Hamilton Festival Supercrawl Unveils 2024 Lineup, Including Explosions In The Sky, The Sadies and Matt Andersen

Hamilton’s Supercrawl has announced the lineup for its 2024 edition. The lineup was unveiled in entertaining fashion at Merit Brewing in Hamilton yesterday (June 19).

Long recognized as one of Ontario's most important free summer festivals, this year's edition of Supercrawl runs September 13-15 and features a diverse group of established and emerging Canadian artists alongside two significant U.S. imports, Texan post-rock band Explosions In The Sky and Pittsburgh-based post-industrial art rock performance troupe Squonk.

Heading the Canadian contingent are The Sadies, Zeus, Danko Jones, Matt Andersen & The Big Bottle of Joy, Rich Aucoin, The Dears, Hamilton Superstars, Kaïa Kater, Charlotte Cornfield, Elliott Brood, iskwē, Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, Kellie Loder, MonkeyJunk, MOONRIIVR, My Son the Hurricane and The Rural Alberta Advantage.

The lineup was revealed in an unusual way with plenty of crowd participation. The first 40 attendees at the Merit Brewing launch were given envelopes, each one containing the name of a featured artist. Each guest then went to a large board and attached that name, revealing the poster one by one.

Supercrawl co-founder and Festival Director Tim Potocic addressed the gathering. “Supercrawl’s core commitment is to artists and makers, and to spotlighting the role of culture and creativity in animating and enriching all our lives,” he said.

At the event, Potocic told Billboard Canada that he was pleased at the level of funding already received for this year’s Supercrawl, and is optimistic that one federal grant he has applied for will come through. He also expressed satisfaction at this year’s lineup, noting that he is especially excited about the presence of Explosions In The Sky and soul/blues big band Matt Andersen & The Big Bottle of Joy. “Those two choices were mine,” he said proudly (his Sonic Unyon Records colleague, Matt Paxton, Director Production & Booking, is responsible for most of the bookings).

Potocic attended the launch right after a meeting of The Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA), the trade organization he chairs. Reflecting on that role, he addressed a dip in revenues in the sector. “People in our industry right now are feeling it out there, especially the labels,” he said. He did add that numbers for the label he heads, Sonic Unyon, are up this year.

Local notables spied at the gathering included concert producer/artist manager Tim des Islets (Noisemaker), publicity company head Adam Bentley (Auteur Research) and Hamilton City Magazine co-publisher/editor Meredith MacLeod.

Further Supercrawl lineup reveals (art, dance, fashion, authors and spoken word, vendors, food trucks, family and more) and detailed schedule information will follow in the weeks leading up to the festival.

Since beginning in 2009 as a modest one-day festival, Supercrawl has become a multi-day event that now attracts an audience of over 275,000 to stages set up along James Street North, in the heart of downtown Hamilton. The festival received the 2015 Ontario Tourism Award of Excellence for Tourism Event of the Year and has been recognized as one of Ontario’s Top 100 Festivals/Events in eight sequential awards (2015-2020, 2023-2024).

Check out supercrawl.ca for more information and a festival schedule.