Rainy, miserable weather proved ineffective in discouraging the thousands of people who attended the CBCMusic.ca Festival on Saturday at Deer Lake Park.
The festival, which got started around 1 p.m., was a lively day of indie rock and rain, capped off with a stellar show by headliners Tegan and Sara.
While the event was aimed at a younger audience, with performances by Hannah Georgas, The Belle Game, the Arkells, Dan Mangan, Spoon and Tegan and Sara, among others, the crowd was fairly diverse. Both young and old made the best of the dreary day, some abandoning all hope of being dry and dancing carefree in the rain.
The highlight of the day, however, seemed to be Mangan's evening performance, which nearly stole the whole festival with a passionate rendition of Robots featuring an energetic sing-along portion.
West Vancouver residents Ali Shuparski and Katie Tikkanen made the trek to Burnaby specifically to see Mangan and they certainly weren't disappointed.
"Dan Mangan was my favourite for sure," Shuparski said.
"Ya, he was my top choice also," Tikkanen agreed.
Both Shuparski and Tikkanen we're enjoying the festival when the NOW spoke with them shortly after Dan Mangan's set. Even the rain hadn't dampened their spirits, and they were anxiously awaiting Spoon and Tegan and Sara.
When asked if they would make the trip out to Burnaby again, both agreed it would be something they would definitely check out.
American rock band Spoon was the only non-Canadian group at the festival, something lead singer Britt Daniel acknowledged when they took the stage shortly after 7 p.m. The band, which has been around since the early '90s, recently released a new album, and while they played a few songs off of it, they delighted audiences by playing some of their more notable hits, including I Summon You, I Turn My Camera On, and Small Stakes.
But it was festival headliners Tegan and Sara that really impressed – even though by the time they hit the stage around 8:45 p.m. it was pouring rain.
The Quin sisters, originally from Calgary, paid tribute to the fans that helped them reach mainstream success, both in Canada and the United States, by playing several of their indie classics, including Living Room and Back in Your Head.
"Vancouver has a reputation of being too cool to dance," Tegan joked with the audience, trying to encourage them to dance to Alligator.
Both were charming, interacting and joking throughout their set. Tegan, however, seemed to be the more playful of the Quin sisters, at one point even poking fun at Sara and her dislike of friendly cities.
As curfew approached, Tegan and Sara started wrapping up their show, but not before throwing in a few last friendly jabs at Vancouver.
"You're the best show so far this tour, and don't let the fact that you're the first show distract you," Tegan joked before thanking everyone for braving the rainy weather.
Tegan and Sara went out with a bang playing their recent hit Closer, one of their mainstream successes off the 2013 album Heartthrob, shortly after 10 p.m.
This is the second year CBC Radio has hosted a music festival. Last year’s event, held in Toronto, featured a number of up-and-coming artists including Of Monsters and Men as well as well-known Canadian groups Sloan and the Sam Roberts Band.
