go fest

Whistler’s Great Outdoors Fest brings classic Canadian rockers April Wine to the stage to headline four days of arts, sports and family activities in a celebration of Coast mountain culture.

Originally out of Nova Scotia, with hits like You Could Have Been a Lady, Tonight is Wonderful Time to Fall in Love, I Would Want to Lose Your Love, The Whole World’s Goin’ Crazy, You Won’t Dance With Me, Roller, and Just Between You and Me, April Wine is sure to have everyone on their feet as this free concert kicks off a jam-packed weekend.

Saturday evening sees Victoria’s Current Swell keep the energy flowing in Whistler Village Square with a raucous roots act that’s made them a crowd favourite and the opening act for artists like K’Naan, Xavier Rudd, Dispatch and The Tragically Hip. With a committed following in Whistler, these wild, young Canadian musicians are known for their sing-along ready roots and are so committed to the road audiences from Coast to Coast jamming having spent a summer night with them jamming.

Sunday evening North Vancouver’s Dustin Bentall and his partner, fiddler Kendel Carson, bring their successful alt-country act to the stage with the kind of rock fiddling vibe that’s always a hit on the Whistler music scene. Bentall and his band, The Smokes, tour Canada extensively, opening for some of the country’s top musicians—Matt Mays, Sam Roberts, Blue Rodeo, Kathleen Edwards, Mother Mother, JJ Cale and John Prine, and Carson is currently touring with Great Big Sea’s Alan Doyle. They will be followed by Bentall’s father in Bentall, Byrnes and Mann. West Coast music fans know Barney Bentall, Jim Brynes and John Mann’s folk, roots, blues-rock and pop repertoire as the background music to many memories, and these storied musicians will bring it all back with the kind of finely-tuned, professional act only experience can offer.

The Will Ross Band kicks off the final day of GO Fest with a 2 p.m. start on Monday, followed by Dakota Pearl and Willa. A southern Ontario transplant, the Will Ross Band is your classic rock jam band, while Pemberton’s Dakota Pearl will bring Pemberton grown rock & roll to the stage, and Willa, former Whistler resident Ali Milner, brings an experimental edgy electro sound she created with co-writer and producer Ryan Guldemond (Mother Mother).

Whistler Village Square Schedule

Friday, May 15:
7:30pm            April Wine

Saturday, May 16:
7:00pm            Awards
7:30pm            Current Swell

Sunday, May 17:
7:00pm            Awards
7:30pm            Dustin Bentall & Kendel Carson
8:15pm            Bentall, Byrnes and Mann

Monday, May 17:
2:00pm            Will Ross Band
3:00pm            Dakota Pearl
4:00pm            Willa