River and Sky announce more acts, fest runs July 20- 23

At a certain point I have to give up the words and leave it at please see and enjoy this northern Ontario festival for yourself. You will have a ball, and a 15th anniversary ball to boot!

And now the ball has broadened to include even more acts. R&S had previously announced The Sadies, Dan Romano’s Outfit, Julie Doiron and others (link here for our story) and the lineup has been expanded to include Status/ Non Status, Pantayo, Tess Roby, Mother Tongues, Dilettante, and so many many more. The fest is four days long; four days, four nights, northern nights with a river and skies and trees and sauna and pizza and art and coffee and hanging out and lounging and chilling and swimming and more music under the stars than one should rightfully expect.

Tickets are available here. Get them, they go.

River & Sky 2023 announces The Sadies, Julie Doiron, Dominique Fils-Aimé, and Aysanabee

By Will McGuirk

One of the best shows thus far this year has been Daniel Romano Outfit opening for the Sadies here in Oshawa’s Biltmore Theatre. So great and afterwards I had a good number of folks come by the shop to buy up  some Romano records.

If y’all want to re-live that well you are in luck. The Sadies and Daniel Romano Outfit are among the acts announced for this year’s River & Sky festival in Field, ON, north of Sturgeon Falls, running July 20 to 23. That is just fabulous news. And just as fabulous is the list of other acts also announced in this first wave. 

River & Sky is one of the friendliest festivals and this year it seems they are bringing friends from all across the country together to hang and see each other perform, friends who live in other provinces and in southern Ontario, and for whom this Field is just about equal distance from all of them. 

Julie Doiron will be there. Doiron of course was on record with Romano, along with Frederick Squire (one time resident of Oshawa), on Daniel, Fred and Julie, one of the first releases from You’ve Changed Records.

Also performing and another You’ve Changed alumni, Shotgun Jimmie, (one time resident of Ajax) so yah it is a very thoughtful line-up, but then again it has always been thoughtful. Consideration is in its DNA, consideration of community, of environment, of diversity, of economics, of transit, its just a beautiful experience in the woods, by a river below an expansive sky.

Aysanabee, Zoon, Dominique Fils-Aimé, Pelada, and Clerel are among the other performers announced. Tickets available here. 

Gigs This Week: River and Sky in Field, Thursday Jul 21 - Sunday July 24

By Will McGuirk

So happy to see River & Sky up again after the Covid cancelations. I’ve been lucky enough to have been invited to the very intimate gathering in Field, just north of Sturgeon Falls in north Ontario, for many years, long enough for it to now become a family affair.

And I do love it. The setting on the bow of a river is just about perfect. Add in a natural beach and perfect becomes paradise among the pines.

The music belies the setting however as adventurous booking has seen Altin Gun, Antibalas, and Mdou Moctor all perform, as well as Metz, and the Sadies.

This year has another great line-up; Austra, Dilly Dally, Pink Mountaintops, OMBIGIIZI, Frankie and the Witch, Wine Lips, Casper Skulls, summersets, Yves Jarvis, and our pals in Beams.
Camping, trailers, RVs are accommodated and children under 14 are free with family, like you can’t just drop them and bug off for four days, just saying :)

Unfortunately my three fave fests are all on the same weekend in 2022 so its a tough pick but I will be passing on R&S this year but if you can make it you most definitely should, it really is the most wonderful balm. Thank you R&S, see you next year, fingers and toes crossed.

River and Sky 2022: OMBIIGIZI, Austra, Dilly Dally, Frankie and the Witch Fingers, plus more more more!

By Will McGuirk

Oh its been a time of it but happy to hear River & Sky festival in Fisher’s Paradise, Field, ON., is up and running and the good folks at R&S will do it all once again Thursday, July 21 through to Sunday July 24, 2022. This has been a festival I’ve packed up the car and drove the several hours north, with joy and tunes, to settle in for an amazing weekend of boreal loveliness. I’ve done so for a decade or so and I would encourage all and anyone to take the trip.

Set along a bow of the Sturgeon River, among the pines and with a beach! R&S has hosted bands such the Sadies, Altin Gun, Mdou Moctor, Antibalas, - I’ve probably sold a dozen or so of Moctor’s record ‘Afrique Victime’ at Kops Oshawa, where I manage, but R&S had him a couple of years back. It speaks to the organizers uncanny knack of nabbing up and coming acts pretty well before most people have even heard of them. So if some of the names on the bill are unfamiliar, don’t let that be a deterrent - take on the adventure of trying the new; with R&S, I’m guaranteed you will not be disappointed. There have been of course familiar names such as Chad VanGaalen, Daniel Romano, Metz, and Pink Mountaintops, among them who have performed under the sky and down by the river.

This year, after the two year hiatus, the fest welcomes back Pink Mountaintops, along with electronica artist Austra, and alt-rockers Dilly Dally. Also on the line-up OMBIIGIZI, Wine Lips, Casper Skulls, and psych-rockers Frankie and the Witch Fingers. Lots of the area’s local acts are also in on the act so yeah, settle in for a real taste of what the scene north of the Great Lakes has to offer. Its always something special.

2019 River & Sky line-up announced; U.S. Girls. Fucked Up, Hollerado headlining

By Will McGuirk

River & Sky is not your average woodsy get-together. Nope the music/camping festival held at Fishers’ Paradise, Field, ON, July 18 to 21 2019, is an adventure trek into music, an alt-hike to get higher, a wilderness sleep-over with morning saunas, its glam-rock glamping, Camp Do The Right Thing, its feed and be fed, live and let thrive, and this year the soundtrack to your enviro-sustaining outing is just as progressive as the festival, with prog-punkers Fucked Up, the prog-discotech of U.S. Girls, the prog-pop of the Fast Romantics - get the picture, then get the tickets.

The R&S is one of the best, its enlightening and northern and cosmic, and after ten years, just got wonderfully weird, bringing in a broad list of bands reaching deep into their own community and as far out into the world as is possible for a small indie self-made north Ontario festival to go. And it seems such as thing can go far out.

In a press release director Peter Zwarich says celebrating inclusivity and acceptance is the goal and to that end world music is coming to the banks of the Sturgeon River.

“ We’re excited to feature Altin Gün, an Amsterdam-based band playing Turkish folk with a 1970s psychedelic-funk twist, Mdou Moctor, and his Tuareg band from Niger, who has been called the ‘Hendrix of the Sahara,’ the Austin duo Little Mazarn, with ethereal banjo and vocals by Lindsey Verrill, and New York City’s Gladys Lazer, the project of Tel Aviv-born drummer Gal Lazer,” he says. “We want everyone to soak in some nature and summertime vibes and feel at home at R&S.”

Regionally-related acts include Tommy & the Commies, Dirty Princes, Oli Palkovits, Slow Eaters, all from Sudbury, our pal Annie Sumi with ties to North Bay, and Lisa Marie Naponse of Atikameksheng Anishinawbek.

For a small festival with a sustainability goal, travelling by car and parking, are issues to be dealt with. To that end organisers have partnered with Temagami Outfitting Company to offer packaged canoe trips to Fishers’ Paradise.  Pine Falls Lodge will be the starting point for the Murray Creek Route.

What better way to arrive to a party in the North than in Voyageur style.

Here’s the details y’all need to know.

5-Day Advance Pass:
Get there a full day ahead of the festival’s official start: Arrive July 17 and stay until end of day July 21. $230 (includes HST and processing fees)

4-Day Advance Passes:
Arrive July 18 and stay until July 21. $210 (includes HST and processing fees)

3-Day Advance Passes:
Arrive July 19 and stay until the evening, July 21. $160 (includes HST and processing fees).

Full Day Passes (advance): Friday $75, Saturday $75, Sunday $30. Night Passes (advance): $55 (Thursday; Friday; Saturday)

Children 16 years and younger with their families get in for free.Dogs welcome on leashes. Must be spayed or neutered. Sauna and Swimming – yes, but always at your own risk. No Beer tent: BYOB at your campsite. Camping available in field and forest area on the property. Cost of camping (in a tent) included in the price. Trailers/RVs will pay a fee, depending on the size. .