11 New Brunswick Music Festivals to Check Out this Summer
It’s finally summer and festival season is upon us.
For a small province, New Brunswick has a lot of music festivals that attract people from all over the world to both play and spectate. The season kicked off earlier this month with Midsummer Madness, but don’t worry, that’s was only the beginning.
No matter if you love folk or are the biggest electronic dance music fan, there’s a music festival happening in the province this summer for you.:
Here are some of the big ones:
Feels Good Folly Fest (June 23 to 25)
Located in Gagetown, Folly Fest provides a family-friendly weekend of camping, great music and local food, art, vendors and beer! This year’s festival is bringing in acts from all over Canada and as far away as Virginia and Israel including Ben Caplan, Keith Hallet, Weak Size Fish, Five Alarm Funk and many more.
Evolve (July 13 to 16)
For while this festival was held near Antigonish, Nova Scotia, but this year the festival has switched provinces and will be held on a 500-acre organic farm in Beersville, outside of Moncton. This year’s lineup includes the Sam Roberts Band, Xavier Rud, Bros and Radio Radio. Get ready to evolve.
Mud City Meltdown (July 25 to 30)
Taking place in venues throughout Moncton, Mud City Meltdown will be bringing lots of rock ‘n’ roll and attitude to the Hub City. This year’s lineup features The Headstones, Daniel Lanois, Les Hay Babies among many others.
Future Forest (July 28 to 31)
If electronic dance music and art is your thing, Future Forest is the festival for you. Located in the middle of the wilderness 30-minutes outside of Fredericton, the festival holds the philosophy that “there are no spectators at the event but rather participants who in some way contribute to the overall experience.”
Area 506 (Aug 5 to 6)
Now in its second year, Area 506 has quickly made a name for itself as one of the province’s biggest celebrations of all things New Brunswick. This year’s lineup includes Tegan and Sara, STARS, David Myles, The Strumbellas, Matt Mays and Bahamas.
RELATED: Area 506 Festival Announces 2017 All-Canadian Lineup
FreedomFest in the Field (Aug 11 to 14)
Taking place in Harvey N.B, FreedomFest boasts featuring every type of music under the sun, from jam bands to metal, from house to minimal DJs. This year’s lineup includes Civil Defense, Panda Bee Catastrophe, Jake Cormier, Tokyo Valentine and others.
Larlee Creek Hullabaloo (Aug 9 to 13)
The Perth-Andover is turning 10-years-old this year and it’s celebrating with its biggest lineup yet. This year’s festival will include Juno nominated artist Ria Mae, indie-folk favourites The Wooden Sky and the Maritime’s own Matt Minglewood.
RELATED: Juno Nominee Ria Mae Will Headline 10th Annual Larlee Creek Hullabaloo
Quality Block Party 1.2 (Aug 10 to 13)
After having an incredibly successful debut during East Coast Music Week in Saint John, organizers are the Quality Block Party are ready to do it all again this summer. This summer lineup hasn’t been announced yet, but the festival will feature 17 shows and 56 bands playing different venues throughout the uptown Saint John.
Messtival (Aug 5)
Taking place in Anagance, N.B., Messtival has become a cult favourite in the province’s festival scene. Messtival prides itself on its unique approach of using sarcasm when it comes to marketing the event. According to the website, it’s a method to “weed out people that take themselves too seriously.” This summer’s lineup includes the likes of Grand Theft Bus, Slowcoaster, Scientists of Sound, Dub Kartel and more. In other words, if you go to this festival, you’re going to have no fun at all. It will be just a terrible time.
Summer’s End Folk Festival (Aug 18 to 19)
Taking place on the small island of Grand Manan, Summer’s End Folk Festival is a mellow way to close you summer of festival going. This year’s lineup features artists like The Weather Station, Old Man Luedeke and Mama’s Broke.
Harvest Jazz and Blues (Sept 12 to 17)
Downtown Fredericton is basically a six-day party when Harvest is happening. The festival has gained an international reputation for bringing in the best national and international talent as well as local up-and-coming acts from Atlantic Canada. This year’s lineup includes Colin James, Bruce Cockburn, Steve Earl and the Dukes, Sloan and so much more.