INTERSTELLAR RODEO’S 2019 LINEUP IS HERE. QUEENS AND KINGS OF ART ROCK, SOUL POP, POETRY, COUNTRY SWING AND SWAGGERING ROCK TO CONVENE AT HAWRELAK PARK, JULY 26-28, 2019.
Trip the light iconoclastic, Interstellar Rodeo’s 2019 lineup brings dazzlingly creative forces together from July 26-28, 2019. For its eighth edition, Interstellar Rodeo offers a lineup for the musically adventurous and socially engaged. This year, and as annually expected, Interstellar Rodeo’s lineup is a sonically serpentine, genre gambolling convergence of excellence and eclecticism. Fittingly, Toronto’s Weaves, purveyors of sideways-slanted guitar pop, will be the first band to hit the stage on Friday, July 26.
At the top of the 2019 lineup sit Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, prime movers of horn stacked vintage rock with an R&B backbone, the intimate confessional-turned-arena sized indie of Sharon Van Etten, who will arrive with one of the most emphatically praised albums released in 2019, and the Grammy-nominated Aloe Blacc, back for his second Interstellar Rodeo appearance.
Interstellar Rodeo always takes pride in offering Edmonton music lovers the occasion to see an artist for the first time. This year the festival welcomes Seattle’s Perfume Genius, author of swirling, soaring, strutting and subversive piano pop, for his Alberta debut. Iconic percussionist and pioneering performer Sheila E., a queen among royals, will also make her Edmonton debut. And, from Soulsville USA, Southern Avenue, a new band that embodies the soul, blues and gospel history of their home city of Memphis (and Stax Records labelmates of Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats), will make their first trip to Canada.
This year, Interstellar Rodeo expands the idea of songwriter with artists who blend spokenword/poetry, dance, theatre and other art forms into their music to explore the African diaspora in thought and sound. “Radical linguist” Saul Williams, known as a rapper/poet/actor/writer and beyond, is an explosive and complex performer. Toronto’s Zaki Ibrahim, a critically acclaimed “Retro-Afrofuturist,” blends 70s R&B with electronic textures, synths and South African house beats. Multi-platinum selling global traveler K’NAAN also pushes away the walls between genre and form with ‘unapologetic rhymes’ and ‘melodic chops’ in songs about consciousness, politics and personal experience.
Sunday’s lineup doubles up on duos with the psychic symmetry of cosmic pop in dark sparkle doppelgangers Lucius, frequent band members of Roger Waters, and Six Shooter’s own Whitehorse, four-time JUNO nominees who pack a one-two punch of mesmerizing guitars and harmonies. This will be Whitehorse’s third appearance at the festival, with a pop noir album, the second instalment of The Northern South and a holiday album released since their last visit in 2016.
While there’s no sonic overlap between Texas swing giants Asleep At The Wheel and Toronto’s Rheostatics, there is common ground in longevity. The Wheel’s near 50-year run has seen 10 Grammy Awards and 20 albums; art rock hydra Rheostatics have created nearly 40 years of enigmatic iconography. Legends in their own rights, venerable by any measure, Interstellar Rodeo is thrilled to bring these esteemed groups to Hawrelak Park.
Interstellar Rodeo takes celebrating local talent as seriously as hosting international debuts. This year, pan-provincial supergroup Major Love, which includes Edmonton’s Colleen Brown, will open the day on Saturday, July 27.
INTERSTELLAR RODEO 2019
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
Sharon Van Etten • Aloe Blacc
Perfume Genius • K’NAAN • Rheostatics
Whitehorse • Sheila E. • Lucius
Asleep at the Wheel • Saul Williams • Weaves
Zaki Ibrahim • Major Love • Southern Avenue
For daily lineups, please visit interstellarrodeo.com.
Pre-sale tickets available Thursday, March 28 at 10am MT. Weekend passes on sale to the public at 10am MT on Friday, March 29. Tickets available at interstellarodeo.com and at Blackbyrd Myoozik.
Interstellar Rodeo’s 2019 lineup was announced today at 11am MT from the ATB Branch for Arts & Culture by festival founder Shauna de Cartier, with a live performance by Colleen Brown.
