Summer music festivals can feel predictable: too many stages running at the same time, sprinting from set to set, and lackluster lineups. But this past weekend, All Things Go Toronto proved, once again, why it operates in a completely different league.
Returning for a second run in Toronto from June 6 to 7, the festival took over the new RBC Amphitheatre, delivering a community-driven blend of seamless fan experiences, diverse musical talent, and genuine inclusivity. With a single-stage layout eliminating the dreaded set-time overlap, the weekend allowed the crowd to stay locked into the music from the first note until the final encore. Set along the waterfront, the sweltering summer weather merged with an unrivaled sense of celebration, musical discovery, and friendship.
Saturday’s lineup leaned into bold, genre-blurring rhythms, featuring performances by pop icon Kesha, local heroes The Beaches, Rachel Chinouriri, Holly Humberstone, Sofia Camara, and Bella Kay. Sunday shifted into a sonic blur of vibrant indie-rock and art-pop, highlighting talent like Grammy-winning Wet Leg, Del Water Gap, and Momma, who channeled raw guitar riffs to energize the open-air venue.
The weekend, however, truly belonged to Lorde. Making her second appearance under the festival’s banner, the pop visionary delivered a career-spanning headlining set that held the audience captive and charmed them all the same. Playfully comparing her festival track record to a Pokémon collection, she paused to tell the audience, “This is, without a doubt, the coolest festival in North America”—a sentiment loudly echoed by the near-capacity crowd.
What truly sets All Things Go apart isn’t just the star power. It’s the unwavering dedication to structural equity, featuring a lineup of 68% female-identifying acts and 9.7% non-binary artists. Behind the scenes, a partnership with Live Nation Women ensured that this commitment to representation extended across all production departments, proving that inclusive operations can be executed at scale.
In collaboration with the Book More Women initiative, All Things Go’s historic 92% track record of booking female and non-binary talent is not just a statistic; it’s a rallying cry. As the crowd dispersed and the festival team turned their sights toward upcoming flagship dates in Washington, D.C., and New York this September, one thing is certain: the future of live music belongs to spaces that prioritize community over corporate monotony.
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