The lineup for the band-centric Forest Stage at the eleventh annual Northern Vibe Festival was announced via their Facebook page yesterday, so what should you know there? While not announced in official promotion, this year will mark a change for Forest Stage promotion, as former Jack Spades/Frightlight frontman J.D. Pearce has stepped down as the curator of the lineup, after handling things there since the Ophir-based festival returned from their pandemic hiatus in 2021. As you may recall, last year's Forest Stage lineups were severely impaired by a Friday night rainstorm, which ultimately caused heavy damage to the stage overnight that left it unusable on the Saturday, with six band withdrawals. That alone isn't an ideal foot to leave off on, especially if this ends up being J.D.'s last turn as a local concert promoter, but kudos to him for booking and curating at Northern Vibe for the past five years despite his move to the GTA! Hopefully we hear more from him soon!
For 2026, Golden Scoundrels/ex-Shit Liver frontman Josh Penno has taken over curation duties on the Forest Stage, and this isn't an isolated happening, as he booked the Dopethrone concert at Jay's Piston Broke Pub last month. The Northern Vibe Festival will return to the former Hempfest stomping grounds on Poplardale Road in Ophir from Friday, August 28th-Sunday, August 30th (rebuilt Forest Stage in tow), and 15 acts are currently listed on the above promotional poster. If that holds steady, it will be the biggest Forest Stage lineup since the pandemic, and likely ever given how infrequently lineup details were published in the 2010s. However, it remains to be seen what days everyone is playing on, which lines up with the J.D. era, as a full daily schedule was generally only made public the week of the festival, if at all. I do get that this encourages people to buy full weekend passes, but still.
If scheduled similarly to past years, no bands will be playing on the Sunday. Four of the acts this year are out-of-town touring artists, with the nominal headliners being Flint, Michigan-based ska punk band The Write-Ups (the first American band ever booked for Northern Vibe), who headlined at The Speak Easy early last month. Good to see them back in our area so soon, and they're a fun band for ska fans! Two touring bands will be making their local debuts here in August, and both are relatively new acts, including Sudbury hard rock quartet Pressure Event and Timmins all-female pop punk quartet Saving Bambi, whose own advertising indicates that they'll be playing on Saturday the 29th (though Northern Vibe isn't technically in Leeburn). As well, Sudbury rapper Ronin705 will return to Ophir that weekend, five years after serving as a late replacement performer at Northern Vibe in 2021.
Of the eleven local acts, only three are returnees from Northern Vibes past, and they include the aforementioned folk/bluegrass quartet The Golden Scoundrels (who played the last two years), local/Barrie alt-hard rock musician Mike Haggith for a fourth straight year (presumably with The Big Finish Band in tow again), and local rap supergroup Soundsxvad (members of Sound Syndrome + Fvcksxvad) in an encore from their Ophir debut in 2025. This year has more ties with recent Rotaryfest lineups, with debutantes including funk rock cover quartet The Rhythm Junction, blues rockers Sunday & The Broken Hearts, former Way Backs frontman Jeffrey Wright in a solo country set, and blues musician Josh "The Preacher" McNally and his Jackleg Band, fresh off of their Stage 2 set next month. Other acts at Northern Vibe XI include new local alternative hard rock quintet Riverside Stasis ...
...ska punk quartet A.S.D.P., local/Peterborough folk/country musician Michelle Moran, and curator/Scoundrels frontman Josh Penno in a solo set curiously branded as "Pen Pen Happy Fun Time". Is "Quarter Scoundies" too obvious? Meanwhile, the EDM/DJ-centric Roost River Stage lineup has also been revealed, so click here to see who will be spinning tunes there. As usual at Northern Vibe, you can expect vendors and on-site camping all weekend long to cap off the summer with, though detailed specifics are to be announced on what to expect. In 2025, the daily schedules were expected to run from 6:00 PM-11:00 PM on the Friday and 12:00 PM-11:00 PM on the Saturday, the storm and this year's larger lineup acknowledged. This is a 19+ event, and tickets are currently on sale at this link in the "early bird" tier 1 phase, going for $125 for the full weekend.
No word on if the price will go up once "early bird" sales end, but if you're holding out for single day passes or other tiers, stay tuned to Northern Vibe social media accounts for updates. Definitely a more varied lineup for musical styles, leaning more into blues and country while still harbouring alternative and rap from past years, which is a testament to Josh's aims as a curator, and hopefully things go smoothly with much better weather in a couple of months! Visit the above links for more on this year's Northern Vibe Festival, but we'll let you know when daily schedules and timeslots are announced, and look for more news soon! Thanks everyone!
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