Supercrawl turns 15 and announces 2023 lineup
Headliners will include BADBADNOTGOOD, Broken Social Scene, Rita Chiarelli & Sweet Loretta, The Flatliners, Hamilton Superstars, and Raine & Chantal.
Supercrawl 2023 marks the 15th anniversary of the much-loved music and arts festival on James Street North. This year it runs Sept. 8-10, and the principal lineup was announced at a media launch event at Mills Hardware Tuesday night.
In his short address, Supercrawl festival director and Sonic Unyon co-owner and president Tim Potocic stressed that “we’re excited to be back for our 15th anniversary. We count the COVID years even though it wasn’t really on James Street for two years. Shit still happened, so it’s 15 years in all.”
Potocic extended thanks to “the thousands of volunteers, community members and staff, and all the people in Hamilton who believed in us, from the bottom of my heart. We have such great support from our community.” He acknowledged Supercrawl’s sponsors, beginning with presenting sponsor TD, “and all the incredible small businesses, especially those on James Street who put up with us closing the greatest street in Hamilton.”
He then thanked the fest’s government partners, the City of Hamilton, Canadian Heritage through Building Communities, Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, and the Province of Ontario. Potocic added a “maybe” to the latter source, addressing Doug Ford in pointed fashion.
“If you’re listening, Doug, can you guys speed up the process? I think Burlington Sound of Music still don’t know if they got their money and it happened over a week ago. Let’s help out all our incredible Ontario festivals by letting them know they’re going to get some money before they actually happen.”
A video announcing the music lineup was then screened, revealing a typically well-curated and eclectic mix of artists. Musical headliners at Supercrawl 2023 (in alphabetical order) will include BADBADNOTGOOD, Broken Social Scene, Rita Chiarelli & Sweet Loretta, The Flatliners, Hamilton Superstars, and Raine & Chantal.
Other notables announced include Boy Golden, Suzie Vinnick, Chastity, The East Pointers, Goodnight Sunrise, Adrian Sutherland, Ryan Langdon, New Friends, Mimi O’Bonsawin, Mattie Leon, and Mikhail Paxton. Local artists featured include Shad, Lacey Hill, The HP’s featuring Northern Soul Horns, HPO Brass Quintet x LTtheMonk, Lacey Hill, Sarah Beatty, and Hamilton Children’s Choir.
Potocic promised more announcements over the summer, plus more details on the art and theatre components. “We’re going to have so much incredible art on the street. We have a partnership with Centre Francophone this year, with an incredible residency from globally acclaimed performance art troupe Corpus Dance Projects that is super-French and very weird! And come and enjoy the hundreds of food trucks and art vendors.”
For updated lineup information, check the Supercrawl website.
