or decades, Torontonians faced a summertime concert drought as an array of mostly-Euro festivals horded touring talent, leaving everyone else battling for scraps. However, thanks to mini-fests and a glut of wandering musical excellence, things have changed. This summer, Toronto’s show calendar brims with worthy gigs. Here are some of the best big-ticket attractions; don’t worry: sunscreen on your ears won’t inhibit aural pleasure.


Technically, M.I.A.’s June 2nd Sound Academy gig is pre-summer, but her sunny sounds are a perfect kick-off to the sweltering season. The Sri Lanka-via-London superstar melange provocateur returns with her unique mixture of world-rap, socio-political leanings, funk-ish grooves, cash-register melodies, kitchen-sink song-smithing, and ebullient coolness.


Nothing starts the summer like a trip to the island. Unlike its behemoth cousin, the Virgin Festival, Olympic Island Festival – this year held on June 7th - eschews corporate fellatio in favour of a music-first dogma. Sad-kid heroes, Death Cab for Cutie co-headline, so expect pathos and Ben Gibbard’s trademark whinny. Also, Montreal’s Stars and Vancouver’s Young Galaxy fill out the almost-annual festival’s Arts and Crafts requirements.


You can’t fully appreciate the heat unless you’ve felt the cold. As summer wears on, try not to forget the yin/yang paradigm of weather enjoyment. Mogwai’s catalogue is the perfect accompaniment to the aforementioned dogma. Like other atmospheric bands, from God Speed You Black Emperor to Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai ditties typically build from cool beginnings to heated crescendos (albeit, utilizing post-rock rather than art-experimentation). This June 30th show at the Phoenix will start chilly but end sweaty.


Occasionally, a hole in the English language is plugged by a pop culture noun-turned-adjective. The word “Radiohead” has come to mean anything that straddles that elusive line between critical acclaim and massive popularity. However, in this case, it refers to one of the biggest bands in the world. After reshaping the record industry with the historic PWYC e-release of In Rainbows, the band has hit the road. Since they’re just giving records away they could really use your concert cash. They play the Molson Amphitheatre on August 15th.


Though Labour Day Weekend marks your last opportunity to wear white, the two-day, Island-based V-Fest can prove exigent for your apparel; perhaps you should go with clothing that doesn’t pick up grass stains. Foo Fighters are on top of the marquee for day one, but look for Bloc Party to steal the festival. The zeitgeist-capturing, post-punk dynamo seamlessly roves form sonic booms to regal snail builds and Mayan pyramid layering to resonant, sad-kid weep-induction. Spiritulaized, Wintersleep, the Constantines, and MGMT round out the day’s stellar line-up. Day two is an anglophile’s wet dream with Oasis headlining and Paul Weller and Stereophonics supporting. The Brit-theme continues with the Wombats and the Pigeon Detectives, but incorporates palpable Canadian talent by way of one of the greatest socially/politically conscious literary rock outfits of all time: the Weakerthans. –S.T.