Twenty-four hours removed from wrapping their inaugural edition, Toronto's Prepare the Ground festival has announced that American doom metal outfit YOB will headline their 2025 event.
Running next year from May 30 to June 1 in downtown Toronto, the fest will see YOB play two separate sets, including a cover-to-cover performance of their sixth studio album, 2011's Atma.
Prepare the Ground takes its name from Atma's opening track. Additionally, YOB vocalist-guitarist Mike Scheidt performed as part of the fest's first edition.
Calling it a "true honour" to bring the trio to Canada, festival director and curator KW Campol shares in a statement, "YOB is one of the most influential and unique heavy music acts of our time and to have them grace our festival with two sets, including playing the album whose opening track is the namesake for our event, is a dream come true. We can't wait to welcome them, and everyone, back to the heart of downtown Toronto for our second edition of the festival."
On Prepare the Ground's inaugural edition, Campol added, "Having over a thousand people between our venues enjoying heavy music from a multitude of genres was awesome to witness. Instead of sleeping today we are already at work taking feedback to heart & optimizing how next year will run so we can continue to be better for artists and attendees alike. Our focus is to have the continuity of the curation aspect next year, to grow the art side, and to make the fest significantly more walkable & accessible. We have an ambitious yet realistic plan and we are running, not walking, into 2025 already."
The festival has released a limited quantity of early bird tickets for 2025, available via DICE for the all-inclusive price of $165 CAD.
Read Exclaim!'s reviews of day one, day two and day three of Prepare the Ground 2024.
YOB's most recent album remains 2018's Our Raw Heart.