Mariposa Day One

July 4, 2026July 4, 2026 Sunonline/Orillia Mariposa Folk

By John Swartz

Mariposa is upon us again. On the way to Tudhope Park a thought it felt early for the festival to happen popped up, which may have had something to do with thinking we did not have much of a spring and we did not have much of truly summer weather until this past week.

And it was stifling for a while, as the sun headed closer to beating down on Winnipeg the temperature dropped and occasionally a gust of breeze helped drive off the humidity, except in the pub, where life is always different, several people mentioned how great it felt with the consistently present breeze

Discussing the weather is important because one can appreciate the music and be miserable, or appreciate and be comfortable.

This year the festival presented many new artists. New in that their names were not familiar and not that they are new acts. With the exception of Shred Kelly and Billy Bragg there was not a artist or band name to think , – ‘oh yeah, them’. Of course this is the strength of Mariposa which has demonstrated time and again name recognition does not matter, they’ll find the gems and put them in front of us.

Main stage closer, Father John Misty is a great example. To begin with, Mariposa is not going to put any act in the last of the night slot that can’t deliver a show, and Father John certainly did that. Opening with a funk styled tune, the band quickly demonstrated a sophisticated, polished performance, with arrangements that changed style and sonic qualities with each new entry of the setlist. In short, if the current tune isn’t doing it for you, the next one likely will.

What I noticed right away is frontman Josh Tillman displayed a well thought out and rehearsed stage presence typical of only those who have been around the block a few times and will have several more trips to make. He’s not new to performance and has developed what appeared to be a calculated approach to how he, the lyrics, the music ought to be observed at every moment. More than 20 years as a performer will do that.

What is a mystery is how he escaped notice until Friday night, which is strange since his music was used in a favourite TV series, True Detective.

Preceding Father John to the stage was Billy Bragg. This again was a first time experience. Known for protest songs, an age-old folk tradition, his screed against fascism following his opening tune, certainly let other newbies in on what to expect.

After seeing several bands perform already, Bragg dominating a stage all by himself speaks to the power of good songs and guts to command attention. He did have a keyboard player, who went unnoticed until well into the second tune, mainly because he was positioned well back on the stage and Bragg was the focus of the performance.

Several young people surrounding this writer’s viewing position knew lyrics to his songs. This is good, young people should know the lyrics to protest tunes, it’s their job.

At the pub tent. Wreckless Harbour opened their set the same way they did Thursday night downtown, strongly. This is a case of most of the tent audience, it was full and overflowing already, not really knowing anything about the band, unless they happened to be at the audition concert back in April. So operating procedure should be, and was, hit them between the eyes with a loud aggressive song, great instrument playing and four-part harmony.

Later Shred Kelly lived up to their name. There is one thing festival goers can count on, if anything happening on the main stage is too mellow, or not to taste, you can always get a few amps jolted into your system at the pub stage. Shred Kelly lived up to their name.

One of the downfalls of covering an event like this is virtually the entire weekend is made up of sampling the music and not being able to plant in one place for too long. This often means missing what others will say are key performance moments. Such was the case with Espanola (Aaron Goldstein) at the pub stage. I got there in time to hear only one tune and it was so great I thought, I wish I had seen more of their performance.

Part of the reason for being tardy was catching Foxwarren’s set on the main stage. This band rocks. I would have liked to have heard more of their stuff.

Eva Kabande
Boreal

Thursday night, downtown. before Wreckless Harbour did their set, Boreal played. The bandmembers, Tannis Slimmon, Katherine Wheatley and Angie Nussey blend their voices very well. The opener for the night, Eva Kabande, has a powerful voice and having accompaniment by a percussionist doing hitty type things provided some icing for the tunes she did reflecting her Mexican roots.

Closing out the downtown stage was Australian Lloyd Spiegle. The sound check before starting his set let everyone know they were in for a bombastic set of blues guitar playing. His band lacked all the things one would expect for a blues band with only a trombone and drums playing along.

Saturday at 5 p.m. The pub stage is the place to be for a recreation of the Neil Young 80^th birthday concert last November. Stickhandler Aaron Goldstein is doing it again. Barrie’s Carleigh Aikins who performed most of the Massey Hall gig as backup singer will be along. There will be some surprise appearances for this set; one of whom will be Tom Wilson.

Sarah Harmer, Taj Mahal and Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory are playing the main stage Saturday night.