Illustration by Hayden Maynard
Summer Culture Preview • Theatre • Television • Movies • Visual Arts • Albums
Nourished by Time
Under the moniker Nourished by Time, Baltimore singer-producer Marcus Brown has spent the past few years steadily releasing music that dances around the constraints of traditional R&B. The result, most wonderfully fleshed out on last year’s Erotic Probiotic 2, is profoundly fun. With three Canadian stops on his first headlining tour – Bar Le Ritz in Montreal on June 14; the Baby G in Toronto on June 16; and Fox Cabaret in Vancouver on June 24 – it’s a chance to get in on the ground floor with an artist whose creativity suggests we’ll be hearing him for years. Josh O’Kane
Green Day with Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid and the Linda Lindas
The Saviors Tour, which hits Toronto’s Rogers Centre on Aug. 1, has something to offer any aging nineties-rock fan with several hundred bucks to spare. Green Day, the goofy progenitors of pop-punk’s entry into the mainstream, will be performing all of 1994′s Dookie and 2004′s American Idiot. For the more self-serious crowd, the Smashing Pumpkins will surely keep Torontonians swaying listlessly. (That’s a Simpsons joke.) Rancid offers something in-between: a more serious brand of punk that will absolutely be out of place in a stadium but will no doubt be extremely fun. JOK
Alvvays, Wintersleep, Aysanabee, Motherhood and LOVEOVER
If you want an enthusiastic show, find a band or crowd of Maritimers. I have almost accidentally elbowed a sitting New Brunswick premier who was in the crowd at an indie-rock concert in Fredericton; I have seen a sold-out room full of Germans chant the words of Weighty Ghost back at Nova Scotia’s Wintersleep in Cologne. When that band joins forces with fellow regional heroes Alvvays – who’ve received similar global acclaim in recent years – to headline the first night of Area 506 in Saint John on Aug. 2, you’ll find a crowd and musical match made in heaven. JOK
Waxahatchee with Woods
Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield has been releasing endlessly listenable music since 2012. In a few years, she may have reason to go on an eras tour: After traversing the worlds of alt-rock and bedroom folk, the Alabamian’s pandemic-era pivot to country resulted in a well-earned audience surge. Waxahatchee’s live show has become well-honed and thrilling; Vancouverites should snatch up tickets to this Aug. 16 show now, if only for the harmonies on Right Back to It alone. JOK
Metallica
Metal’s most celebrated thrashers have found a way to share more of their catalogue with each city they play: by holding two concerts over three days – this year’s only Canadian dates are Aug. 23 and 25 at the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton – with no overlapping setlists. Sure, the M72 World Tour’s structure means either shelling out for two concerts or risking not hearing Master of Puppets or Enter Sandman. But the megafans who treat themselves to both shows will hear far more Metallica than they’d get in one marathon three-hour show. And look: Now that stadium rock’s foremost speed demons, Lars Ulrich and Kirk Hammett, are in their 60s, they probably need an extra night’s rest after a show. JOK
Out of This World Tour – The Missy Elliott Experience
After first entering the Billboard Hot 100 chart with Sock It 2 Me in 1997, the American rapper Missy Elliott has been regularly socking it to us ever since. One thing the four-time Grammy winner has not done, however, is headline her own tour. This blank spot on her résumé will be rectified with a North American jaunt that stops at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena (July 4), Montreal’s Bell Centre (Aug. 17) and Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena (Aug. 19 and 20). Tour co-stars are long-time collaborators Busta Rhymes, Ciara and Timbaland. Brad Wheeler
Elisapie, at Festival d’été de Québec
“There are so many energies,” Inuk singer-songwriter Elisapie told The Globe and Mail way back in 2010. “I sometimes wonder, where do I go?” Last year, she visited the past to record Inuktitut, 10 ethereal and emotional interpretations of the pop hits and classic-rock staples of her youth, such as Blondie’s Heart of Glass and Metallica’s The Unforgiven, all sang in the Inuktitut language. Look for Quebec’s Elisapie to shine at an eclectically curated Quebec festival (July 4 to 14) that boasts everyone from Post Malone to Motley Crue and Karkwa to Kansas. B.W.
Canmore Folk Music Festival
Music meets mountains at Alberta’s long-running folk festival, Aug. 3-5. Talent includes Lido Pimienta, Boy Golden and his Church of Better Daze, Dan Mangan, Elisapie, Jeremy Dutcher and more. Country-rock icons Blue Rodeo finishes the three days in August with a performance of its classic 1993 album, Five Days in July. B.W.
Sammy Hagar’s The Best of All Worlds Tour
With all apologies to Pink, anybody can start a party. Sammy Hagar, the 76-year-old classic-rock hero and tequila entrepreneur, finishes them. The singer-guitarist joins Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani and Jason Bonham to celebrate a solo career plus time spent with late-stage Van Halen and the supergroup Chickenfoot (with Anthony and Satriani). The lone Canadian date is Toronto’s Budweiser Stage on July 31. B.W.
Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s Love Earth Tour
At the age of 78, rock troubadour Neil Young hits the road for the first fully fledged tour with his band Crazy Horse in a decade. A recently released live album recorded at a private gig at Toronto’s Rivoli club advertises the group’s ornery grunge-rock emissions. Canadian destinations this summer are Toronto, Ottawa, London, Ont., Winnipeg, Calgary and, for two nights (July 22 and 23), Burnaby, B.C. B.W.