Last weekend Burlington, Ontario played host to its annual Sound of Music Festival that takes place in the heart of Burlington. This is Canada's LARGEST Free music festival and boy does it rock. This year they had the likes of I Mother Earth, July Talk, Jess Moskaluke and Mother Mother to name a few of the artists that performed to the thousands that came to soak up the tunes and the sunshine.
Things kicked off on Thursday night when Soul Asylum, The Killjoys and Of Gentlemen & Cowards hit the TD Stage. While a trio of country cover bands hit the OLG Stage. A few shots from that night below...
Friday was 32 degrees and the artists that were to hit the SOM stage couldn't have been happier with the weather. The heat brings out the audiences and with Canada's own July Talk set to rock the main stage you knew it was going to be a hell of a night. Over on the OLG Stage they had the always entertaining East Pointers along with Leahy & Steel City Rovers round out the OLG lineup. Over on the main stage you had some of Toronto's hottest acts such as Sam Cash, The Elwins and of course one of my personal favourites from the weekend July Talk. Not knowing a whole lot about July Talk as my head is so set with the Country world man this group rocks. The chemistry between the artists is something you can't even write about. It's unreal. I have seen my fair share of great shows but July Talk is a MUST This summer if you haven't already seen them.
On Saturday things kicked off at 1pm and the day was filled with outstanding music. From the small street stages right up to the Main Stage. From the Small Town Pistols, Sean McCann and The Mounties leading the charge early and then River Town Saints, Jess Moskaluke, Mother Mother, Hawksley Workman and a slew of other artists filled the air with some sweet music. I personally spent most of my time down at the OLG Stage on Saturday night to catch Eric Ethridge, RTS and Jess bring the country to the city for the big KX Country Night. These three delivered there is no doubt about that. From Eric jumping into the crowd to Jess hammering out a killer set country was well represented on Saturday night. Down at the other end of the park one of Canada's most talked about bands at the moment graced the TDStage. Mother, Mother put on an amazing 80+ min set for the fans that had packed the park on the amazing summer eve.
Sunday kicked off with The Redhill Valleys rockin the Hyundai Stage and if you haven't caught this band I would strongly suggest you make the effort. The crazy good vocals and the tight sound from the band made them one of my favourites from the weekend. I ran over after catching Red Hill to see a band by the name of The Mohrs, another introduction to a band I had yet to see live. And let me tell you they hammered it. What a sweet sound from this band. Hard to really say who they sound like but man its good shit. The strong vocals and the killer playing by all 4 members of the band were just awesome. And is a great reason to attend shows like this.
Getting a chance to see new bands play live and turn you onto their music is so much fun. Now the big show came at 6pm when the original lineup of I Mother Earth hit the stage. Fortunaltey for me I had seen the guys a couple weeks earlier during their first public performance with a full stage production but this was easily my favourite set of the weekend. When you get an opportunity to relive your high school days and rock out in the amazing summer air with one of the coolest bands in Canada you know you had a great weekend. The fans that were in attendance were just eating it up. Having Edwin back as the frontman for IME is kinda like finding your old favourite sweater again and it still fits perfectly. I Mother Earth is about to embark on a cross Canada tour with Our Lady Peace this fall and we feel that may just be the hottest ticket in October.
What a weekend. It was incredible to see so many volunteers and staff working their tails off to make sure the bands went on, on time and people had everything they needed. Thankful to the SOM Committee for having us this year. We would love to hear what you thought of this years #SOM2016.
Corey Kelly / @CoreyKelly76
Born and raised in small ltown Ontario, Love me some Whisky & Country Music. Blogger, Photographer and Country Music Junkie.
