Whether you’re into roots music, indie rock, or hardcore, Fredericton’s June festival lineup has something to get your toes tapping, your arms hugging, and your fists pounding.
Matt Carter
June is shaping up to be a big month for music in Fredericton. With three festivals on the horizon, a proper rundown should prove helpful in navigating the staggering amount of music coming our way over the next few weeks. So let’s have a look.
Living Roots Music Festival (June 8-11)
The story of Living Roots Music Festival is an inspiring one. Founded by local promoter and artist manager Eddie Young as a way to celebrate and bask in a multiverse of genres and performing artists, Living Roots has become a staple on the Fredericton calendar bringing together a wide range of music that truly offers something for everyone. As the name suggests, the festival lends towards roots music – singers, songwriters, and acoustic instruments – but don’t be fooled. As the first festival of our summer season, Living Roots is certainly not limited to flattops and listening rooms.
With an ear for emerging talent and an appreciation for the established, Young curates an annual lineup full of artists you may know little about, but will soon populate your playlists, occupy your stereo, and fill your head with fond memories for months to come. There is a certain level of trust involved. Followed by immense gratitude. That’s the Living Roots way.
Living Roots Music Festival | FACEBOOK | TICKETS
Flourish Festival (June 15-18)
Flourish Festival mines the fringes of popular music and experimental art to curate an annual lineup guaranteed to leave you wide-eyed and informed to all you’ve previously ignored, or simply didn’t know existed. Pulling a page (or two) from their friends in Sackville (yes, I’m talking about Sappyfest), Flourish could best be summed up as being the one Fredericton festival guided solely by fresh ideas, new sounds, and new ways of doing things. It’s like an enormous house party, or a family reunion full of all those cousins you’ve never met but have so much in common with. Future friends.
Small venues! Community Projects! Art Installations! Big Smiles! Beautiful decor! Guided by inclusivity, diversity, equality, and the celebration of positive creativity, Flourish regularly programs the city’s most diverse festival lineup on all fronts. Come get inspired.
Flourish Festival | WEB | TICKETS
Punkocalypse (June 27-July 1)
Ten or more years ago, if somebody told me Fredericton would have a punk rock festival I would have laughed. Hard. And probably choked on my tongue. But today, in 2023, it’s happening and feels like something long overdue. Organized by the Broken Record Bar & Music Room, the inaugural Punkocalypse festival rounds out the month of June with a surprisingly well-rounded lineup featuring some big names in the world of punk rock and one of the largest lineups of regional punk, hardcore, and metal bands ever assembled (fight me!).
For the seasoned fans of loud and noisy, Punkocalypse will be a reunion. A homecoming. For the new and curious, expect to feel welcomed and appreciated. A word of advice: the most intimidating looking people are usually the nicest. It’s the ones who try to blend in you need to worry about. Yeah hey!
Punkocalypse | FACEBOOK | TICKETS
