Featured Photo: The Manic Boys and Girls Club performing at the Main Stage during day one of Gussapolooza 2026. Photo by Joe Taylor.

Aug. 21—Cookstown, ON. Gussapolooza returned to Cookstown this year with a mix of the familiar, strange, and new. The festival, with its mix of independent music, all-night campfire jams, multiple stages, and grassroots community spirit, has quickly become an integral event of the Blast Toronto calendar. Across three days, the festival moved between its main, side, barn, and bonfire stages (and more!). Each making room for punk, pop, drum n’ bass, alt-rock, hip-hop, synth-pop, metal, folk, and everything in between. There was too much to cover the experience properly in one article—so I made three. Lets get into it!

A beautiful start to the weekend

The weekend began with the practical reality of festival life. First was getting a booth set up for the Creators Convention. Then, running to the nearby Walmart for provisions and anything else we forgot to pack. That early sense of disorientation quickly gave way to the weekend’s crazy pace. Artists playing the different stages began filling the site with competing sounds. We missed a few acts getting supplies, including a dnb set at the Bassweb stage by Sun/King that I had hoped to see. However, we got back in time for Circle the Cityy, who took the main stage at 6 p.m. They played a psychedelic, progressive alt-rock infused style with a bit of jazz and metal that recalled the arena-sized emotional sweep of Heart, with a more contemporary Paramore-like edge.

A new element this year, the Bassweb stage (really just a patch of grass with a canopy tent over it) expanded the electronic music offerings at Guss beyond the few hours after the main-stage programming. There was no shortage of house, trance, synthwave, and other electronic music that felt thoughtfully selected and technically sharp. The b2b-style handoffs were equally impressive: transitions between DJs felt seamless, making the programming feel like one continuous night of music.

I bounced back and forth between the main and the bassweb stages, were I also got to see Rebelø and Arachn1d spin. I haven’t seen Rebelø before, but I liked the grooviness of a lot of his set. Unfortunate to have heard some grumblings about the beats from people uninterested, but as a fan of this music, I appreciate it and firmly believe there is room for it all here.

Great music all evening

Later, after leaving to pick up Dana—our third person for the weekend—I returned to find our neighbours, Krista and her daughter Joplyn, helping us set up our tent after dark (I’d left the tent accidentally so she had to bring it up later). Their clutch assistance meant I caught at least part of Edi Callier’s set as he brought one of the festival’s most familiar voices to the main stage. When I showed up, he quickly had the audience participating in a call-and-response. Callier was a highlight in my mind from Gussapolooza last year, and his performance retains a warmth that makes the festival feel personal rather than merely programmed.

Black Paint followed on the side stage with a fierce alt-rock set. The three-piece hit with tightly controlled guitar work, sharp vocals, and a hard-driving sound that carried echoes of Rage Against the Machine without feeling like imitation.

Closing out the Main Stage lineup the first day was The Manic Boys and Girls Club. I swear, every time they perform its like they manage to find some new reserve of emotions and passion and pour it into their music. Its hard to imagine how they do it. Their confetti release was so epic, I had to use it as the photo for this article. Of course, their use of Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind?” within their own material is always a particular musical highlight of their sets.

Day 1’s Pictures:

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