Five acts to catch at Sonic Boom.
Here are five acts you may want to take in
With: Ellie Goulding, Alexisonfire, Hozier, Tenacious D and more When: Saturday, Sept. 5 and Sunday, Sept. 6, gates are at 11 a.m. Where: Borden Park, 7507 Borden Park Rd. Tickets: Festival passes are $199 to $299, available from Ticketfly.com or Ticketmaster, 780-451-8000 Wondering who to check out in between visits to the beer garden at Sonic Boom? Curious as to who some of the newer bands are?
The Journal has put together a short summation of a few key acts that you might want to check out this weekend, Sept. 5 and 6, at the Borden Park festival.
Ellie Goulding
The 28-year-old singersongwriter from Hereford in England has been a big deal over in the UK for a number of years now, but only started making a dent in North America with her second album, 2012’s Halcyon Days. It was just this year, however, that she really popped her head above the crowd with the song Love Me Like You Do, from the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack. Her last festival appearance was last week at Sunday’s Summer Sessions in Glasgow, where she had to stop the show and plead with the crowd to stop fighting, so expect her to be somewhat wary.
Tenacious D
They’re taking precious time away from the recording of their fourth album to entertain you, so of course you’ll want to jam yourself in with thousands of other fans to watch musician-comedians Jack Black and Kyle Gass, a.k.a. Tenacious D. This is the duo who released (what they called) “the greatest album recorded by anyone, ever,” 2012’s Rize of the Fenix; they also, by their own account, have a prodigious appetite for sex and weed, which perhaps unsurprisingly is also the main focus of many of their songs. You might want to prepare for their no-doubt-epic concert by watching their selfmythologizing 2006 film, Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny.
Brandon Flowers
The singer and frontman for Las Vegas-based The Killers released his second solo effort, That Desired Effect, in May, dragging in an all-star cast to support him, including Bowie guitarist Carlos Alomar and ubiquitous session drummer Kenny Aronoff. It’s a hooky little effort, filled with radio-friendly songs tailored for big stages and crowds, and one of the best reviewed of his career, both solo and with his band. His latest single from the album, I Can Change, might well be the summer anthem that you didn’t know existed until now.
Kongos
South African four-piece Kongos have been mostly known for song placement in films, their 2011 single Come With Me Now popping up in Expendables 3 as well as Leos Carax’s instant cult film Holy Motors in 2012. Like The Ramones, they’ve affected one last name for all of them, but unlike The Ramones they’re actually all brothers with the same last name; alt-rock is the basis for their sound, but with liberal doses of music native to their home in Johannesburg. Give them a couple more hits and it’s possible that you’ll see teens picking up accordions as the next instrument du jour the same way they did with ukuleles five years ago.
Eagles of Death Metal
Considering their work schedules in other bands, this one is a rare treat. Josh Homme tends to focus on his main gig singing and playing in Queens of the Stone Age, or pal around with friends and peers in musical permutations such as Them Crooked Vultures, but now and again he takes to the drum set and backs up friend Jess Hughes in Eagles of Death Metal. It’s a loose conglomeration that in a live setting shifts various members around Homme and Hughes, cranking out warped garage rock while the irrepressible Hughes does his thing. They’ve got a new album (Zipper Down) due in October, so expect a few surprises in this set.