Announce Festival’s Saturday Line-Up and a New Venue.
Harvest Media Release
The Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival today shared the staggering Saturday night schedule for this year’s Festival, September 13-18, announcing Drive-By Truckers, Robert Cray, The Revivalists, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Plants and Animals, The Besnard Lakes and more.
“Harvest has thrown down a Saturday night that sends a clear message to our fans,” said Brent Staeben, Harvest’s Music Programmer. “In a year where festivals across the country are shutting down or pulling back, Harvest has once again affirmed itself as Eastern Canada’s premiere musical experience, with an incredible array of national and international headline acts.”
The Blues Tent behind City Hall will boast an astounding Saturday line-up, featuring the hotly anticipated Harvest debut of Drive-By Truckers, who NPR called “as tough and grand on any given night as the best live rock band you’ve ever seen”; five-time Grammy winner and Blues Hall of Fame legend Robert Cray, whose admirers include the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and Bonnie Raitt; the return of Champion’s ingeniously catchy compositions, brought to life by his thrilling, high energy band, G-Strings; the introduction of thirteen year old guitar prodigy Brandon “Taz” Niederauer, who has played with legendary artists like Gregg Allman, George Clinton, Dr. John and The Neville Brothers, appeared on Ellen and is currently starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway smash hit School of Rock: The Musical.
The Mojo Tent in Officer’s Square will feature transcendent rootsy rockers The Revivalists, who exploded onto the scene in 2010, mixing the respective musical backgrounds of its members with the funky undercurrents of the their New Orleans home; the sonic explosion of MarchFourth!, a genre-breaking force delivered by twenty musicians and dancers, which takes audiences on a joy-inducing, booty-shaking, soul-stirring journey that defies categorization; the tight harmonies, powerful horns and energetic rhythm section at the heart of Halifax funk institution, the Mellotones.
The Playhouse will showcase the biggest jazz concert in Harvest history, as we debut three-time Grammy Award winning jazz icon Dee Dee Bridgewater, who is also a Tony Award winning stage actress and a United Nations Cultural Ambassador; prodigal saxophonist Phil Dwyer, whose illustrious thirty year career in jazz led to his appointment to the Order Of Canada in 2013.
The Barracks Stage will host Juno nominees Plants and Animals, who have toured the world over with Frightened Rabbit, Wolf Parade, Grizzly Bear and The National, and will make their Harvest debut in support of 2016 album Waltzed in from the Rumbling; three-time Polaris Prize nominees The Besnard Lakes, whose dark, foreboding and endlessly intriguing sound has created some of the most imposing and grandiose records of the past decade; sensationally soulful New Orleans pedal steel act RumpelSTEELskin.
Finally, Harvest announced that it will relocate the Hoodoo House from King Street and introduce a brand new venue adjacent to the Provincial Justice Building on Queen Street. Bringing the tradition of electric Maritime blues even deeper within the Festival footprint, The Blues Court will feature Shrimp Daddy & The Sharpshooters, The Christine Campbell Band, The Mark Green Band and The Keith Hallett Band on Saturday September 17.
“Harvest is always looking for ways to improve the musical experience for festival goers,” said Staeben. “The Blues Court will be centrally located so that even more of our patrons can sample some of the best names in Maritime electric blues.”
These artists join the previously announced Metric, Stars and Champion & His G-Strings. The full schedule will be revealed at the Official Festival Launch this Wednesday May 11, 11am, at Dolan’s Pub. Tickets and passes will go on sale at this time, and will be available online at www.etixnow.com or by using a self-serve etixnow kiosk at Harvest Central, 81 Regent Street.
