Interstellar Rodeo promises ‘greatness’
Rheostatics, Sheila E., Rateliff, Aloe Blacc to perform at summer music festival
Back for its eighth year with an enticing and truly eclectic lineup including Rheostatics, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats and Prince collaborator Sheila E., Interstellar Rodeo once again walks the talk of its sponsor-label Six Shooter Records’ mantra: “Life is too short to listen to shitty music.”
Rheostatics — beloved by the late Gord Downie, who played Interstellar in 2014 — are the pride of Etobicoke and one of the nation’s most influential indie groups. The band’s Dave Bidini is meanwhile his own tiny media empire in Toronto. Rheostatics last played Edmonton in 2006, and they hit the stage Saturday afternoon, July 27.
In terms of depth of catalogue and legacy, they’re joined on the July 26-28 weekend in Hawrelak Park by Austin, Texas, swing legends Asleep at the Wheel, who’ve taken home nine Grammys and charted over 20 singles on the Billboard country charts since 1970.
Denver-based headliner Rateliff, meanwhile, delivers horn-infused, R&B-driven singalong rock and roll. Also at the top of the fest’s announcement list sit the wonderful Sharon Van Etten — a heartbreaking New Jersey singer-songwriter who also starred as Rachel on Netflix drama The OA — and Grammy-nominated Aloe Blacc, back for his second showing under the big tent at Hawrelak Park. He headlines Friday.
Queen of Percussion Sheila E. sang backups on Prince’s Erotic City, having already taken No. 1 on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs with her Prince-written The Glamorous Life in 1984. She’s actually had family on the Interstellar stage before: her charming uncle Alejandro Escovedo (that last name being what her E. stands for). She’s headlining Saturday.
Shauna de Cartier, director and programming genius behind Interstellar, noted at the announcement event that this was the most artistic and perhaps riskiest iteration of the festival yet.
“I feel like that’s my personal mandate in life, what I do with my record label, what I try and do with the festival is present things that are a higher level of art, yet world class. I don’t ever want to stoop to the cheap, because I feel that we can elevate ourselves and our world through art. I always look for greatness, and sometimes that’s challenging, sometimes that’s not mainstream, sometimes that doesn’t sell tickets,” she laughs.
“But I think that this crowd in Edmonton especially is so open-minded and have an appetite for something different. I feel like I can take the chances here. That those risks will pay off.”
Additional acts include rapper, poet and “radical linguist” Saul Williams, the compelling “Retro-Afrofuturist” Zaki Ibrahim and the brilliant K’naan, who manages to balance feel-good with social activism in a most enviable way.
Seattle-based Perfume Genius might be the sleeper hit of the festival — his songs are well worth a listen on YouTube.
Sunday’s lineup features two duos — Six Shooter’s husband and wife team Whitehorse and frequent-flyer Roger Waters band members Lucius, who closed out mainstage at Edmonton Folk Music Festival in 2014. Memphis fivepiece blues and soul outfit Southern Avenue opens the day.
Toronto’s Weaves, who won a SOCAN Songwriting Prize for their song Shithole, will be the first band onstage in the 2019 event. Edmonton ex-pat Colleen Brown, who played her new song I’m Gonna Fly at the announcement event at ATB’s arts branch in Alberta Hotel on Jasper Avenue, will open up Saturday’s lineup with her band Major Love.
Can we circle back to Sheila E., though? “It’s especially meaningful to me as a woman,” de Cartier says with a laugh, “Gender parity ’s never really been a problem for us at Interstellar Rodeo — but it is really nice in a company predominantly owned and operated by women to be able to present female icons.
“Sheila E. is a hero to many people, not the least of which I was mentioning to you earlier, Zaki Ibrahim, who wanted to be Sheila E. growing up. So how amazing that they get to be on the same stage on the same day!”
Pre-sale tickets are available March 28 at 10 a.m. Weekend passes go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. on March 29. Tickets are available at interstellarrodeo.com and at Blackbyrd Myoozik. Early bird prices are $249 plus GST and service charge for a non-transferable weekend pass, taking us to $266.45, and the transferable pass is $279, after charges $297.95. Single-day passes will start at $115, on sale starting 10 a.m. April 11.
Full information is available at interstellarrodeo.com.