advertisement
Rock

Baroness Will Play Classic 'Red' & 'Blue' Albums at Toronto Heavy Music Fest Prepare The Ground

Toronto hardcore band The Burning Love and sludge favourites Kylesa will play reunion shows at the festival, which also features Have a Nice Life, Yob and more.

Baroness/Prepare The Ground

Baroness/Prepare The Ground

Prepare The Ground festival has added some heavy hitters to its second edition lineup.

The three-day Toronto festival, which launched last year to fill a void in the heavy music scene, has announced its full 2025 lineup from May 30-June 1, and it includes some rarities and gems.


The biggest is probably Baroness, one of the highest-profile metal bands of the last couple of decades. The Savannah, Georgia group will exclusively play from their first-two full-length albums from the late-2000s, Red and Blue.

“Last month, for our annual Philly pre-holiday show, we performed our first two full length albums: Red and Blue. It was a great experience, unearthing the deeper cuts from those records that had faded from our setlist and it offered a rare opportunity to play some of those songs for the first time ever outside the studio," the band wrote on Instagram. "After the overwhelming and positive response from the Philadelphia shows (and while we’re busy writing our next record) we’re excited to present Red and Blue in full, once again. Thanks to everyone at Prepare the Ground Festival for giving us the opportunity to share this special experience. See you there!”

advertisement

Toronto hardcore band Burning Love, who reunited for last year's festival, will do so once again in what is billed as their final show. Reunions are big this year, with Kylesa and Khanata also reuniting for the festival. They join doom metal band Yob (playing the full album ATMA, which includes a song, not coincidentally, called "Prepare The Ground.")

Have A Nice Life, Montreal's Big Brave, Atlas Moth and many others will play in a festival that spans subgenres of heavy music from psych-metal to prog to noise and post-punk. There is even silent film, with Pygmy Lush & Planning for Burial providing scores.

Inspired by European festivals Sonicboom, Amplifest and most specifically Roadburn in the Netherlands, Prepare The Ground aims to offer a community-first approach with meticulous curation by Denholm Whale (Modo Live), KW Campol (Mythos & the Perpetual Flame Ministries).

advertisement

“Toronto has always been a town that embraces honest, cathartic music and that is what we are trying to provide through this festival," Campol told Billboard Canada last year.

Prepare The Ground is focused around four music venues in two blocks around Bloor and Bathurst: Trinity St. Paul’s Church, Lee’s Palace, the Cave and 918 Bathurst. Full festival passes and single day tickets are available here.

FULL LINEUP:

YOB (ATMA & a career spanning set)

KHANATE (reunion)

KYLESA (reunion)

HAVE A NICE LIFE

BARONESS (songs from the red & blue albums)

A MONOLITHIC DOME

ADULT.

ALASKAN (reunion)

ASHBRINGER

ASTRAL WITCH

BIG BRAVE

BURNING LOVE (reunion / final show)

COLISEUM

DISMAL AURA

FALL OF RAUROS

FOTOCRIME

GENITAL SHAME

GUILTLESS

HARVESTMAN

HIDE

IMMORTAL BIRD

JETSAM

JOHN WIESE

KOWLOON WALLED CITY

KOWLOON WALLED CITY & FRIENDS: SHALLOW, NORTH DAKOTA TRIBUTE

LANA DEL RABIES

MIDWIFE

MORNE

NO MAN

OLDEST SEA

OLGA

ORA COGAN & ESTER THUNANDER

ORISKA

PLANNING FOR BURIAL scoring "the Phantom Carriage"
PRISONER

PYGMY LUSH

PYGMY LUSH scoring "An Original Composition of Archival Footage"

advertisement

RAPHAEL WEINROTH-BROWNE

SHALLOW WAVES

STEVE VON TILL

THE ATLAS MOTH

THE DISCUSSION

THE RITA

TRUCK VIOLENCE

YOUNG WIDOWS

advertisement
Carly Rae Jepsen
Meredith Jenks

Carly Rae Jepsen

Pop

604 Records Co-Founder Jonathan Simkin Says Carly Rae Jepsen Recorded a Whole Unreleased Album Around 'Call Me Maybe'

The British Columbia-native was signed to Interscope Records, but was reportedly tasked to make a brand new record with all new producers.

An unreleased Carly Rae Jepsen project exists out in the music ether, according to Jonathan Simkin.

In a recent podcast episode of I Hate Simkin, the 604 Records co-founder reveals that prior to the No. 1 success of Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe,” an entire project had been made — but it didn’t make it to the masses.

keep readingShow less
advertisement