Baroness will perform their first two studio LPs, Red Album and Blue Record, in full at the 2025 Prepare the Ground festival. The lineup for the three-day heavy music festival in Toronto also includes YOB, BIG|BRAVE, a reunited Kylesa, the doom supergroup Khanate, and dozens more acts.
Prepare the Ground, which debuted last year, will stage its 2025 fest from May 30th through June 1st at multiple venues throughout downtown Toronto, including Trinity St. Pauls, Lee’s Palace, 918 Bathurst, and The Cave. Weekend passes are available here.
Baroness shared the news of their special performance on Instagram, noting that they were inspired by their recent annual pre-holiday show in Philadelphia:
“Last month, for our annual Philly pre-holiday show, we performed our first two full length albums: Red and Blue. It was a great experience, unearthing the deeper cuts from those records that had faded from our setlist and it offered a rare opportunity to play some of those songs for the first time ever outside the studio. After the overwhelming and positive response from the Philadelphia shows (and while we’re busy writing our next record) we’re excited to present Red and Blue in full, once again. Thanks to everyone at Prepare the Ground Festival for giving us the opportunity to share this special experience. See you there!”
As Baroness mentioned, the band is in the midst of writing its seventh album, which will be the follow-up to 2023’s Stone (the band’s first LP not to feature a color in its title).
Meanwhile, YOB’s set at Prepare the Ground will feature the band performing their 2011 album Atma in full, among other songs. One of the tracks on the Atma LP is titled “Prepare the Ground,” likely serving as the inspiration for the festival’s name.
See the full daily lineups for the Prepare the Ground festival in the three posters below.