Voyageur Days is rolling out its 2025 lineup

Mattawa Voyageur Days is getting ready to rock in 2025.

The popular annual festival is coming back for its 26th year, with all the action taking place in Mattawa over the weekend of July 25–27th. Soon after this year’s festival wrapped, the town council said it would get to work on the 2025 event. Staff have been busy, and the festival is already announcing next year’s lineup.

See: Voyageur Days plans to bring back Sunday night shows, daily passes

Fefe Dobson takes the stage at Explorer’s Point on the Friday night at 8:30. Friday is rock night at the fest, and Dobson will fit right in. She broke onto the charts with her debut album in 2003, and had four consecutive Top 10 radio hits, including “Bye Bye Boyfriend.” Don’t forget her smash hits “Stuttering,” “Take Me Away,” and “Ghost,” the latter of which climbed to #4 on the Billboard Canada chart.

Opening for Dobson is Royal Tusk, a rockin’ trio from Alberta. The band’s press release emphasized that “One moment, they’ll serve up an earth-quaking barrage of distortion only to incite a bold stadium-size singalong in the next breath.”

Prepare for aftershocks, Mattawa.

Sunday is tribute night, an evening dedicated to reviving some of the best tunes ever embedded in wax. The tributes begin at 5 p.m. with Aeroforce – you guessed it, an Aerosmith tribute band — primed to bring three decades of tunes from the Toxic Twins.

After experiencing the sweet emotion of Aerorforce, it’s time to venture into the hard rock jungle, because Guns n’ Roses tribute band Appetite for Democracy will storm the stage. The band plays all the songs you’d expect to hear and have been known to throw in some deep cuts, too. Don’t forget your top hat.

Closing the night is Keep the Faith, a tribute to New Jersey legends Bon Jovi. The band noted, “Our trademark is going all the way to give audiences an authentic Bon Jovi concert experience by meticulously duplicating their sound, appearance and moves.”

Mattawa Voyageur Days will announce more bands in the upcoming days, and tickets are now available, including individual day passes.

David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.