Another year, another Music Waste, and organizer Cameron Reed can hardly believe it's over. “It went by so quickly,” the promoter marvelled in a phone interview with the Straight. More than 100 bands played what was easily the biggest edition of the festival to date.

With passes sold out before the event kicked off on June 9 and most acts playing to packed houses, producers Reed and Sarah Cordingley couldn't be happier with how the week went. “It was the perfect year,” Reed said. While shows weren't as centralized as previous years, taking place anywhere from the upper reaches of Mount Pleasant to the dingiest dives in East Van, people managed to make the most of their passes. “We weren't able to keep them as close together this year,” Reed lamented, “but it sounds like people were still running around.”

Growing into much more than just a local music festival, this year's event included well-attended comedy shows, art exhibitions, and a series of free gigs at unorthodox venues like Budgies Burritos. “I like the idea of people playing at alternative spaces,” Reed said, adding that concertgoers can expect even more of these off-the-beaten-path experiences during next year's edition.