As they (Nelly Furtado, first and foremost) say, all good things must come to an end. Our Class of 2025 concert series, proudly supported by Mary Brown's Chicken, is no exception. After 9Million, Clothesline from Hell, mishi and Pillea tore the proverbial roof off the Garrison last week, we only have enough gas left in the tank for one grand finale at the Great Hall this Friday (January 31) — and we want, need and gotta have the funk. (And jazz, soul, and R&B.)
January 31: The Great Hall
Every other fanbase with a clever name has been awfully quiet since SHEBADDIES stepped onto the scene. Admirers of the five-piece Guelph collective's blend of "sticky soulful melodies with jazz arrangements and basslines that groove" were well-earned with a record year in 2024 that included the release of their full-length debut, Music Is the Answer, as well as impressive placements on stacked bills for Hillside Festival, Toronto Jazz and more. "We think some magic is going to happen," the band tell Exclaim! of sharing a likewise-stacked Class of 2025 bill with Lavender Town and Mileena — colleagues they hold in esteem with Canadian music innovators like Feist, Chilly Gonzales, Joni Mitchell and Jeremy Dutcher, to name a few.
Somewhere in the 21st century alt-jazz fusion cosmos between Snarky Puppy, Louis Cole and Hakushi Hasegawa, you'll find the haven that is Lavender Town. It may sound familiar. "If we're lucky enough we might even get a cease and desist from Nintendo," says the group's Lazar Miric of their Pokémon-referencing name, which emblazons their upcoming self-titled debut (out February 21); from video game music to lo-fi hip-hop influences, Lavender Town gotta catch 'em all. "It's awesome to check out the Class Of shows from the 2010s and seeing currently popping artists like Luna Li and Orville Peck on there," Miric adds, "it's a real who's-who of modern Canadian music and we're so grateful we get to be a part of it."
Mileena brings alt-R&B realness to every aspect of life. She plans to spend 2025 nurturing her spirit and making a new album, the follow-up to 2023's self-titled debut and the subsequent Time Spent Running EP, as well as spearheading her own local concert series called Diaspora Dreams to create more Filipino music spaces in the GTA. "DiDreams was born from my ache to perform for a sea of faces that look like mine and to create a culturally relevant platform for artists to share their work," she says. "As a young phat Filipina, there are certain glass ceilings I dream of smashing through." Her music's jungle and trip-hop-tinged meditations on "sex, love, heartbreak and, of course, healing," feel boundless.
Find out everything there is to know about the final show of this year's Class Of concert series — presented in partnership with the City of Toronto's music office — at the Facebook event link. Advance tickets are also available through Showclix.