There are many reasons why Calgary’s Sled Island Music Festival has earned such great accolades since its inaugural addition two summers ago. For one, it goes down in Canada, which in itself is unbelievably awesome. Then, there’s the fact that the four days of music, set to take place from June 24-27, are insanely cheap, but more on that later. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Sled Island offers a set-up like no other, consisting of South by Southwest-like showcases during the week and a more proper festival during the weekend, all of which is curated by a musical legend. This year, that legend is Wire’s Colin Newman, and as we learned today, the English musician has crafted together what can be considered another music fan’s wet dream.
The Breeders, Liars, Anvil, Ladyhawk, and Final Fantasy head the bill scheduled to hit Calgary from June 24-27, while Andrew W.K., Obits, Monotonix, The Dodos, and The King Khan & BBQ Show make up the other acts of note. An equal number buzz worthy up-and-comers are also on the bill, including Women, Holy Fuck, and Japandroids.
All in all, Sled Island 2009 looks something like this:
Advantage, Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir, Anvil, Battle Snakes, The Breeders, The Bronx, The Coathangers, The Cripple Creek Fairies, The Dead Science, The Dudes, The Evaporators, Flash Lightnin’, Githead, HEALTH, Hollerado, Holy Fuck, Hot Little Rocket, Japandroids, Jonathan Toubin, The King Khan & BBQ Show, Ladyhawk, Liars, Library Voices, Malajube, Monotonix, Mount Eerie, Nardwuar’s Video Vault, Novillero, O’Death, Obits, The Pack A.D., Quintron & Miss Pussycat, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Slim Twig, Sub-linguals, Tricky Woo, The United Steel Workers of Montreal, The Whitsundays, Women, Woodhands
The full 150 act lineup and four-day schedule will be unveiled on June 1st. The main outdoor portion of this year’s Sled Island Festival will take place at Olympic Plaza on June 26th. A full list of other participating venues can be found here.
Festival ($99) and VIP ($199) passes are currently available via Eventbrite.com.
