Northern Lights Festival returning to in-person concerts for 50th anniversary

After two years, the Northern Lights Festival Boreal (NLFB) in Greater Sudbury will be returning to its regular format — just in time to mark its 50th anniversary.

The long-running summer music festival will get back to holding live, in-person performances at Bell Park this July.

They've lined up special artists to help mark the milestone.

"There's a big retrospective aspect to the festival and that goes into programming as well," said artistic director Max Merrifield. 

"We'll be bringing artists who played the festival and other NLFB events from the very beginning, all through the different eras to appear in this lineup," he added.

"It's the fact that we will actually be able to gather again and bring this festival back after two years of very little," said executive director Krishna Patel.

"So the big reunion aspect of it is going to be very exciting and then we've got a really awesome lineup for this year," she said.

Most of the lineup for NLFB 2022 was announced at an event Saturday evening.

Headliners

Headlining NLFB on Thursday night will be The New Pornographers, an indie-rock supergroup. The band has released eight albums to date, won and been nominated for Juno Awards, the Polaris Prise and more.

Merrifield said the band had been booked for the 2020 festival. This will be their first ever appearance in northern Ontario.

Headlining NLFB on Friday night will be Bombino, a Grammy nominated guitarist from Niger. He's been called 'the world's greatest guitarist' and the 'Sultan of Shred.' Merrifield said the artist was a headliner at the NLFB's Bloom Festival in 2019.

Headlining NLFB on Sunday night is American folk artist Judy Collins. The award-winning singer-songwriter has garnered several top-ten hits, as well as gold and platinum selling albums. Merrifield calls her 'a legend' and a 'classy performer' and said it's an honour to have her at NLFB.

Among other performers on tap

Paul Collins Beat: rock n' roll icon, pioneer of the power-pop sound, and cult favourite.

Lemon Bucket Orkestra: is a large ensemble from Toronto that describes themselves as the "Balkan-Klezmer-Gypsy-Party-Punk-Super Band." Merrifield said members of the band have strong ties to Ukraine. 

Myka 9: is an influential rapper from Los Angeles, known for his rapid-fire, jazz-influenced, melodic rapping, with singing and scatting incorporated into songs.

Sharon and Randi: Well known family entertainer Sharon Hampson, from famous threesome Sharon, Lois & Bram, will perform many of the well-know children's songs with her daughter Randi.

For a complete list of performers, including when they'll be performing, check out NLFB website.

[The NLFB lineup] is a real mix as usual, and I think we're really proud of the diversity here.- Max Merrifield, artistic director Northern Lights Festival Boreal

More to come

"It's a real mix as usual, and I think we're really proud of the diversity here," Merrifield said. "This is just the first wave of course, there is more to come including one of our big headliners for Saturday."

Patel said there will be a retrospective historical exhibition at the event.

"Just to show off some of the cool items that we've collected over the years," she said. Those include T-shirts, posters, film reels, and other items.

"It's just wild to see how much things have changed and how little things have changed at the same time."

Anyone who purchased tickets for the 2020 event can redeem those tickets for this year.

Northern Lights Festival Boreal is scheduled for July 7-10 in Bell Park in Greater Sudbury.