12 must-see concerts in Toronto this August

Must-see concerts in Toronto this August keep the hits coming with pop idols, rising indie stars, and a few intriguing surprises along the way.

Festival season continues with Camp Wavelength, which just announced its new "day camp" location at Sherbourne Common, plus Veld, Electric Island and Stranded Fest. The Toronto Caribbean Carnival is also celebrating its 50th year with tons of fêtes and live music leading up to the August 5 parade.

Here are my picks for the top shows in Toronto this August.

Events you might want to check out:

Hans Zimmer (August 1 @ Air Canada Centre)
The award-winning composer behind this era’s most influential film soundtracks, from Gladiator to The Dark Knight to, uh, The Boss Baby, has transitioned to concert frontman. After wowing Coachella crowds, he brings the band to the ACC.
Fleet Foxes (August 4 @ Massey Hall & Roy Thomson Hall)
The folk powerhouse finally released its third album Crack-Up in June and will grace us with back-to-back nights of gentle, well-bearded introspection at Massey.
OVO (August 7 @ Budweiser Stage)
Drake's eighth OVO bash goes down with Partynextdoor, dvsn, Majid Jordan and Roy Woods (and always some mystery special guests too).
Shawn Mendes (August 11 @ Air Canada Centre)
The fresh-faced Canadian crooner most parents wish Bieber could be more like takes to the ACC for two nights in honour of latest chart-topper Illuminate. Charlie Puth opens the show.
Teenanger (August 11 @ Horseshoe Tavern)
Props to this hometown quartet for marking a full decade of grinding through Toronto’s indie-punk underbelly. This album release party at the ‘Shoe promises tons of bouncy riffage with friends Hooded Fang and New Fries.
Marika Hackman and The Big Moon (August 13 @ The Drake Hotel)
Hackman has shirked pretty, pastoral folk for more biting Britpop on her solid second LP I’m Not Your Man. The Big Moon, the London band that provides instrumentation on the record, backs her up in live form on this tour.
Waxahatchee (August 18 @ Lee's Palace)
Katie Crutchfield’s longstanding project gets continually better (and louder) with each new release, and this year’s offering, Out in the Storm, is her at her most 90s-esque and cathartically brilliant yet.
Coldplay (August 21 @ Rogers Centre)
Let’s just barrel right past that gross Chainsmokers collab and remember that two-plus decades on, Coldplay has consistently stayed at the forefront of emotive, crowd-pleasing anthems and continues to put on one heck of a show.
Cult of Luna with Julie Christmas (August 22 @ Mod Club Theatre)
Aren't we lucky: the rarely seen Julie Christmas lent her earth-shattering vocals on Swedish post-metal outfit Cult of Luna’s LP last year to tremendous effect, and Toronto gets to be one of a select few cities to experience this pairing live.
SZA (August 23 @ Rebel)
It seems like her debut album went from being one of the year’s most anticipated to one of the year’s most acclaimed in an instant, but SZA’s ascent has been a long time coming. Introduce yourself to the promising R&B singer-songwriter.
Bruno Mars (August 26 @ Air Canada Centre)
The oft fedora-clad pop genius finally brings his nostalgia-funk back to T.O. Look forward to two nights of the 24K Magic World Tour, which - no surprise - has garnered unabashed critical praise in nearly every city it has stopped in so far.
Pallbearer (August 30 @ Lee's Palace)
Little Rock’s heavy heroes released their third doom epic this past spring, solidifying their rep as one of metal's best offerings today. They’re joined by avant-garde Brooklynites Kayo Dot on this stretch of their North American jaunt.

by Shazia Khan via blogTO