Supercrawl 2025: A musical roundup
HAMILTON CITY Magazine music writer Kerry Doole put in a lot of steps travelling from one end of James Street North to the other, capturing as many headliners as he could. In case you missed these musical acts over the weekend, we've included videos of each act!
Held along James Street North from Sept. 12-14, this was the 17th edition of Supercrawl, the annual street festival long recognized as one of the biggest and best in Canada. Blessed with near-perfect weather for all three days, this year’s event again attracted large crowds.
This music scribe caught multiple music acts on all three days of the fest, and here is a subjective review from a now experienced Supercrawler.
Friday evening’s first stop was at the Steelport stage, at Barton and James. The smallest of Supercrawl’s three stages, it primarily focused on an eclectic lineup of mostly local talent. There is a growing buzz around Irish-born, Hamilton-based singer-songwriter Aoife-Louise Doyle (she operates under the moniker AOIFE), and her set here showed why. She has progressed from folk roots to a more contemporary pop-rock sound, and her strong, pure vocals were accompanied here by a full band that included a saxophonist, keyboardist and two backing singers.
AOIFE earned a slot here by winning a Road to Supercrawl contest held pre-fest at Mills Hardware that was produced by famed recording studio Grant Avenue, and they also sponsored the Steelport stage. Studio co-owner Mike Bruce was spied enjoying her set, and he tipped her as a future star to HCM.
From there, it was off to the big TD Mainstage at King William and James for Montreal rockers PYPY. Comprising members of such noted Montreal bands as CPC Gangbangs, Red Mass and Duchess Says, they’ve been together a decade and are signed to Goner Records in Memphis.
Their style defies easy pigeonholing, as elements of garage rock, psychedelia, punk and post-punk can be detected, with hints of The Cramps and a Joy Division bass sound audible at times. It was the high energy of singer Annie-Claude Deschenes that helped win the audience over, as she jumped into the crowd for a good chunk of the set, at one point singing while seated on the shoulders of a security guard. Fun stuff.
Headlining the same stage that night was another Montreal band, Godspeed You! Black Emperor. This was anticipated by many to be a potential Supercrawl highlight, and the group didn’t disappoint, delivering a simply stunning set. No onstage antics here, just eight experienced and skilled musicians dedicated to crafting atmospheric soundscapes that are both haunting and powerful.
After three decades together, GY!BE are recognized around the globe as leading exponents of instrumental post-rock. With a cellist and violinist joined by three guitarists, a bassist and two drummers, they create a wall of sound that is orchestral in scope. It swells, soars and dips, and has just enough momentum to hold your attention.
There was no interaction with the audience, no banal "how are you doing Hamilton?" queries, but none was expected. Despite being an instrumental collective, Godspeed is also a political force, unafraid to bite the hand that feeds. After winning the Polaris Music Prize in 2013, they sharply criticized the event and its sponsors. Just last month, they withdrew their music from Spotify, slamming CEO Daniel Ek’s investment fund for supporting a company developing AI for military use, and at Supercrawl they projected a message regarding TD’s involvement in the industry of war. Such an important band, on many levels.
Our Saturday night Supercrawling began with Cadence Weapon (aka Rollie Pemberton) on the TD Mainstage. This Polaris Prize-winning rapper, producer, poet and author is a fairly recent arrival to Hamilton, and he made sure to sprinkle many hometown references into his spirited set. “I’m from East Hamilton,” he declared upon taking the stage, and he later joked that, after living near the stadium, “now I can be the cause of the noise for once!”
Backed by a turntablist, Cadence Weapon prowled the stage in energetic fashion, soon eliciting the crowd’s vocal support. Pemberton marked the 20th anniversary of his breakthrough album Breaking Kayfabe by reprising some of its material alongside work from his more recent release, 2024’s Rollercoaster, and other earlier albums.
A passionate ambassador for Canadian hip-hop, Pemberton noted with pride that he was sharing this night’s lineup on the festival’s biggest stage with some renowned peers, the platinum-selling Classified and ToBi. “This the most hip-hop I’ve seen at Supercrawl. It’s a raptravaganza!,” he declared.
It takes courage to perform a set on a big stage at primetime Supercrawl on a Saturday night just solo, with acoustic guitar, but, at the City of Music stage, Menno Versteeg made it work, thanks to his self-deprecating humour and witty material.
He is best known as frontman of popular indie rockers Hollerado, but has taken a solo path in recent years as that popular group took a break (they’re now active again). Versteeg admitted he is unable to properly cover that band’s songs solo, though he did attempt one here. Highlights of his solo originals included “Bad Dog” and “Change A Tire,” a song spawned by a failed attempt at writing a Red Bull commercial.
Headlining the same stage was Basia Bulat, one of the major names at this year’s Supercrawl, given that the internationally-acclaimed Montreal-based singer/songwriter is a three-time Polaris Music Prize finalist, five-time JUNO Award nominee, and a CBC favourite. Since releasing a debut EP 20 years ago, she has released seven full-length albums.
Here, she mixed songs from her new album, Basia’s Palace, with earlier favourites and switched between autoharp and acoustic guitar, accompanied by a versatile three-piece band.
Bulat has a strong and pure voice with just enough character to keep it interesting and her songs are oft charming (one was inspired by her two young daughters). Some of the arrangements seemed a mite pedestrian, however, leading one to wonder if a few songs would be better served with a strictly solo treatment.
Sunday’s Supercrawling began with a keenly anticipated set by Foxwarren, led by singer/songwriter Andy Shauf. His solo albums have earned serious global praise, and he has also found time in recent years to record two albums with Foxwarren, a band featuring some musical comrades from his early years.
Signed to prestigious U.S. label ANTI-, Foxwarren is built around Shauf’s sweetly charming voice and well-crafted compositions. Their sound is mellow folk-rock with a distinct ‘70s feel, and this warm and low-key vibe was perfect for the streetfest situation. Keyboard fills blended nicely with understated guitars, and the group never kicked into full rock mode. The crowd was highly attentive, and Shauf’s late-set comment that “this has been awesome” is one they’d have echoed. A Supercrawl highlight.
A final stop saw local blues hero Steve Strongman close out proceedings at the City of Music stage. That has become an annual Supercrawl tradition, with Strongman usually bringing up other blues stars to join him. This time, his set was restricted to his own A-list band, but the strength of his material and musicianship shone in this setting. He is a multiple threat, as an ace guitarist, strong vocalist and skilled songwriter and producer, assets recently used by famed Texan blues-rockers The Fabulous Thunderbirds on their Grammy-nominated album.
Strongman reprised one of their collaborative songs, “Struck Down By The Blues,” to fine effect. Other highlights included “I’m Tired Of Talking,” featuring boogie-woogie piano from Joel Parisien,” “White Lightnin’,” a tune inspired by his pal, the late blues great Mel Brown, and “Soul Searching,” from his 2007 debut album and here featuring guest vocals from Steve’s daughter, Scarlett Strongman. She is making a mark as a teen actor, but displayed a powerful and compelling voice here. One to watch.
A few general observations on Supercrawl 2025:
It does increasingly seem that a majority of festival-goers attend primarily to drink, eat and hang out rather than focus on the music, but of course there’s nothing wrong with that. There remains plenty for us music lovers to catch, and this year was no exception.
It was refreshing to see the oft unfairly maligned downtown/James Street core come to vibrant life, and with no serious incidents reported.
In a time of "buy Canadian," the almost exclusively Canadian music lineup was welcome, and the overall quality reaffirmed the depth of talent in this city and from across the country. Congrats to Tim Potocic, Matt Paxton and the Sonic Unyon/Supercrawl team for another high-quality lineup.
The weather gods certainly shone on Supercrawl all weekend. This was certainly the best weather of the 10 festivals this scribe has attended, and possibly the best ever.
On a personal note, I have a lot to be grateful to Supercrawl for. In the early 2010s, I would visit Hamilton from Toronto for the fest annually, and this alerted me to the vibrancy of this city and its music and arts community, paving the way for a move to this great city seven years. Long may the festival thrive!
