Music
Toronto's Bestival announces its inaugural lineup
by Mark Teo
March 2, 2015
Toronto's newest festival lands Florence + The Machine, Nas, Caribou and Owen Pallett.
While the Bonnaroo-aligned HomeAway may be the most heavily hyped festival in Ontario, Bestival—the U.K. export that’s coming to the Toronto Islands in 2015—may be the most intriguing. The islands are a wonderfully idyllic place for musical events (and they’ve been well utilized by NXNE’s and Electric Island), and Bestival promises the biggest island concert since the ill-fated Virgin Fest. And today, they rolled out their inaugural lineup.
To Bestival’s credit, its roster looks stacked. One one hand, they’ve stocked up on classy indie-rock acts: Florence + The Machine, Born Ruffians, Owen Pallett, Wavves, and Tops are all represented on the bill. On the other, the fest is bristling with top-notch electronic acts: Caribou, Flume, SBTRKT, Flosstradamus, Hot Creations’ Jamie Jones, Jamie XX, and B.C.’s Humans are on its roster. And to top it all off, hip-hop legend Nas is on its roster.
Check the full lineup here.
It may not be the most expansive festival, but there’s hardly a dud on its lineup—Bestival may be the best-curated festival lineup we’ve seen yet. Plus, they’re promising all sorts of non-musical fun, including an inflatable church, a cocktail bus, and something called the Balearic Beach Bar (!!!). Naturally, we’re psyched, especially if the latter is a swim-up bar.
Curator Rob da Bank posted this message about their lineup.
“To say that we’re excited at Bestival HQ about launching our very first Bestival overseas is a serious understatement. We’ve spent 12 years working up to this moment and are so proud to be teaming up with Toronto to launch the good ship that is Bestival overseas. I’m also very proud of our first heavy hitting line up with typically diverse headliners, Florence and The Machine and Nas! Two amazing talents. We are also announcing; the best leftfield acts around with Caribou and Omar Souleyman, electronic music from Jamie xx and Flosstradamus. I really hope you can join us on the ferry to Toronto Island in June. See you on the beach!”
Pre-sale begins tomorrow, with weekend passes going for $100. It all goes down on Hanlan’s Pont on June 12 and 13.
