Free Bachman concert, Neil Young tribute slated for Toronto's Luminato

A free concert by Canadian music legend Randy Bachman and a star-studded tribute to Neil Young will be among the musical events slated for Toronto in June as part of the city's annual Luminato multi-discipline arts festival.

Organizers announced the musical lineup on Tuesday for the third edition of the Toronto festival, including Bachman's free outdoor concert, which will kick off the 10-day event on June 5.

Holly Cole, Steven Page, Broken Social Scene's Jason Collett and Carol Pope will join 14 other colleagues in a musical tribute to honour Neil Young's 1971 Live at Massey Hall concert. The 18 singer-songwriters, bands and guitarists on the concert's bill will perform original arrangements of the songs Young performed at the historic venue in 1971.

Other highlights include:

• Free outdoor concerts by Balkan composer and musician Goran Bregovic and programs celebrating Brazilian guitar masters, the slide guitar and international blues artists such as Taj Mahal.
• The return of the free, outdoor dance-lessons-and-concert program Light On Your Feet, which will feature evenings devoted to salsa, country, Bollywood, disco and swing dance.
• The world premiere of composer R. Murray Schafer and director Tim Albery's full-length opera The Children's Crusade.
• A concert featuring country and bluegrass icon Emmylou Harris along with Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin and Buddy Miller.
• A Guinness World Record attempt for the largest guitar ensemble, to be held in Toronto's Yonge-Dundas Square

Author Edgar Allan Poe, the inspiration for a number of Luminato's theatrical offerings this year, will also be celebrated in an evening cabaret.

Luminato extends across a host of public spaces and various stages in downtown Toronto from June 5 to 14.

"What we're really trying to achieve is no matter who you are or what your interests are, you'll find something in the festival that will appeal to you," said Luminato's artistic director Chris Lorway.

"We keep doing that and hoping people will respond to it."