic umbrellas with raffia recliners below and pillows to spare, were drenched and floating inches above the ground. Stage hands squeegee’d the stage between sets, umbrellas in the beer tent were blown over by the wind, dumping water into keg cups and onto sun hats. Speaking of umbrellas, who actually thinks it’s a good idea to stand at a concert with one, completely obscuring the view of everyone behind you? It is, however, extremely hilarious when someone shakes out there umbrella straight into the face of someone sitting on the ground. Simple pleasures.

Unfortunately, the crowd at the Roger’s Picnic felt more like a disgruntled country club set watching a rain-soaked tennis match then anything else. Adding to the low morale was the extreme variety of the acts on the bill. Especially since the weather didn’t lend itself to perusing the vendors during the long lulls between sets, the show ultimately felt like a lot of waiting around. You might have been enjoying a performer, but chances are the people beside you were huddled in the rain, grimacing at the stage and waiting for the next band to play.

The music, however, managed to rise above. Dizzee Rascal, who played inexplicably early, battled against the crowd’s low energy and delivered an amazing set. Instead of being defeated by the rain, he and his hype man charged the stage and delivered a pitch-perfect hip hop show. At one particularly rainy point, when efforts to start a chant during ‘Fix Up Look Sharp’ failed miserably, his hype man burst out laughing. The two put on an amazing show, and managed to get the crowd dancing, despite the early set time and terrible weather.

The rain actually worked for some acts. The storm swelled in time with the music during Animal Collective’s set, achieving an epic, almost apocalyptic crescendo. Water flew off the mini-cymbal every time it was hit by Chromeo’s P-Thugg, but he and Dave 1 were so happy to be onstage that even the pouring rain couldn’t bring them down. The crowd loved it, and with giant grins on their faces, they played the best set of the day.

Cat Power, playing as the rain let up and it got dark out, was a different story. For Chromeo, the rain took a great performance and made it legendary as the two displayed an ability to start a dance party miles away from a dance floor and ankle deep in mud. For Cat Power, the crappy conditions took what could have been a good set and made it a forgettable one. Her performance, a bit low-energy due to her lack of voice, was still beautiful, and in any other circumstance, it would have been a good show. She drank tea from a keg cup and leant over the edge of the stage, a self-conscious air about her. But even with a sore throat, her voice was still gorgeous and full. She nervously tucked her hands in her back pockets as she sang and was in constant conversation with the sound guy at the side of the stage between songs. Her set was haunting, but didn’t really lend itself to the muddy, rained-out vibe.

The concert finished up with a surprise DJ set in the dance tent from Chromeo’s Dave 1. He delivered an extremely danceable set, and the crowd fed off his energy, barely noticing a few awkward moments.

All told, it was disappointing to see how much the rain effected what would otherwise have been an awesome day of music, but it would have been helpful if someone at Roger’s had checked the weather forecast and made some precautions. I’m sure the communications giant isn’t shedding too many tears over the wash-out, but seriously, next time I’d better get a free poncho.