Sled Island

East Village Block Party is Back!

Sled Island is thrilled to be partnering with East Village for the return of the East Village Block Party, a free outdoor event curated by the HiFi Club on Thursday, June 20th at RiverWalk Plaza on 5th Street & Confluence Way SE.

Following the great success of last year's inaugural event, we're pleased to present the following acts for the 2013 edition, live remix party band Keys N Krates, New York electronic producer and Trouble & Bass founder Drop The Lime, downbeat future R&B collab act Kingdom & Kelela and local electro veterans Smalltown DJs. Also catch the chill polyrhythmic grooves of Sabota, live dark dancepop artist Mark Mills, not to be missed Crimson and the cross genres breaks of Ivan Rankic at this year's East Village Block Party.

In addition to these amazing acts we're happy to welcome back Market Collective, they will be setting up a local's crafter market on the Riverwalk and of course, everyone's favourite food trucks will be set up to deliver their tasty goods for the event from 4 - 10pm. This is a free outdoor, family-friendly event open to music fans of all-ages. There will also be an outdoor beer garden for the 18+ crowd to enjoy themselves.

Get ready to dance in the open air with all your friends this June! RSVP for Facebook event here.

Learn more about the East Village by checking out their Facebook page and visiting their website today.

Akron/Family Joins Olympic Plaza Lineup!

Believe it or not Sled Island is still adding bands to this year's lineup and we're not done yet. We're proud to announce that experimental folk pioneers Akron/Family have been added to perform at Olympic Plaza on Saturday, June 22nd on an already stacked lineup that includes The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Thermals, Mac DeMarco, Lowell plus a special guest to be announced! Advance tickets for Saturday at Olympic Plaza are on sale now for $50, get yours today.

 Olympic Plaza on Friday, June 21st is shaping up to be a magical night of music featuring performances by Explosions in the Sky, The Besnard Lakes plus another special guest to be announced. Tickets for Friday night at Olympic Plaza are on sale now for $40, get yours today.

Stay tuned for more announcements coming soon including special guests at Olympic Plaza and even more lineup additions. The full schedule for Sled Island 2013 drops on Tuesday, May 28th. 

Advance Tickets On Sale Now!

Sled Island is jam-packed with incredible shows at venues ranging from Calgary mainstays like Republik, Broken City and The HiFi Club to festival-specific sites like #1 Legion, Golden Age Club and more during the festival from June 19 - 22. While the Festival Discovery Pass is the recommended way to experience the overall festival, we realize not everyone has the chance to attend all four days. As such there are a limited amount of advance tickets available for select shows throughout the festival.  Advance tickets for shows featuring headliner performances by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Superchunk, Hollerado, Iceage, Colin Steson, Torche, Swans, Thee Oh Sees, Metz, The Night Marchers, Ryan Hemsworth plus many more are on sale now!

These single show tickets are in addition to the previously-released tickets for Olympic Plaza events featuring Explosions in the Sky with guests on Friday, June 21 and The Jesus and Mary Chain with guests on Saturday, June 22 plus Flames Central shows including Joel Plaskett Emergency with guests on Friday, June 21 and Divine Fits with guests on Saturday, June 22 on sale now.

Check out the Tickets page for a full listing of advance tickets and get a preview of the festival schedule that we'll be announcing on May 28th. Physical tickets for the just-announced shows will be available at select retail outlets starting next week.

Sled Island Film Announces 2013 Program!

The 2013 Sled Island film program is better than ever running from Tuesday, June 18 through to Tuesday, June 25, find Canadian and Alberta Premieres of concert films, documentaries, narrative features, community presentations, music videos, and guest curated international shorts. Events include an outdoor Secret Cinema Bike-In with CSIF, nightly after-parties at Milk Tiger Lounge, and our Closing Gala for The Legend of Kaspar Hauser ( La leggenda di Kaspar Hauser). Also, confirmed is an Artist Talk and Workshop with North Country Cinema guest curators Kyle Thomas and Alexander Carson.

Be sure to check out the Canadian Premiere of Matt Porterfield's most recent feature film I Used to Be Darker with special guests in attendance. Sled Island and the Glenbow Museum are presenting the Alberta Premiere of Museum Hours directed by Jem Cohen, know for his Fugazi documentary (Instrument) and other collaborations with musicians including Patti Smith, Terry Riley, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, and R.E.M. The Mystery of Old Bathbath is a new puppet picture from Sled Island Alumni/Guest Curators (2010) Quintron & Miss Pussycat, and will be making it's Canadian Premiere at Tubby Dog!

For a more complete look at the film program, click here. More special events and screenings to be announced in coming weeks. Your Sled Island Discovery and Discovery Plus Passes get you into all film events, All Ages screenings are available with your All-Ages Pass. Get your passes now! Individual tickets will be available soon.

Sled Island Announces 2013 Lineup!

Sled Island is proud to announce the near-complete lineup for the 7th annual independent music and arts festival featuring over 250 diverse-ranging bands performing across 30+ venues concentrated in the downtown core and surrounding areas in Calgary, Alberta from June 19 - 22, 2013. New additions to the festival lineup include punk rock supergroup OFF! (Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Redd Kross, Hot Snakes), the power pop of Portland's The Thermals, Montreal's dreamy psych rockers The Besnard Lakes, electro-remix masterminds Keys N' Krates, Winnipeg hardcore noise-rockers Ken Mode, Sub Pop R&B hip-hop duo THEESatisfaction and Montreal dark-wave art rockers Suuns. Also announced today are guest curator Tim Hecker's selections, devastating noise artist Pete Swanson and Arabic-influenced electro visual-audio experience Jerusalem In My Heart plus more. Returning festival favourites include Calgary indie-folk songstress Samatha Savage Smith, lo-fi chill disco artist Renny Wilson and Halifax road warriors Cousins to name a few.

These artists join previously announced acts including The Jesus and Mary Chain, Explosions in the Sky, Swans, Divine Fits, Joel Plaskett Emergency, Iceage, Superchunk, Mac DeMarco, Colin Stetson, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Torche, Metz, Tim Hecker, Thee Oh Sees, The Night Marchers, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, John K. Samson, Mount Eerie, BadBadNotGood, Ryan Hemsworth, White Lung, Javelin, The Gaslamp Killer and more.

Click here to view the complete list of acts confirmed to perform at Sled Island 2013.

Watch the festival trailer here. 

Sled Island 2013's lineup includes more than 75 artists from Calgary, over 100 from Alberta, nearly 230 from Canada and over 50 from around the world, representing a wide variety of musical tastes and influences. Every year Sled Island aims to celebrate, showcase and nurture emerging and established local talent alongside national and international independent music, visual art, comedy and film in a variety of unique spaces.

Festival passes are on sale now at the Shop - a festival pass grants access to all music, art, comedy, film and workshop events at Sled Island subject to venue capacity. The Festival Discovery Pass is $199, the Festival Discovery Plus Pass is $349 and the All-Ages Pass is $50. More information can be found on the Festival Passes page.