Accessibility has always been an important part of OBEY Convention. We do our absolute best to work with friendly people, to host shows in safe, inclusive spaces and to keep our ticket prices as affordable. This year, we’ve expanded this idea to make the fest as accessible as possible to the next generation. Which is to say: all of our non-licensed events this year (totalling about 75% of our programming) will be free to people under 19 years of age.
An oft overlooked chasm exists in social city life between the ‘young’ and ‘old’, and this gesture is the best thing we could think of as a way to address the issue. We have so much to learn from one another and, at OBEY HQ, we hope that our festival is nothing if not a platform for shared learning and discovery. Maybe we’re just getting old and going soft, but we remember the mind-blowing shows of our collective youths as real life-changing events.
With that in mind, we’d like to highlight a few shows that may appeal to the youngins:
Our ‘Opening Remarks’ with sound poet Kaie Kellough at Halifax Central Library is sure to rearrange any preconceptions of poetry as something only dead people did. Further to that, you’ll get a peek at what a higher education can do as Dalhousie’s James Duff explores the outer limits of modern composition with a unique festival overture.
Montreal’s Lungbutter and Dartmouth’s Alienation ripping it up streetstyle Friday evening at Halifax North Library is sure to inspire you to start a gnarly band of your own. Then there’s Zs, New York’s premier avant-rock band at The Deep Water Church later that night. The wild energies and sheer prowess at this show will rattle you to the core. Every year at OBEY there’s a show that no one talks about beforehand, and no one can forget afterwards. This is it. This is the one.
Saturday afternoon brings Everyseeker Symposium to the forefront, a series of enlightening talks and workshops exploring the inner workings of sound and culture hosted by the fine people of the AGNS. Then you can let all that new knowledge and awareness seep back out into the ether as you’re lulled into the cosmos by spiritual jazzer Joshua Abrams and his Natural Information Society holding space at The Deep Water Church.
If you’re still standing come Sunday, we’ve planned an afternoon jambo with some of our favorite locals alongside Montreal’s elusive soft-poppers Brave Radar at Seven Bays Bouldering.
And lastly, the final hour: Sunday evening at Fort Massey Church. This one’s a real cloud in trousers: analogue synth conjurer Sarah Davachi and East Coast dreamcatcher Lindsay Dobbin. It’s the kind of event that let’s you curl up beside your grandmamère and remember what it’s like to be everything and nothing all at once.
Prepare for transcendence, young sage.
And remember: capacity is limited, so if you’re keen, be sure to RSVP with our ticket guru, Kat ([email protected]) 24 hours before a given show. And make sure to bring a current school or government photo ID along for the trip.
