Watch Every Performance From Our Summer Concert Series!

What is summer without cut-off jean shorts, cheesy flower crowns and an extra-large poutine served out of a truck? Well, thanks to COVID-19, we’re about to find out. Festivals are a no-go this year and even the smaller outdoor concerts we’d been looking forward to are on pause. (Raise your hand if you’re *still* waiting on ticket refunds….)

Before the pandemic hit, we were deep into planning summer content for FLARE, which in previous years would have included round-ups of all the best concerts, up-and-coming musicians to watch and (appropriation-free) festival style guides. When we had to quickly pivot our content line-up, we asked: How can we step in and provide the entertainment, inspiration and joy that the coronavirus has taken from us? And one of the ideas we came up with was a virtual concert series where we could showcase on-the-rise women and women-identifying artists who may not have made it onto the mainstream festival circuit. When FLARE’s managing editor Jennifer Berry came up with the genius name “Lilith FLARE” (if you know, you know), we HAD to make this happen—but with a line-up of musicians that’s as diverse as our audience. (The OG Lilith Fair was painfully white.)

Starting this month, we’ll be streaming a performance on our IGTV every Thursday evening at 7 p.m. And, if you miss any, you’ll be able to catch up with them here, where we’ll be embedding videos of all the artists after they go live. We super pumped about this diverse mix of talented musicians transforming the Canadian and global scene, and we’ll be adding even more dates as the summer unfolds. Have a fave local artist you want to see on FLARE? Drop us a line at [email protected] and nominate your faves. (Women of colour to the front!)

Here, the inaugural Lilith FLARE line-up:

June 18: Grae

June 25: Zaki Ibrahim

July 2: Haviah Mighty

July 9: Storry

July 16: Riit

July 23: Ralph

July 30: Hunnah

August 6: Lemin

August 13: Amanda Mae

August 20: LØLØ

August 27: Stefani Kimber

September 3: Closing night! Eunice Keitan and Mighloe