You NEED to attend Sled Island

For the last five years or so, Calgary has been fortunate to host one of the best music and arts festivals around: Sled Island. Showcasing an eclectic mix of musicians, artists, comedians made up of both local and international talent, each year of the festival has featured around 200 performing acts across a swathe of Calgary's best clubs and bars. In addition to the multitude of musical acts, there are art shows, comedy nights and many fundraisers available to take part in during the festival, which this year runs from June 20th-23rd.

The range of musicians that play each year ensures that fans of almost any genre will find something to check out. In the last few years Sled has featured indie guitar legends such as Built to Spill, Dinosaur Jr and Melvins, alongside insanely frenetic shows from groups like GOBBLE GOBBLE, Monotonix, and Man Man, as well as "how-did-they-get-HIM?" type appearances from heavyweights like GZA from the Wu-Tang Clan, and the party animal that is Andrew WK.

This year has perhaps the most varied lineup that the festival has seen yet. Indie darling Feist will be playing a surely well-attended set, hugely influential Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore is scheduled to appear, as are The Hold Steady. Along with Japanese noise-rock aficionados Boris and the innovative hip hop of Shabazz Palaces, many of the most distinctive voices in independent music today will be represented.

Alongside those musical acts with international exposure, Sled Island features dozens of local Calgarian acts, and represents a great opportunity for up and coming musicians to begin to make a name for themselves. While there is obviously something to be said for seeing the "big" artists that will be at festivals like this, my favourite part of Sled Island is simply being there . There is a lot of fun to be had in purchasing a festival wristband with a group of friends and simply wandering from venue to venue, taking in artists that you have never heard of before. The price of attending can be whatever you are comfortable with: there are "VIP" passes which cost a few hundred dollars and allow privileged access to every show at the festival, or there are passes for a single venue for as little as $20.

The festival is only a couple weeks away - book some time off and check it out!