Hopped and Confused brings music and beer lovers together at Mill Street.

Regardless of the last minute announcement of the lineup this year, the third annual Hopped and Confused festival drew a fair amount of people to its grounds last weekend to enjoy great live music paired with delicious beer, cider and food.

The festival, held at the parking lot of the picturesque Mill Street Brew Pub, has a history of bringing in some of the best Canadian rock and indie acts on its stage each August, and this year’s lineup was no different.

Kicking off the first day on late Friday afternoon were Toronto’s Birds of Bellwoods, who just performed a free concert last month at Ottawa’s Dragonboat Festival. The high energy show of folky indie rock lead by the charismatic singer Stevie Joffe, was the best possible start for the weekend festivities. The band is currently preparing to release their much anticipated debut album later on this year.

Montreal’s three piece group Caveboy,formerly known as Diamond Bones, delivered a refreshing performance of indie pop, getting the early crowd on their feet dancing. Especially the band’s bassist/synth Isabelle Banos was fun to watch bouncing across the stage.

The Rural Alberta Advantage, who have just recently completed a seven week North American tour, took the stage as the sun was going down, setting the mood for the band’s mellow folk tunes.

The much anticipated Bedouin Soundclash closed the first night of the festival with their catchy, feel good reggae and ska tunes, leaving the crowd warm, happy and hopped to head home for the night.

Day 2 kicked off with Toronto ensemble Julie & The Wrong Guys. Lead by the Juno Award winning singer-songwriter Julie Doiron, combined with the Cancer Bats bassist Jaye Schwartzer and drummer Mike Peters delivers a combination of Doiron’s effortless song writing to raw guitar riffs. This was one of the most enjoyable performances of the weekend!

My never ending admiration for Montreal’s The Damn Truth may be evident, but most definitely not baseless. The band has had a big year, having just finished a tour with no other than the mighty ZZ Top the day before Hopped and Confused. The incense on stage, flowing hair, blaring guitar solos, raw rocknroll and beautiful people, The Damn Truth truly delivered the most goose bump inducing performances of the night. The chemistry between the band members is evident and makes the show so much more enjoyable to watch. Wishing the band a well deserved rest before heading onto new and exciting adventures!

Last year’s Juno nominated Breakthrough Group Bleeker may have gone through some lineup and name changes within the past couple of years, but the band has been working hard for new music to release in the near future. Their newest single ‘James Dean’ introduces a more of a poppy side to the band who have so far had a more of a rock sound. The front man Taylor Perkins engaged his crowd throughout the band’s performance and hopped in the middle of the audience mid show to get people sitting on the ground in a circle and singing with him.

Much anticipated late 90’s rock band I Mother Earth closed off the second and final night with the original singer Edwin fronting the band again after a years long hiatus. The band made sure to play a crowd pleasing show with all their radio hits from then and now, before the audience headed indoors to the Mill Street Pub for the after party hosted by Live 88.5’s DJ Noah.

Here’s hoping for another solid lineup for next year at Mill Street’s Hopped and Confused!

By Laura Collins.