Montebello Park set to come alive when the Born & Raised festival brings together Alexisonfire, City and Colour, and six more exciting bands in July.
A recent addition to St. Catharines’ roster of events, Born & Raised first arrived in the summer of 2022 as a sprawling rock concert celebrating the roots of Alexisonfire’s five members – Dallas Green, George Pettit, Wade MacNeil, Chris Steele and Jordan Hastings – on the heels of releasing their first album in over a decade.
The event is coming back for the summer of 2024.
Alexisonfire emerged from the underground of St. Catharines in 2001, and since then has risen to international fame, has broken up and has returned stronger than ever.
While the band has described their musicality as “the sound of two Catholic high-school girls in mid-knife-fight,” they also fit into the post-hardcore, emo, melodic hardcore and screamo genres. Pettit and Green comprise most of the band’s vocals – Pettit screaming and guttural, Green melodic and sombre – with MacNeil providing backup.
Together, they simply rock.
Also headlining at the festival is Green’s solo project, City and Colour. Breaking out in 2005, shortly after Alexisonfire’s debut, City and Colour is a vast departure in terms of genre, but not quality. With an alternative, acoustic, folk-inspired sound, City and Colour delivers sad songs that listeners can escape to.
Born & Raised will take place on Friday, July 5 and Saturday, July 6 as a two-day concert featuring eight different bands, with City and Colour headlining on Friday and Alexisonfire headlining on Saturday. It will be at Montebello Park, where 2023’s Niagara Grape & Wine Festival was held, and each day will run from 4:30 to 10:30 p.m.
“The festival pays homage to the Alexisonfire track bearing its name,” says the event’s website:
“serving as a tribute to the hometown that witnessed the humble origins of Alexisonfire, City and Colour, Dine Alone Records [an independent record label with roots in St. Catharines, whose roster includes Alexisonfire, City and Colour, The Dirty Nil and more] and Bedlam Management [a music management company founded by the same Joel Carriere as Dine Alone Records].”
Also featured at Born & Raised 2024 are six more bands, some established and others lesser known: Metric, Sloan, Dooms Children, The Used, Counterparts and Ekkstacy.
Metric has been making music for over two decades, founded in Toronto in 1998 by Emilie Haines and James Shaw and quickly gaining two new members in Joshua Winstead and Joules Scott-Key. The band is described as indie, alternative rock, new wave and post-punk revival, among others, and is sure to add a unique flavour to Friday’s show.
Also playing Friday night are Dooms Children, a psych-rock band founded by Alexisonfire guitarist Wade McNeil, whose music came from a place of healing after experiencing bouts of depression from life on the road, and Sloan.
Sloan is another Canadian rock band, who in their nearly four-decade-long history have produced 13 studio albums and have not changed their lineup – consisting of Jay Ferguson, Chris Murphy, Patrick Pentland and Andrew Scott.
The Used has seen its fair share of grief, hardship and controversy, but on Saturday they’ll be bringing the emo, punk-rock and heavy-metal music that’s made their records multiple times gold and platinum-certified.
Counterparts is a Hamilton-based band that formed in 2007. Best known for their position in the contemporary melodic hardcore genre and metalcore revival wave, they’re sure to bring a taste of metal to the punk-rock lineup on Saturday.
Finally, Ekkstacy is an up-and-coming singer-songwriter from Vancouver who’s been making waves with his new wave, post-punk, indie rock, gothic rock and punk rock music. His second album, self-titled Ekkstacy, came out this year, the songs of which are sure to be featured on the festival’s second day.
Born & Raised is sure to be an exciting couple of days, filled with memorable performances and culminating in the explosive finale of Alexisonfire’s show. Tickets have been available since the beginning of February, so unfortunately, the two-day bundle is sold out. Individual day passes are still up for grabs though at $121, Friday and Saturday, after fees and taxes on Ticketmaster. Children under the age of 12 get in free, and attendees are permitted a single water bottle that can be refilled at stations throughout the venue.
For those who enjoy punk-rock and metal, there’s nothing quite like hearing your favourite bands performing live. That elation combined with the warm air of a summer night and a cold drink is a feeling that can’t be beaten and Born & Raised promises to fire on every cylinder to make an unforgettable weekend.