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Shove off, winter: Bloom 2 brings the promise of spring (and some pretty cool bands)

Terra Lightfoot, Lido Pimienta and Partner join the lineup for March 6 and 7; A Tribe Called Red is headlining

Organizers of the second annual Bloom Festival, March 6-7 in downtown Sudbury, unveiled yet more of what promises to be an eclectic lineup.

Bloom — a springtime celebration brought to you by the minds at Northern Lights Festival Boréal — already announced Indigenous deejay crew A Tribe Called Red is returning to the Nickel City to headline the March event.

“The Bloom team is proud to present a diverse roster of performers guaranteed to heat up the late winter with world, indie, folk, electronic, rock, hip-hop and beyond,” organizers said in a festival.

Tickets are currently available at NLFB.ca/Tickets and at outlets around Sudbury, including Jett Landry Music, Old Rock Coffee, and A&J Home Hardware.

“Tickets of all types are extremely limited due to venue capacities, so organizers are urging festival-goers to purchase in advance.”

If you’ve got tickets, make sure to keep your eyes (and cellphones) peeled for a few surprise ‘pop-up’ performances during the festival.

This week, Bloom dropped the names of a few performers who’ll be hitting local stages during Bloom 2.

Lido Pimienta is a Toronto-based, Colombian-born interdisciplinary musician and artist-curator. She has performed, exhibited, and curated around the world since 2002, exploring the politics of gender, race, motherhood, identity and the construct of the Canadian landscape in the Latin American diaspora and vernacular. She will perform alongside A Tribe Called Red and others during the festival headline concert at The Grand Nightclub on March 6.

Terra Lightfoot is also on the roster of the March 6 headline concert. Songwriter, guitarist and vocalist, Terra Lightfoot is a roots rocker with “ferocious talent,” organizers said. Love, loneliness and temptation are all fodder for Lightfoot. Her playing melds expert finger-picking and distorted, hook heavy melodies all supporting her strong vocals.

On March 7, you can take in several “must-see, intimate club shows.” The Townehouse Tavern hosts rockers Partner, with local support (TBA). Partner is the “mature” effort of two best friends named Josée Caron and Lucy Niles.

If you’re into hip-hop and R&B hit The Asylum on Regent Street on March 7. Headlining this club show is Toronto’s Clairmont the Second. Sudbury’s Jor’Del Downz will also appear at this show.

The official festivities will be closed out by “a high-energy dance party” at Zig’s Bar, with Montréal’s Poirier and Sault Ste. Marie’s DJ Seith. Also appearing will Mark and Marichka Marczyk, a.k.a Balaklava Blues

“Their experiences of war coupled with their unique knowledge of the polyphonic blues of the Ukrainian plains exploded into an ethno-bass live set in which the duo sing live to original EDM, trap, trance and electro-pop influenced tracks.”

Sudbury’s Edouard Landry creates folk songs out of pop, reggae, rock, country and catchy melodies. He was nominated for Best Male Performer at the Trille Gold Awards Gala (2017), and his album Pomme plastique II was nominated for Best Album by a Francophone Artist at the 2017 Northern Ontario Music & Film Awards. 

Singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Naponse’s Anishinaabe name is Odemin Kwe, meaning “Strawberry Woman.” Muskrat Magazine finds a perfect reflection of her name in her music calling it “red-chained, heartfelt and passionate.” Naponse, who describes her sound as Indigenous folk-pop, has won the Northern Lights Festival Boréal Meltdown Competition and performed at numerous festivals & showcases. 

Stay tuned for more Bloom 2 announcements.

Northern Lights Festival Boréal’s annual juried audition event Meltdown Competition is now a main component of the annual Bloom festival. Meltdown is a competition for local artists to earn a spot performing at Northern Lights Festival Boréal. If you’re an artist or group who wants to throw your hat in the ring in Meltdown pay a visit to nlfb.ca/contact (https://nlfb.ca/contact/) to apply.


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