Here's their website: www.evolvefestival.com
Evolve has had many amazing acts over the years. For instance: Xavier Rudd, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Wintersleep, The Be Good Tanyas, Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, DJ Dan, DJ Heather, Donald Glaude, ASkillz, k-os, The New Deal, and Man Man.
Two of my favorite experiences were these:
Martin, Medeski, & Wood - To appreciate this, you have to understand where the festival is held. It's in a rural area of Atlantic Canada. Basically, the main stage (at some of the locations) has been a barn in a cow field. Don't take this the wrong way - the rural setting is beautiful. But imagine calling Steinway & Sons in New York and asking if it would be possible to borrow a grand piano for a concert in a cow pasture in Nova Scotia. The salesman is silent for a moment, in stunned disbelief. When he collects his thoughts, he says that it is impossible, and as an afterthought he asks, "And who did you intend to have playing this piano?" When he learns that it is for John Medeski, we quickly learn that "Steinway and Sons would be honoured to provide a piano for Mr. Medeski to use at this event." And they graciously shipped one of their best grand pianos to the cow pasture. Incidentally, their show was amazing.
Mark Farina - On the opposite end of the spectrum from MMW, we have Mark Farina, a house DJ now residing in San Francisco. Have you heard of the Mushroom Jazz series? If you haven't, check it out and go on a beat-mixed acid-jazz trip hop downtempo house journey that you'll play again and again. Anyway, Farina was the performer that I wanted to see the most at one of the festivals, but I learned that my own set, on a different stage, was at the same time as his. I made a t-shirt with a photo of him to wear during my set, which said, "Sorry, but I'm not Mark Farina." After I played, I went over to catch the tail end of his set. While standing backstage, he came over to talk to me and saw the shirt and asked what it was about. After I explained, he said it was one of the funniest shirts he'd ever seen, and asked to pose with me for a photo.
Evolve attracts thousands of people from across Atlantic Canada, but also many more from all over North America and abroad. If you enjoying going to festivals at all, this one is going to put a smile on your face. And one last thing that I almost forgot to mention: Evolve just won the "Top Canadian Music Festival" award on CBC 3, in a competition with eighty-some other festivals. A huge well-deserved congratulations go out to my good friend Jonas Coulter and all the other people over the years who have made this happen!
I'll leave you with a link to a post where you can download a live recording I did, from the 2004 festival. Enjoy!
http://djbolivia.blogspot.com/2011/04/mix-bolivia-live-at-evolve-festival.html
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