Vancouver International Jazz Festival | coastaljazz.ca
June 21-30, 2024 (Vancouver, BC)
Who’s Playing: Killer Mike, Julian Lage, Veronica Swift, The Messthetics, Sumac, Irreversible Entanglements, Aja Monet, Lakecia Benjamin, We All Break
Contrary to some of the other officially-titled jazz, blues and folk fests across Canada, the one held in Vancouver stays a little truer to its mentioned genre in the purest sense of the word – save for Killer Mike excitingly continuing his quest to hit up just about every single one in Canada this year. With free performances taking places at stages across downtown and individually ticketed shows – many at some quite affordable price points – in some of the city’s finest venues, prepare for the city’s jazz scene to come to life.
Price: Individual shows, prices will vary
TD Jazz Fest | montrealjazzfest.com
June 27-July 6, 2024 (Montreal, QC)
Who’s Playing: Andre 3000, Norah Jones, Laufey, Killer Mike, Hiatus Kaiyote, Freddie Gibbs x El Michels Affair, Pink Martini, Cory Wong, Future Islands
It’d be pretty difficult to put together much of a better triple-bill at the top of a jazz festival’s list of headliners than putting a consummate legend like Norah Jones right beside Laufey, the TikTok sensation reinvigorating interest in jazz for a new generation, and Andre 3000, whose leap into ambient jazz-flute with his latest album inspired simultaneous confusion and wonder. Looking further into the lineup reveals one of the nation’s most stacked undercards, with many more genres represented. All descending on Montreal for ten wild nights, the shows are individually priced, so snap up your favourites before they’re gone.
Price: Individual shows, prices will vary
FestiVoix | festivoix.com
June 27-July 7, 2024 (Trois-Rivieres, QC)
Who’s Playing: Rise Against, Flo Rida, Cypress Hill, Charlotte Cardin, +Live+, Dean Lewis, Pennywise, Goldfinger, Guttermouth
Another one with a truly impressive price point given the star power of some of its headliners and its nine-day runtime spanning approximately 100 shows, Trois-Rivieres’ festival held on the banks of the St. Lawrence River has been going strong for 30 years and counting. With one of the most sonically diverse sets of top performers on this list, it’s easy to see why around 350,000 people pass through the gates of the festival each year (that’s around three Coachellas).
Price: $77 weekend pass ($425 VIP pass)
Laketown Shakedown | laketownshakedown.com
June 28-30, 2024 (Cowichan, BC)
Who’s Playing: Gwen Stefani, Busta Rhymes, bbno$, Grandson, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Neon Steve, Miina, Murge, The Free Label
During this festival’s first iterations, it was described as BC’s best destination for “bluegrass and old-time music.” In recent years, however, it’s become a little more like another Vancouver Island festival, Rifflandia, in terms of its fun-loving spirit and rare big-name legacy pulls – recent headliners have included Smash Mouth, Shaggy, Aqua and Snoop Dogg, and this year finds hip-hop royalty mingling with a seemingly reinvigorated Gwen Stefani (did you catch the spectacular No Doubt Coachella set?) and a handful of local partystarters. Held on Laketown Ranch in the heart of the Island, it’s also an ideal camping destination.
Price: $291 weekend pass ($773 VIP pass)
Mariposa Folk Festival | mariposafolk.com
July 5-7, 2024 (Orillia, ON)
Who’s Playing: Old Crow Medicine Show, Bahamas, Band of Horses, Noah Cyrus, William Prince, Bruce Cockburn, Maestro Fresh Wes, Donovan Woods, Dwayne Gretzky
We’re calling it – any festival with the bright idea to put Bruce Cockburn and Maestro Fresh Wes in the same place is going to be one of the best choices you can make this summer. Held by Lake Simcoe up north from Toronto, be ready to set up your tent and take in over 100 performances across three days and a massive eleven stages. The festival’s website promises to “promote and preserve folk art in Canada, and the world through song, story, dance and craft.”
Price: $229 weekend pass
Festival D’Ete | feq.ca
July 4-14 2024 (Quebec City, QC)
Who’s Playing: Nickelback, 50 Cent, Jonas Brothers, The Offspring, Alan Walker, Zac Brown Band, Post Malone, J Balvin, Motley Crue
Always packing in the nation’s most impressive bang for your buck when it comes to the sheer star power on display, FEQ represents a true endurance test for music fans ready to make the trek to Quebec City – 11 straight days of madness, each day ending with a headliner ready to pack arenas, and a pass to the entire slate of festivities costing only $150. Taking place on the historic Plains of Abraham, it’s a multi-genre slate that’s sure to wear out both your dancing shoes and your voice – all being worth it, of course.
Price: $150 weekend pass ($970 VIP pass)
Ottawa Blues Fest | ottawabluesfest.com
July 4-14, 2024 (Ottawa, ON)
Who’s Playing: Mother Mother, Nickelback, 50 Cent, Maroon 5, Zac Brown Band, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Tyler Childers, Motley Crue, Nas
In their thirtieth year and boasting a handful of record-smashing industry titans on each of their nine nights – whether you want to scream some of the most ubiquitous pop hits in a massive crowd, bring back your hair metal days, revive greatest-of-all-time hip-hop debates from the 90s and 2000s or simply bask in the presence of Neil Young – Ottawa Bluesfest is one of the most extensive and exhaustive music fest parties you can find (check out that VIP price tag!). Held at LeBreton Flats Park, don’t worry if you’re a blues purist – there’s a stage dedicated to it as well.
Price: $416 weekend pass ($3358 VIP pass)
FVDED In The Park | fvdedinthepark.com
July 5-6, 2024 (Vancouver, BC)
Who’s Playing: Swedish House Mafia, KX5 (Kaskade & Deadmau5), Chase & Status, Chris Lake, Diplo, Gryffin, Slander, Zeds Dead, Wax Motif
After the 2023 iteration was unfortunately cancelled, FVDED is returning to Surrey’s Holland Park this year. On top of the wait, a bill featuring Swedish House Mafia, a recent Coachella headliner and renowned worldwide for their captivating live performances and light shows, and a team-up between two of progressive house’s finest in Kx5 means that things might get even more wild than they usually do. While the festival often sprinkled in a little hip-hop and R&B to go with their electronic acts, this year it’s looking more like a straight-up public park rave.
Price: $315 weekend pass ($471 VIP pass)
Winnipeg Folk Festival | winnipegfolkfestival.ca
July 11-14, 2024 (Winnipeg, MB)
Who’s Playing: Mt. Joy, Orville Peck, Lucinda Williams, Band of Horses, Shakey Graves, Noah Cyrus, Killer Mike, Grace Potter, Cowboy Junkies
Combining some of the most exciting folk stars of the past and present year after year, we know that there are a lot of big-city “folk festivals,” but Winnipeg’s is one in every sense of the word. With a schedule that minimizes conflicts as the artists take one of two stages in Birds Hill Provincial Park, it’s easy to catch just about everyone you want to see. That means attendees get to take in the legendary Lucinda Williams at the same time as new genre converts like Noah Cyrus, the alt-country of the progressively more unmasked Orville Peck, and folk-fest wildcard Killer Mike, bringing along his own gospel choir.
Price: $288 weekend pass
Bass Coast | basscoast.ca
July 12-15, 2024 (Merritt, BC)
Who’s Playing: Leikeli47, Of The Trees, Machinedrum, Mat The Alien, Smalltown DJs, The Funk Hunters, The Librarian, Ivy Lab, Bianca Oblivion
Bass Coast’s art installations, light shows, futuristic layouts and stage designs, and of course, the naturally stunning location set against the Okanagan hills is what has made this electronic music festival an institution. With a lineup featuring some of the electronic underground’s finest – and a couple highlights from other genres sprinkled throughout, like avant-garde hip-hop headliner Leikeli47 – Bass Coast has racked up awards naming it one of the best festivals the continent has to offer.
Price: $439 weekend pass
Le Festif! | lefestif.ca
July 18-21, 2024 (Baie-Saint-Paul, QC)
Who’s Playing: Half Moon Run, Karkwa, Ibibio Sound Machine, Soul Glo, Model/Actriz, TEKE::TEKE, Charlotte Cornfield, Gayance, Haviah Mighty
Returning for its landmark 15th edition, Le Festif has been one of the fastest-growing festivals in the nation – expanding from 2 thousand to around 40 thousand attendees since first arriving on the scene in 2010. With a genre-spanning lineup that includes some of the most critically acclaimed indie talent you can find anywhere – including quite a few who have been featured in RANGE – and a penchant for innovation (there’s even been a floating stage, with an audience in inner tubes, installed on the St. Lawrence in past years), it’s easy to understand why.
Price: $300 weekend pass
Tall Pines Music Festival | tallpinesfestival.com
July 19-20, 2024 (Gravenhurst, ON)
Who’s Playing: City & Colour, July Talk, Dan Mangan, JJ Wilde, Chloe Doucet, Spencer Burton, The Sarandons, Texas King, Boston Levi
With a lineup spanning country, folk and indie-rock, there’s not a much better place to take in the array of sounds Tall Pines has to offer than the striking backdrops of Muskoka Wharf. Although the festival itself is taking a short hop over to Gull Lake Park, on the other side of the small town of Gravenhurst (just north of Barrie), the camping and canoeing still serves as a main portion of the outdoor-focused festival. In fact, there are just 15 acts playing – but each one of them comes with some serious pedigree. Lose yourself in the woods with a great soundtrack.
Price: $248 weekend pass ($331 VIP pass)
Calgary Folk Music Festival | calgaryfolkfest.com
July 25-28, 2024 (Calgary, AB)
Who’s Playing: The Roots, James Vincent McMorrow, Ben Howard, Cowboy Junkies, Booker T, Fantastic Negrito, KT Tunstall, Wild Rivers, Leif Vollebekk
Billed as a “four-day family-friendly cultural and musical extravaganza,” Calgary’s take on the folk fest does remain a little truer to its genre description, recruiting some legendary storytellers of the past and exciting acts of the present in equal measure. Running since 1980 in Prince’s Island Park, this year’s celebration boasts the festival’s most extensive lineup of all time, with over 70 artists. Not only that, kids 12 and under get in for free!
Price: $215 weekend pass
Terminus | terminus-festival.com
July 25-28, 2024 (Calgary, AB)
Who’s Playing: Mareux, Nuovo Testamento, Night Club, Images In Vogue, Kontravoid, Rein, Inhalt, Male Tears, Urban Heat
After last year’s tenth anniversary celebration, Calgary’s celebration of all things synthpop and darkwave is returning once again. Each year brings a new subtitle to the festival – Ignition, Monolith, Apex and the like – and this year’s is Synthesis, which the festival have stated is because all of the successful elements of years past will be coming together (and because of all the synthesizers, of course). With some of the most acclaimed darkwave acts from all over the globe – including quite a few who will be playing their first ever shows in Canada – the festival takes place at Dickens Pub, a local favourite in the queer and goth scenes.
Price: $278 weekend pass
Shambhala | shambhalamusicfestival.com
July 26-29, 2024 (Salmo, BC)
Who’s Playing: Chromeo, Dillon Francis, Disclosure, Anderson .Paak, Excision, James Blake, Clozee, San Holo, Subtronics
If you’ve taken a look at any of our coverage in recent years, you’d already know that you never know what to expect at this eastern BC festival with a reputation for Burning Man-style antics from its attendees. One of the nation’s longest-running electronic festivals, this year sees a couple big names that are more on the fringes of the genre, dropping in to play DJ sets alongside the respected turntablists – Chromeo, Anderson .Paak and James Blake, for example. With the festival celebrating its 25th birthday, this mountainside meeting should be going all out.
Price: $549 weekend pass
Osheaga | osheaga.com
August 2-4, 2024 (Montreal, QC)
Who’s Playing: SZA, Green Day, Noah Kahan, Melanie Martinez, Smashing Pumpkins, Hozier, Dominic Fike, Martin Garrix, Justice
Canada’s biggest music and arts festival has always felt a little like a Coachella of the north – swapping the deserts out for Montreal’s Parc Jean-Drapeau, tucked away on an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence River. This year’s headliners include megastars from all genres and eras – with a couple electronic titans, legacy rock acts and a bill all building up to SZA closing down the fest on Sunday night, but their biggest move this year seems to be capitalizing on the folksy singer-songwriter boom.
Price: $395 weekend pass ($1620 VIP pass)
VELD Music Festival | veldmusicfestival.com
August 2-4, 2024 (Toronto, ON)
Who’s Playing: Alan Walker, Alesso, Kaskade, Marshmello, Martin Garrix, Oliver Heldens, Steve Aoki, Wax Motif, Black Tiger Sex Machine
It’s easy to find electronic festivals with big names all throughout the country, but nobody brings them all together quite like VELD. The biggest EDM festival in the nation, it packs thousands of fans into Toronto’s Downsview Park, which is transformed with an array of neon lights. Alongside the superstars dotting the top half of the lineup, be sure not to miss Eric Prydz bringing his famed HOLO show to Toronto for the first time, or Sam Feldt and Jonas Blue’s B2B teamup – titled Endless Summer, to fully embody the vibes that this festival held at the season’s height will bring.
Price: $384 weekend pass ($483 VIP pass)
Boots and Hearts | bootsandhearts.com
August 8-11, 2024 (Oro-Medonte, ON)
Who’s Playing: Jason Aldean, Thomas Rhett, Cody Johnson, Carly Pearce, Matchbox Twenty, Brothers Osborne, Nate Smith, Needtobreathe, Megan Moroney
Anyone who’s been paying attention to pop culture in recent years knows it – country’s back to being the biggest genre in the world, so why not head to North America’s biggest country festival outside of Nashville? Found an hour north of Toronto on Burl’s Creek Event Grounds, the festival made it their goal to expand and add a couple more rock performers last year, and they’ve continued by inviting acts like Matchbox Twenty and NEEDTOBREATHE to join the country heavy-hitters this year. Whether you’d rather take in the bro-country stylings of Aldean or Rhett or get a little more alternative with Brothers Osborne, it’ll be a honky-tonk get-down for the ages.
Price: $412 weekend pass ($806 VIP pass)
Punk In Drublic | punkindrublicfest.com
August 8-11, 2024 (Edmonton, AB) / August 17-18, 2024 (Toronto, ON) / August 24-25, 2024 (Montreal, QC)
Who’s Playing: NOFX, Descendent, The Interrupters, Circle Jerks, The Suicide Machines, Adolescents, Subhumans, The Flatliners, Codefendants
If one of your favoured festivals on this list isn’t coming to a city near you, worry not – this festival functions more like a tour, hitting three cities in Canada as well as trekking across Australia, Europe and the USA. Headlined by NOFX on their farewell tour, each city will have a slightly different lineup, but all will deliver the punk-rock thrills that only Fat Mike and his contemporaries can provide. In addition to the music – as you might expect from the festival’s title – Punk in Drublic also functions as a craft beer festival, so be sure to find a new favourite brew.
Price: $202 weekend pass
IleSoniq | ilesoniq.com
August 9-11, 2024 (Montreal, QC)
Who’s Playing: Tiesto, Zedd, DJ Snake, Loud Luxury, Timmy Trumpet, Paul Kalkbrenner, Ben Bohmer, Idris Elba, Audien & Jason Ross
If Osheaga isn’t really your vibe, all you have to do is wait until the very next weekend for IleSoniq to take over the exact same festival grounds at Parc Jean-Drapeau. With a couple of electronic music’s biggest crowd commanders in Tiesto, Zedd and DJ Snake – as well as a former People Magazine Sexiest Man Alive – behind the boards, the stages are divided up to represent different subgenres. So whether it’s big-room dance, techno or house that gets you in the mood to throw your inhibitions out the window, get ready for a rave in the park.
Price: $235 weekend pass ($1120 VIP pass)
Paris Drinks Festival | parisdrinks.ca
August 16-17, 2024 (Paris, ON)
Who’s Playing: Wintersleep, Dwayne Gretzky, Two Hours Traffic, Boy Golden, Julianna Riolino, Talia Schlanger
The only festival on our list with the food and drink billed even higher than the music, this event held right down the road from Hamilton will feature three performances per day from Canadian indie rock, folk and country acts – all to be enjoyed while enjoying the scenery of Lions Park and sampling the wares of local food trucks and alcoholic beverages of all varieties imaginable. One of the best ways we can conceive of to kick back and enjoy a late-summer Ontario weekend.
Price: $79 weekend pass
MUTEK | montreal.mutek.org
August 20-25, 2024 (Montreal, QC)
Who’s Playing: Colin Stetson, Marie Davidson, Ela Minus, Roman Flugel, Kode9, Octo Octa, Priori & Jek, Malibu, Mathew Jonson
Another one on our list celebrating an important milestone in 2024, Montreal’s festival dedicated to electronic music and “digital creativity” is gearing up for their 25th birthday. Spanning across six days, if you have a favourite electronic subgenre that’s too niche for every other big-room EDM fest, you’ll be able to find it at MUTEK. It’s the kind of festival that really celebrates the technical aspect behind it all as much as the music itself, with talks and workshops accompanying the festivities.
Price: $400 weekend pass
All Your Friends | allyourfriendsfestival.com
August 23-24, 2024 (Oro-Medonte, ON)
Who’s Playing: Fall Out Boy, Billy Talent, Jimmy Eat World, The All-American Rejects, Dashboard Confessional, Silverstein, Plain White T’s, Mayday Parade, Grandson
Las Vegas’ When We Were Young Festival created a massive online stir when its emo-heavy lineup of its 2022 iteration was announced, and it seems like Canada might have its own answer. Held on the same expansive festival grounds as Boots & Hearts festival two weeks after the cowboys head out, the lineup of this one focuses primarily on third-wave emo – in other words, the moment where it had become a true cultural juggernaut in the mid-2000s. It doesn’t miss a beat when it comes to who you might expect to see on the lineup, so don’t forget to wear black.
Price: $312 weekend pass ($574 VIP pass)
Purple City | purplecityfest.com
September 6-8, 2024 (Edmonton, AB)
Who’s Playing: Gustaf, Urban Heat, Conan, Spoon Benders, ACTORS, Pelada, Total Chaos, and more.
This year’s lineup boasts a roster of over 70 stellar artists, celebrating some of the most vibrant, diverse and innovative sounds from the global music scene. Headliner’s include: New York City Art Punks Gustaf, Austin Texas’ goth heavyweights Urban Heat, British doom metal Conan, rising psych rock stars Spoon Benders, the return of iconic west coast post punk outfit ACTORS, the acid drenched techno brutalism of Pelada, and the definitive American hardcore punk rock of Total Chaos. Also featured in the first wave lineup is St. Louis, Missouri synth punk The Mall, Vancouver’s rising dark wave stars LEATHERS, local stoner rock legends Black Mastiff, the electronic body horror of San Antonio industrial artist MVTANT, Austin’s protest thrash metal Bondbreakr, the Persian grunge laced doom of Gadfly, and Puerto Rican punks RATAS.
Price: $100 weekend pass
Rifflandia | rifflandia.com
September 13-15, 2024 (Victoria, BC)
Who’s Playing: TLC, Rezz, Feist, Ja Rule, Oliver Tree, The Beaches, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, De La Soul, Channel Tres
Even though Rifflandia announced the lineup day by day this year – nicely corresponding with different price points depending on how early you snag the tickets – much like the festival’s prior lineups that featured some of the rarest finds on the festival circuit, the final product was certainly worth the wait. Moving back to a single weekend and a new location a couple blocks down the street at Rock Bay, the festival takes place on the final weekend of summer, offering a last party with legacy acts, local favourites and acclaimed indie stars across all genres before the seasons get colder.
Price: $339 weekend pass
