Riverfest Elora announces 2017 line-up: MGMT, Monster Truck, Gogol Bordello, Mother Mother, K.Flay, Sloan, The Dirty Nil, Darcys, Shred Kelly, Little Scream and more...

I loved my time at Bissell Park in Elora Ontario last August. Riverfest Elora was a fantastically run and curated festival with an amazing crowd of music lovers, incredible bands, great food and an idlic location. You can check out all the pics of all the bands and all my coverage from 2016 here.

This year's festival looks just as good, if not better, with amazing artists like MGMT, Monster Truck, Gogol Bordello, Mother Mother, K.Flay, Sloan, The Dirty Nil, Darcys, Shred Kelly, Little Scream and many that are sure to become new favourites as I experience them.

Here are some photos of some of the artists playing this year's Riverfest that I've captured in the past, plus some of my favourite shots from last year. Do yourself a favour and don't miss this great festival. All the details are here.

The full line-up is:

Friday, August 18th, 2017

Monster Truck 

Mother Mother

Little Scream

The Kramdens

Samito

Saya

Safe As Houses

Saturday, August 19th, 2017

MGMT

K.Flay

DJ Jazzy Jeff & Skratch Bastid

Hollerado

Darcys

Polaris Prize The Band

The Dirty Nil

Shred Kelly

Partner

Motel Raphaël

Wax Mannequin 

Helena Deland

Saturdae Jonez

Mike Evin

Tara Beier

Odd Years

Band Of People

Brookside

Tipping Point

Sunday, August 20, 2017

Gogol Bordello

Sloan

USS

Austra

Hannah Georgas

Jenn Grant

Pocket Dwellers

Iskwe

Neon Dreams

My Son The Hurricane

Lee Watson

Lowlands

The Boo Radley Project

Avery Raquel

Broadway Draws

The Fergus Pipe Band (Celebrating 90 years!)

After Parties

Friday:

Rocket Queen (The World’s Most Dangerous Guns and Roses Tribute)

B.A. Johnston

Mountain Of Wolves

Skye Wallace

Saturday:

**SPECIAL SURPRISE PERFORMANCE**

Torero

Rose Cora Perry & The Truth Untold

Megan Nash

Sunday:  

Volunteer Party feat: The RFE House Band! 

Tool out on tour: Playing Hamilton's First Ontario Centre

Fans of Tool, and there are many of us, have been waiting an eternity in modern musical terms for their next album, and for almost as long for live dates. Well, one of those gaping holes in our souls is being filled by live dates. Check them all out here.

The one that's most exciting for my fellow Southern Ontarians is the show in Hamilton at the First Ontario Centre on May 31. I've been lucky enough to see this band twice, once at Toronto's Warehouse in 1996 and again in 1997 at Lollapalooza in Toronto. It's an absolutely amazing experience to hear their tunes cranked out at full concert volume.

Just a trio of my favourite Tool songs that I hope to hear at this show:

"Forty Six & 2"

"Prison Sex"

"Vicarious"

Photo from toolshed.down.net

CMW 2017: The Honest Heart Collective at Adelaide Hall - Concert Photos

The Honest Heart Collective from the frosty environs of Thunder Bay Ontario headlined the first night of CMW 2017 at Adelaide Hall. They are a really solid rock band and were the perfect band to cap off one of the best nights of new rock I have spent in ages.

Musicianship, melody, power, energy, solid songs, groove and rock all rolled up into a great package. They even threw in a rockin' cover of The Killers "When You Were Young" and they worked some Foo Fighters' "Best of You" into their last song.

"Haymaker"

"Liar's Club"

"Honest Hearts"

"149"

CMW 2017: Texas King at Adelaide Hall - Concert Photos

London, Ontario's Texas King came to CMW to rock. A seemingly simple mission that so many bands embark on but so few are truly successful at. The success seemed easy for Texas King as they sweated out a set of really good, high-power blues-rock with classic riffs mixed in with abundant energy and attitude.

It was power pop and high-energy rock at its finest. I was thinking I forgot the classic rockers whose influences were on display like Eddie Money, Cheap Trick, Billy Squire and Bruce Springsteen when Texas King whipped out their cover of The Boss' "Dancing in the Dark". Nice!

Go see these guys. Really. You won't regret it.

"Boomerang"

"Mary"

"Come Find Me"

"All We Are"