MUSIC PREVIEW: What the Folk
Folk music is bleeding into the pop charts in record quantities. At this rate, it’ll be Bob Dylan at Newport all over again. So who is the next Bob Dylan? (Or Joni Mitchell, or Fairport Convention, depending.) The stars of tomorrow may well be found at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival Thursday through Sunday. Headliners […]
Wickham gives the skinny on 64 folk fest acts
Every year the entire media of Edmonton assemble for a spring ritual – to hear Edmonton Folk Music Festival producer Terry Wickham talk about who’s coming to the festival this year, and to show us why we should care. He cares. That makes a big difference. Every year, he educates the press on another crop […]
REAR END IN VIEW: Stick a fork in it
For the fourth year running, a story about Purple City was one of the most widely read articles on GigCity. It’s an Edmonton thing. Among all the weird attractions in a weird town is this time-honoured ritual of getting high and going to stare at the lights outside the Alberta Legislature at night. After a […]
Folk fest fans back NDP: Captain Obvious Poll
One of the fun things about having 20,000 apparently like-minded folk fenced in at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival is the opportunity to practice some anthropology. So many people gathered in such a seemingly narrow cultural niche – folk music – where politics tends to lean left, have made Gallagher Park an oasis of green […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Folk Fest Monsters
It’s that one weekend every year where if you’ve scheduled any other music event, you’re definitely taking your chances. Sure, you might have decent luck if it’s a metal show – but even then, with 20,000+ music lovers a day taking in the Edmonton Folk Music Festival in Gallagher Park, and with all the local […]
Sinead O’Connor cancels folk fest gig
There’s some bad news for fans of the Edmonton Folk Music Festival – Sinead O’Connor has cancelled her scheduled appearance on Friday, Aug. 7. Citing health concerns, the controversial Irish singer has in fact cancelled all her summer tour dates. She is said to be suffering from exhaustion from an unresolved medical condition. No other […]
Sinead O’Connor returns to Edmonton folk fest
Some people told Terry Wickham it was “very brave” or him to book Sinead O’Connor at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival this summer – her first appearance since 1997. But as the producer said during Wednesday’s annual line-up announcement – revealing an eclectic bill ranging from Of Monsters and Men to Brandi Carlile – Sinead […]
St. Vincent to headline Interstellar Rodeo
The baby folk fest – better known as Interstellar Rodeo – has opened the gate on another ferocious line-up, a mix of young, old, known and who the hell is St. Vincent? If you just don’t know, or don’t care, may we may kindly direct you to the Edmonton Folk Music Festival proper. Meanwhile, coming […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: All hail the folk fest!
This weekend’s live music lineup is of course dominated by the biggest and baddest of all of the city’s music festivals. Well, OK, the biggest at any rate. It’s Folk Fest Weekend in Edmonton, and while some may lament the “old-school” direction the lineup’s gone the last few years, there is certainly no debate that […]
FOLK FEST 2014: Blue Rodeo headlines Four Days in August
With the announcement of Blue Rodeo as the closing main stage act at the 2014 Edmonton Folk Music Festival, we expect something a little extra special from a band that’s been here more times than winter. And so it is: The venerable Canadian country-rock band will be playing what is considered its folkiest and most […]
Wildrose Man lost and out of place at Edmonton folk fest
Well, that was a big fat fail – wearing a Wildrose Party T-shirt at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival to get a rise out of the Lefties. Nobody cares! Plus there are so many layers of irony on everything nowadays that it’s hard to tell anything about anything anymore. What a waste of $25, which […]
