Contributed by Revelstoke Arts Council
This summer, the Revelstoke Arts Council will present a brand new look and line-up for the Revelstoke Summer Street Fest.
For the first time there will be a different band every night, with only one band playing twice in the whole festival. Some nights there are two or three bands playing, with a total of 70 acts over the 66 consecutive nights, starting Saturday, June 24.
Bands touring internationally from all over the world are stopping by Revelstoke on their way to some of the best-loved festivals in North America. To complement this new twist and fresh programming there is also a new design for the Revelstoke Summer Street Fest T-shirts featuring a cool abstract guitar, and a bright and colourful rack card and poster to match.
Some highlights from this year’s festival include the opening band Lucette, a rising star from Edmonton with a groovy mix of country and Americana, on Saturday, June 24.
A similarly awesome musician will be closing street fest on Sunday, August 27. Australian indigenous singer/songwriter Benny Walker will perform his latest songs, mixing blues and roots with a contemporary guitar driven soul vibe.
Some of the best bands in the line-up are playing mid-week and not on the weekend as they are usually booked up by bigger festivals, so it is worth keeping an eye-out for those Monday and Tuesday night headliners. For example, one highlight out of Dunster, B.C., is Samson’s Delilah of Mamaguroove fame, who will perform a funky combination of world-beats and socially-conscious lyrics on August 1.
The Long War just won the CBC Searchlight Competition; they will be playing on August 19, with two other up-and-coming bands – Small Town Artillery and Year of the Wolf – supporting them.
The Lunas are also rising stars. This indie-pop band plays street fest on August 18. They are young, charismatic, and will leave you humming their tunes without you realizing it.
There are bands from all over Canada. Bella Cat (June 27), dubbed ‘the Princess of Soul’ hails from Ottawa; FRASE is a soul slanging singer, multi-instrumentalist and beat maker from Montreal; The MKND and Retrofile (July 19) are indie bands coming to us from Edmonton.
Then there are the international groups. Sister Speak (August 25) is a street fest favourite from San Diego, the Gabriel Palatchi Trio (July 17) play an original blend of latin jazz, funk and electronic music from Argentina; and from Australia we have Feelds’ (August 3) melody-infused folk with pop sensibilities.
A couple of new bands to look out for are The Wooden Horsemen (July 20) who fuse elements of raw blues, soul and rock with Latin and African rhythms; Red Haven (August 2), with their original gypsy jazz/indie pop mash up; and Emily Rockarts (August 4) with her catchy and endearing story-based pop songs.
If you are into folk, country and bluegrass there are is a great selection for you too including Jackson Hollow, Last Horse Standing, Bees and the Bare Bones.
If you are a celtic music lover, there is the Ewan Macintyre Band (July 28) and The Irish Wakers (August 15).
Canada Day will feature popular and up-beat Staggers and Jaggs. In this genre we also have returning bands Compassion Guerilla (August 13), Blackberry Wood (July 9) and Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra (July 29) returning. All these bands have a much loved, big sound with brass sections that always get people dancing.
To add to this mix there is the amazing Class Action, the coolest ska band out of Calgary. Don’t miss their infectiously high-energy performance.
The Eisenhauers (July 7), Chicken-Like Birds (July 10) and The Tappalachian String Band (June 30) are all from our area and play raw, beautiful, blue-grass melodies. All three of these bands are favourites at the Revelstoke Coffee House.
These are just a few bands out of 70 who made the line-up this year. Head down to Grizzly Plaza this summer to see for yourselves.
Revelstoke Summer Street Fest kicks off on June 24 and continues for 66 consecutive nights until August 27, from 6:30–9:30 p.m. every night.
The complete schedule follows:
JUNE
24 Sat – Lucette
25 Sun – Community Band
26 Mon – Maritime Kitchen Party
27 Tue – Bella Cat
28 Wed – Last Horse Standing
29 Thu – Tanner James
30 Fri – The Tappalachain String Band
JULY
1 Sat – The Staggers & Jaggs
2 Sun – Parson Jazz Co-op
3 Mon – The Rise
4 Tue – Jackson Hollow
5 Wed – Johnny P. Johnson
6 Thu – Devon Coyote
7 Fri – The Eisenhauers
8 Sat – The OM Sound
9 Sun – Blackberry Wood
10 Mon – Chicken-Like Birds
11 Tue – Ben Sures
12 Wed – Nova Scotiables
13 Thu – John Jenkins’ Small Town Revival
14 Fri – Nova Scotiables
15 Sat – Class Action
16 Sun – Charlie Burton
17 Mon – Gabriel Palatchi Trio
18 Tue – Ben Rogers
19 Wed – The MNKD/Retrofile
20 Thu – The Wooden Horsemen
21 Fri – Under the Rocks
22 Sat – Nice Verdes
23 Sun – Partial to Pie
24 Mon – That Girl and Earl
25 Tue – Mat Duffus
26 Wed – Zonnis
27 Thu – Stacie Byrne, Bruce Thomas & The Rev
28 Fri – Ewan Macintyre Band
29 Sat – Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra
30 Sun – Uncorked!
31 Mon – Sam Spades
AUGUST
1 Tue – Samson’s Delilah
2 Wed – Red Haven
3 Thu – Feelds
4 Fri – Emily Rockarts
5 Sat – Joanne Stacey
6 Sun – The Pinapple Express
7 Mon – Lo-fi Uppercut
8 Tue – FRASE
9 Wed – Saskia and Darrel
10 Thu – The Wild Romantics
11 Fri – Flint & Feather
12 Sat – Bees and the Bare Bones
13 Sun – Compassion Gorilla
14 Mon – ENTANGADOS
15 Tue – The Irish Wakers
16 Wed – Lindsey Walker Band
17 Thu – The Smith Fraser Duo
18 Fri – The Lunas
19 Sat – The Long War/Small Town Artillery/Year of the Wolf
20 Sun – Mountain Music Duo
21 Mon – Dawson Rutledge
22 Tue – Bob Rogers Quartet
23 Wed – The Basic Needs
24 Thu – Willy Gaw Quartet
25 Fri – Sister Speak
26 Sat – Darlene Ketchum Quartet
27 Sun – Benny Walker Band