The sounds of summer can be heard throughout Hamilton Halton Brant. The season kicks off in a big way with two not-to-be missed festivals in June, and continues with outdoor concerts and hot tickets on deck for July and August.
Hamilton’s Summer Festival Season
The summer festival season in Hamilton is as diverse as it is impressive. Highlights include The Liquid Art Festival, which features music, food and craft beer and takes place June 15-16 at Collective Arts Brewery. This two-day creative collision of beer art and music boasts three sessions with over 50 brewers, artists and musicians from around the world.
It’s Your Festival, the Canada Day long weekend staple that boasts free music and family fun at Gage Park, has headliners David Usher, Ashley McIsaac and the Sadies. Festival of Friends, also at Gage Park, runs August 3-5 and offers 3 days of free music, and Renaissance Music 5.0, a celebration of African culture happens August 11-12 and features hip-hop, soul, R&B and afro jazz.
Music in the Gardens
Listen in amongst the blooms at Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington. Jazz brunches are offered in the Rock Garden on select Sundays, including two dates in June. Garden Music Nights feature red-hot jazz and cool blues on Wednesdays (June 13 to September 5) and country and roots on Tuesdays (June 26 to August 14). Music lovers enjoy a cold drink and BBQ along with the sounds of award-winning jazz, blues, country and roots musicians on the Hendrie Park stage in a lovely garden setting.
Country Show Stoppers
This is the summer to open your ears at live music venues. Country’s big names are coming to FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton in June, with Faith Hill and Tim McGraw’s Soul2Soul tour and Shania Twain. Christian country fans will want to catch Diamond Rio at the Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts in Brantford in August.
Sound of Music in Burlington
This June, Burlington’s Downtown and Waterfront plays host to Canada’s largest free music festival, when over 200,000 visitors listen in for an eclectic combination of new and emerging artists, past favourites and some of today’s most popular performers.
Music can be heard throughout the downtown from kick off on June 9, continuing to June 17, and there is no shortage of entertainment on every corner. The Downtown Streetfest, Family Zone, carnival, Grande Festival Parade and vendors never cease to draw crowds of all ages to this award-winning festival.
This year’s highlights include the ticketed Kick Off Weekend featuring Simple Plan, Sublime with Rome and Everclear; concerts by Matthew Good, Molly Johnson and Natalie Macmaster; and free performances on Father’s Day Weekend. The Club Series features free live music from Sunday June 10 through Wednesday June 13 at bars and pubs in downtown Burlington.
Hamilton’s Live Line-up
It’s becoming widely recognized that Hamilton boasts a music scene that can compete note for note with any other musical city. It’s home to a fabulous array of bars, clubs and event spaces that offer live music, and you won’t want to miss the summer line-ups at The Casbah, This Ain’t Hollywood, Mill’s Hardware, Stonewalls, The Mule Spinner, Artword Artbar, The Pearl Company, The Corktown Irish Pub, Club Absinthe, Zyla’s, The Doors Pub, Rebel’s Rock, The Capitol, Pub Fiction, HAVN and more.
