Hillside Guide

A few acts I'm making a point of catching - hopefully I'll see you at some of these!

Coeur de Pirate may be my most anticipated set of the festival, basically because I fell hard for Beatrice (don't tell my g/f) upon first hearing this lovely chanteuse and have yet to see her live. This lovely tattooed young lady sings glorious songs en francais over lilting piano. Added incentive is that she was a Polaris Prize long-lister.

Clues are a delightful band outta Montreal who's debut self-titled album recently dropped. Not only that but they are part of the third Pop Montreal showcase at Hillside - and those Pop Montrealers are no slackers.

Bruce Peninsula have released a most excellent album entitled A Mountain is a Mouth and I can't wait to see their stage adaptation.

Patrick Watson a beloved Canadian indie rock figure that I have never seen before. Therefore I can't speak for his live performances but based on recordings I'm intrigued and excited to try him out.

Timber Timbre aka Taylor Kirk has a buzz following him everywhere - enough to get swooped up by the Arts&Crafts label. Should be a soft, lovely show.

The aforementioned I am excited to see for the first time, whereas I can vouch for the following acts having taken them in before (check the links!).

Hey Rosetta! I won't even get into all the reasons why, but I love the poop outta these guys (and girl). As awesome as Into Your Lungs is - the live show blows it outta the water (in this case, Guelph Lake).

Final Fantasy. Violin. Loops. Pop. Amazing. A must-see!

Woodhands are a two-piece that bring the energy.

The Arkells from Hamilton put on a rockin' live show from my experience.

As always there will be plenty to see at this year's fest and I look forward to checking out a bunch of others in addition to this list including The Rural Alberta Advantage, Australia's The Grates, the token party-band for this year (besides Woodhands) - USS, Sunparlour Players, Silver Starling, Library Voices and the list goes on.

Okay, so I guess that hardly narrowed the list down.. you'll have to see what turns your crank.

I don't claim to be an expert - though can anyone really be an expert when it comes to music? It's all so subjective. Therefore in terms of Hillside Festival acts I would definitely encourage you to check the bands out for yourself. In addition to the above list I'll even provide a handy R3 playlist I created as a jumping off point. It is recently updated and features only Hillside 2009 bands; by clicking the currently playing artist you can access more music and info from that artist on their New Music Canada page.