A Retrospective by Jonah Strassel
The fruit was ripe this year at Mango Fest, Winnipeg’s best DIY underground music festival held each year in mid-September and put on by Mango House Manitoba. Mango House is a grassroots group of artists and musicians who love new music, especially what our great city of Winnipeg has to offer. Mango Fest officially started in 2022 as a simple yet intimate backyard party with a focus on bringing emerging artists to a tuned-in and fully engaged group of folks there for one thing and one thing only: a shared love of music and community. The shows are always a treat but getting to meet and mingle with likeminded artists is the best part.
I attended my first Mango Fest back in 2023 when it was held in the basement of the then newly opened Darling Bar. I had never heard of Mango Fest before but it popped up through my algorithm. It seems that Instagram understands my interests well. The festival that day started at Lord Roberts Community Centre featuring some beautiful acoustic acts. Did I mention all of this was free to attend? A group, Bike Jelly, then led everyone from the afternoon there at Lord Roberts down to the evening of music taking place at Darling Bar, featuring the likes of some incredible bands, many of which I had never heard of before. Standout acts that year included American Heroin, Sunbreather, sundayclub, and Slowmobile. They even had rappers and DJs performing simultaneously on the rooftop.
I could not believe that this whole shebang was being orchestrated entirely free of charge for the people. It was chaos. Pure chaos. Lots of scrambling and on-the-fly problem solving was visibly happening behind the scenes. Folks seemed tense, stressed, and enthralled all at once. This was the beauty of the whole thing. It seemed as though it was all intuitively slapped together and sealed with a big Looney Tunes bandaid. I was in love. Having attended a slew of festivals that year and having this be the finale of the summer felt magical. It felt real. It felt raw. Something was brewing that night for sure.
Jump forward one year and Mango Fest 2024 is now a ticketed event with themed house shows, a full night dedicated to rap artists, an official Mango Fest Bike Jelly and a finale taking place on the Saturday once again in the dingy depths of Darling Bar. Art installations took place at every show. Mango Fest key chains were handed out to everyone in attendance. Skits and silly stand-up performances take place in between sets. The mango tree branch has grown a larger mango. The acts got bigger too. That year featured local heavy hitters such as Lev Snowe, Stiff Wiggle, Kovin Kestnar, and even a surprise performance from French Class closing the entire thing off with a signature bang that only Megumi Kimata could provide. The room was electric and the dance moves were unmatched.
This brings us to 2025. Bigger shows. Bigger acts. Bigger smiles. MOYAMOYA, Robojom, LUANA MOTH, and Bluebloods are among some of the incredible acts that graced the stage on Saturday, the final day of a week long event that took folks all over the city. An open mic was held at Must Be the Place on the Monday; a hands-on workshop located at a small studio the following Tuesday; a honky tonk-themed outdoor house show in Wolseley on Wednesday, featuring the always-killer Irvin Miller Band waking up the entire neighborhood; and a Bike Jelly on Thursday. The festival culminated at Little Brown Jug for two very special nights over the weekend, with Friday night focusing on electronic acts and Saturday with the full band, heavy-hitting lineup.
The general theme this year, we were told, was “descent into chaos.” This could not have been worded more perfectly. Things started nice and sweet Saturday evening with Hera opening up the festival as acts slowly became more deranged and chaotic as the night went on. The major show stealer this year was Robojom, absolutely taking the faces off of those lucky enough to be witnessing this wildly theatrical and incredibly dangerous act for the first time. Many jaws visibly dropped with eyes wide open as their lead singer Renée Vandale hypnotized the crowd. If you were lucky enough, she may have even shoved a popsicle down your throat as you stood there dazed trying to figure out what exactly was going on.
MOYAMOYA was the perfect act to follow Robojom. It doesn’t get much more chaotic than that, folks. Ryan Luke is a force to be reckoned with on stage and has a collection of bonafide geniuses to back him. It’s almost scary watching this band perform. It’s as if demons are internally trying to rip through Ryan’s soul, with his screaming being the only thing to keep them down. The night concluded with an outro performed by Disco Lizzards; they made an awful noise and screamed at everyone to go home until there was absolutely no one left standing. What an unforgettable, rain-drenched, demented night Mango Fest was this year.
I look forward to seeing what comes next for Mango Fest. I truly believe this is our city’s most overlooked hidden gem of a festival. If you live for music, then Mango Fest lives for you.
Photos by Jonah Strassel
