Sled Island Music & Arts Festival returns to Calgary for 2025! See the great lineup below!
Calgary’s Sled Island Music & Arts Festival runs June 18 – 22. The annual festival presents a unique selection of music, comedy, art, special events and conference programming in multiple venues across Calgary each June, with over 150 more bands recently added to this year’s programming.
Attendees can expect to see a cross-genre collection of musical talent during the five-day event. Acts announced to date include Japanese punk rock four-piece Otoboke Beaver, Brooklyn-based R&B Queen Yaya Bey, Canadian synth-pop heroes TOPS, Australian psych rock outfit Tropical Fuck Storm, captivating singer-songwriter Zola Jesus, hip-hop collective Oddisee & Good Company, Boston slowcore trio Horse Jumper of Love, experimental noise rock group Xiu Xiu, LA-based electronic musician Baths, electro-pop artist Sofie Royer, breathtaking ambient harpist Mary Lattimore, and outlandish egg punk band Snõõper!
Sled Island will feature a wide array of Edmonton acts. Hear the “loudish” dreamy and deliberate rock of Cassia Hardy, the thought-provoking jazz and afrobeat inspired rap of Arlo Maverick, the ripping garage grooves of Big Evil Rat, and the pop craftsmanship and lo-fi psychedelia of Pearly Moon. Catch heavy post-metal prognosticators Everythingyoueverloved, the bedroom pop sensation Chic Chameleon, balladeer, crooner, and pop star, Aladean Kheroufi, the raw, sensual, and sometimes abstract sounds of MORRISMORRIS or Uncanny Valley’s shadowy homage to ‘80s post-punk. There’s the explosive intensity of Midnight Peg, the industrial, acid techno, hypertrance, and breakbeat sounds of SILKROAD, and the ominously cold drum beats and glitched-out vibes of nk. archaic. There are even more Edmonton acts playing. Look here!
The full lineup also includes genre-defiant Chicago drummer Makaya McCraven, contemporary composer Kara-Lis Coverdale, Montreal psych punks PYPY, the new cold wave solo project from Annie-Claude Deschênes (of Duchess Says and PYPY), Portland-based black metal project Mizmor, Canadian-Filipino experimental rap artist Kimmortal, San Francisco experimental sound artist evicshen, Canadian indie pop duo Bibi Club, Berlin-based post-punk outfit Liiek, South Carolina experimental R&B singer/producer Niecy Blues, legendary Indigenous folk rock duo Willie Thrasher & Linda Saddleback, Arabic post-folk group SANAM and many, many more.
Each year, Sled Island’s guest curator helps to shape the festival’s programming. Otoboke Beaver’s selection of incredible talent, includes fabled garage punk group The Mummies, Japanese-American “action comic punk band” Peelander-Z, “gunk pop” trio Black Ends, DIY pop-punk outfit LEMON BOY, Seattle sludge metal three-piece MUÑECA, experimental glockenspiel musician and synth pop artist Glockabelle, Taiwanese indie punks BB BOMB and the recently announced final selection, Japanese rock band DMBQ. Along with guest curator duties, Otoboke Beaver will perform at the Palace Theatre on Saturday, June 21, 2025.
The Sled Island Music & Arts Festival takes place each June across multiple Calgary venues. The event showcases music, comedy and art, and attracts nearly 30,000 attendees each year, receiving rave reviews from both local and international attendees, artists and media.
Passes and tickets are on sale now at SledIsland.com!