February 26th, 2015
Earlier this week, North By Northeast revealed the initial lineup for their 2015 festival taking place June 17-21 in Toronto. This year’s edition will feature free headlining concerts at Yonge-Dundas Square from Queens, NY rapper Action Bronson with Ty Dolla $ign and Heems, and Canadian indie-rock favorites The New Pornographers with Best Coast and Toronto’s Dilly Dally.
Tickets are on-sale now with 4 options available: Northby Advanced, Platinum Badges, Clubland Wristbands and walk-up tickets.
By purchasing a ticket for one of the Northby Advanced larger venue shows (more to be announced shortly), you guarantee access to that show. If you buy tickets to any 3 Northby Advanced shows, you then have the option to purchase a full-festival Platinum Badge which grants you access to more NXNE events and Clubland shows (19+ & subject to capacity) .
Clubland wristbands are also on-sale now for $49, which get you unlimited access to all of the intimate NXNE club shows.
Details regarding the festival’s partnership with online music magazine Pitchfork are yet to be revealed, but if the first wave of announcements is any indication, festival-goers can certainly anticipate some more exciting details for June!
February 13th, 2015
Republic Live, in collaboration with AC Entertainment, officially revealed the lineup for the inaugural WayHome Music and Arts Festival at a press conference Wednesday at The Gladstone Hotel in Toronto. WayHome will be taking place July 24-26 2015 at Burl’s Creek Event Grounds, ten minutes north of Barrie, ON, and will feature a multi-genre roster headlined by Sam Smith, Kendrick Lamar, Alt-J and Modest Mouse.
WayHome is a collaboration between Canadian entertainment company Republic Live, founders of Boots & Hearts Festival, and US promoters AC Entertainment, co-founders and producers of Bonnaroo Music And Arts Festival, Forecastle Festival and Big Ears Festival.
In a press release, and later reiterated at the announcement, Ashley Capps, CEO of AC Entertainment, said:
“We’ve been talking with and getting to know the team at Republic Live for several years now and we’re excited that WayHome Music and Arts is at long last becoming a reality. Our initial line-up clearly established WayHome as one of North America’s premiere music and arts festivals and provides a strong foundation to build upon for the future.”
One of the main differences between WayHome and any other festival in the GTA will be the inclusion of camping for the weekend festival. “A huge differentiator for any festival we do is the on-site experience and amazingly deep sense of community that people feel there,” said Shannon McNevan, Executive Director of Republic Live. “To that end, we’re including tent camping or parking with our ticket offerings to encourage people to camp out with their pals and really immerse themselves in the experience.”
President of Music Canada Graham Henderson also spoke at the event, commending McNevan and Republic Live for the hard work they’ve put into making their vision of Burl’s Creek a reality and how Music Canada has been happy to support them along the way. Henderson mentioned how WayHome fits within the Ontario Live Music Strategy and noted the $17 million economic impact Boots & Hearts, the largest country music festival in Canada, generated for the Municipality of Clarington in 2014.
Portions of the WayHome lineup were initially leaked to the public on Tuesday night when those who paid close attention to the teaser posters posted around Toronto gathered at The Great Hall for the mysterious event. Those curious enough to attend were rewarded with the first passes to this year’s festival free of charge, while those who chose to keep the “Do Not Open” envelope closed were later able to exchange their unopened envelopes for lifetime WayHome passes.
On top of the many international acts playing the festival, WayHome has also booked a strong roster of Toronto acts including The Rural Alberta Advantage, Metz, Sloan, Fucked Up, Lowell, July Talk, Timber Timbre, Alvvays, For Esme, The Highest Order and Evening Hymns.
Tickets for the festival, which including a camping pass, are available at the Tier 1 price of $209.99 beginning February 16.
February 6th, 2015
The 2015 edition Toronto Magazine highlights the city’s neighbourhoods, shopping destinations, and cultural sectors, and is now available for free online and in print. The theme for this year’s magazine is “Cosmopolitan Colour” and profiles the city’s top festivals, theatre, sports and restaurants.
We’re thrilled once again to see Toronto’s music scene featured with a lengthy spread of some of the city’s top music offerings. Titled “Beat Seekers” (beginning on page 44), author James Noguchi focuses on some of Toronto’s premiere music festivals, concert halls, nightclubs and intimate venues as part of the magazine’s “City Confidential” profile series.
4479 is honoured to be mentioned and featured alongside trackToronto, the local interactive project which collects and maps songs about Toronto.
Toronto Magazine is an excellent resource for visitors of the city and we thank Tourism Toronto for including our campaign in their publication!
February 4th, 2015
The lineup for the 3rd annual Field Trip festival presented by Arts & Crafts and Livenation has been revealed, taking place once again at the historic Fort York & Garrison Common on June 6 & 7, 2015. Field Trip 2015 will feature the highly anticipated return of southern rockers My Morning Jacket and Alabama Shakes, as well as Arkells, Marina & The Diamonds, The War On Drugs, Father John Misty, Purity Ring, De La Soul and more! For parents looking to bring their younger children to the festival, Field Trip has recruited Canadian family favourites Sharon & Bram as performers and kids under 12 receive free admission.
Tickets for the 2 day festival are on sale now at Ticketmaster with VIP options available.
In 2014, Field Trip attracted approximately 15,000 attendees to Fort York & Garrison Commons, up from an estimated 10,000 for its inaugural edition in 2013. The full lineup can be seen in the poster below and make sure to check out our coverage of the 2014 edition for an idea of what you can expect.
Let the countdown to festival season begin!
February 3rd, 2015
4479 would like to congratulate Brendon Anthony, who was announced as the new head of the Texas Music Office last week by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. The Austin Business Journal reports that Anthony was previously head of business development for e-commerce for Austin-based OneLive Media, a direct to fan service that provides technology to help musicians connect with their audience. Anthony is also a musician himself, with 15 years of experience playing fiddle in Texas country artist Pat Green’s band.
We would also like to thank Casey Monahan, who previously held the position since 1990, and was in the role when the Austin – Toronto Music City Alliance was signed in 2013. The Alliance drives economic and cultural development opportunities in both cities by sharing best practices, developing new trade and tourism initiatives, and fostering expanded collaboration between the two cities’ respective music communities.
The Texas Music Office was cited in the Accelerating Toronto’s Music Industry Growth, Leveraging Best Practices from Austin, Texas report commissioned by Music Canada as an example of a best practice that could be applied to grow Toronto’s music sector. The report recommended the creation of a provincial or city office to mirror the activities of Texas Music Office, which “educates legislators about music-related economic issues and advocates for relevant legislation in the state legislature; creates and maintains a public directory of all music-related businesses in a geographic area, as well as tracks important data, such a statistical changes to those aggregate numbers over time.” Both Toronto and Ontario have made significant strides in this area over the past two years, with the creation of the Ontario Music Office and the hiring of Toronto’s music sector development officer.
4479 is working to further support the Toronto-Austin Alliance, and we look forward to working with Mr. Anthony and the Texas Music Office to explore opportunities to the mutual benefit of both cities, by sharing best practices, developing new trade and tourism initiatives, and fostering expanded collaboration between the two cities’ respective music communities.
