The music world, and myself personally, are still reeling from the loss of Canadian musical icon Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip. This year's Sunday line-up at Hillside's main stage closed out with a special performance by The Skydiggers, joined by The Tragically Hip's Paul Langlois.
I didn't catch the whole set, but the ending was magical, with Tragically Hip tunes "Nautical Disaster" and "Wheat Kings" followed by "End of the Line" by The Travelling Wilburys.
Hope you enjoy the tunes below and will click here to check out a master Hillside 2019 post that includes links to everything we covered this year.
I've seen The Skydiggers once before, at TURF back in 2015. Those photos are here if you want to take a look.
Day 2 of The Toronto Urban Roots Festival took place on September 19. Rain threatened and then followed through on the threat during The Strumbellas' set. It dampened us but not our spirits as the day continued with more of the fantastic music and festival atmosphere that we have grown to expect at TURF.
If you missed my individual posts, here's all of day two in one place.
The Skydiggers are legends of Canadian music. They closed down the South Stage on the second day of this year's Toronto Urban Roots Festival. It was fantastic to catch these great musicians do what they do best. They've got quite a few shows during December, so get out and take in the beautiful music that they produce. Tour dates are on their site.
So many important things happening today. First, it's 420.
Second, today's the day that The Toronto Urban Roots Festival, TURF for short, has unveiled their line-up for 2015! The big names include Of Monsters and Men, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Wilco, The Avett Brothers, Neko Case, UB40, Cake and Lord Huron. Also on the bill are Desaparecidos featuring Connor Oberst, Deerhunter, Built to Spill, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Shakey Graves and Will Butler. I'm personally excited about some more of the small-print acts like Fishbone, Skydiggers, The Elwins, NQ Aruckle, Ron Hawkins and the Do Good Assassins and Restorations. In total, there will be 46 acts across three stages, so more acts will be announced as we get closer to the show date.
Due to the Pan-Am Games, the festival is later than usual. It's scheduled for September 18-20 at Fort York Garrison Commons. This year's focus is on the Toronto scene with a local artist kicking things off on each of the three stages each day. The biggest challenge that I see for TURF is the other festivals, including Riot Fest, that are scheduled for the same weekend.
TURF ticket info:
Earlybird Tier One 3 Day Passes, 3 Day Front of Stage VIP Passes, and 3 Day VIP Plus Passes go on sale Thursday April 23 at noon through Ticketfly, and then at Rotate This, Soundscapes, and The Horseshoe Tavern Friday April 24 at noon
Earlybird Tier One ticket sales end on Wednesday June 10 at Midnight
Single day line-ups and tickets will be announced June 8 and on sale June 11
The Club Bonus Series, which features many of the festival performers, appearing in venues like Lee's Palace and The Horseshoe Tavern, is back and will be announced in early July
Here are some of the acts that I'm most looking forward to. Of course, one of the things that I like best about TURF is the acts that I discover by seeing them at the festival.
Of Monsters and Men
The Avett Brothers
Neko Case
Desaparecidos
Deerhunter
Built to Spill
St. Paul and the Broken Bones - quite the build-up from Mr. Letterman. I think these guys will put on a super-fun show.
Fishbone - I haven't seen these guys since the second Lollapalooza tour back in 1993
Skydiggers
Chuck Ragan
The Elwins
NQ Arbuckle
Ron Hawkins and DGA (Do Good Assassins)
Restorations - really like what I hear on first listen. Look for a more in-depth post on these guys.
Just in case you missed it, you can see all my TURF coverage from 2014 and 2013 by clicking right here. I've got pics of such artists as July Talk, Gogol Bordello, Gaslight Anthem, Hey Rosetta!, Drive-By Truckers, Shovels & Rope, Black Joe Lewis, Deer Tick, Gary Clark Jr., London Souls, The Hold Steady, Frank Turner, Lowest of the Low, Matt Mays, Dawes and more.
