5 acts you need to see at Hamilton festivals this summer
Ahhh, festival season – the time of year to gorge yourself on deep fried food truck deliciousness and complain that the beer garden isn't close enough to the stage.
Tons of bands – both local and otherwise – are also rolling through town. In the spirit of celebrating all the (largely free) music in Hamilton this summer, here are five acts you really need to check out at a festival this year.
I Mother Earth at It's Your Festival
For everyone still griping about the Festival of Friends' move to Ancaster, It's Your Festival should help fill the void.
Canadian 90s rock stalwart I Mother Earth is headlining the free festival's July 10 date, and the band's live show hasn't lost a step since its platinum-selling heyday. Anyone who is a fan of proggy alternative rock (or who just wants to sing along to One More Astronaut) should check this out.
Brothers Jag and Christian Tanna are from Hamilton, too – so show them a little hometown love.
Lemon Bucket Orkestra at Hamilton World Music Festival
The Lemon Bucket Orkestra describes itself as a Balkan klezmer gypsy party punk band. That should be enough on its own to get you to Gage Park to check them out.
The band is a giant 14-piece collective that blends that distinctive klezmer sound with a punk ethos à la Gogol Bordello. It's a live show that you really shouldn't miss.
Lemon Bucket Orkestra is headlining the main stage of the World Music Festival in Gage Park on July 19.
Rich Aucoin at Supercrawl
Understandably, funk and soul revivalists Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and local favourites Monster Truck dominated the Supercrawl lineup announcement last month.
But you owe it to yourself to see Halifax's Rich Aucoin, too. His live show features tight indie pop, confetti cannons and the giant parachute from your fourth grade gym class.
This video gives you a little taste of what it's like – but the only real way to experience a Rich Aucoin show is to do it dancing with sweaty strangers and singing along under the parachute.
Supercrawl runs from Friday, Sept. 11 to Sunday Sept. 14 in downtown Hamilton.
Buffy Sainte Marie at The Festival of Friends
Singer-songwriter and activist Buffy Sainte-Marie is no doubt one of the most acclaimed Canadian artists playing in Hamilton this summer.
She's a true innovator, and is touring on the back of her new record called Power in the Blood, which has been hailed as both parts fierce and lyrical.
This is a thinking person's music, sung by someone with decades of lived experience. Sainte-Marie is playing the Festival of Friends' Aug. 9 show.
Bahamas at The Greenbelt Harvest Picnic
Hometown stars Arkells take top billing at the Greenbelt Harvest Picnic this year, but you should also make a point of going to see Afie Jurvanen – better known by his stage name, Bahamas.
Jurvanen took home songwriter of the year honours at the Junos this year, as well as the award for adult alternative album of the year for the album Bahamas is Afie.
There's just something about the idyllic shores of Christie Lake that screams, "This is the right place to listen to Bahamas."
Well, maybe it doesn't scream it – whispers might be more accurate. But you get the idea. The Greenbelt Harvest Picnic takes place Aug. 29.