THUNDER BAY – Where is the love?
At the Wake the Giant Music Festival, of course.
Organizers of the event, heading into its sixth year in 2025, on Friday announced the Black Eyed Peas, six-time Grammy winners, will headline this year’s festival, slated for Sept. 6 at Marina Park.
The band, best known for chart-topping songs like Let’s Get it Started, Where is the Love, I Gotta Feeling, Imma Be and Boom Boom Pow, features will.i.am, apl.de.ap and Taboo, who will become the first Indigenous artist to headline Wake the Giant Music Festival.
The undercard features Canadian pop-rockers Prozzak, a return performance from Neon Dreams, Cryastal Shawanda, The Poets (a Tragically Hip tribute act), Wyatt C. Louis, Fort William First Nation’s G Dubz and Walking Bear.
It’s going to be a pretty tough act to follow, said organizer Greg Chomut, following the lineup unveiling at Thunder Bay’s Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School.
“We’re always trying, but how can we outdo this year?” Chomut said.
“If we’re always trying to outdo the year before, it’s going to be hard to outdo this next year.”
Getting the Black Eyed Peas, who parted ways with singer Fergie in 2018, to headline the Wake the Giant Music Festival has been on Sean Spenrath’s bucket list for some time.
It’s finally happening, he beamed.
“It’s a massive name. We’ve been trying to get Black Eyed Peas for years. It’s a huge accomplishment to bring in an Indigenous headliner, like Taboo. We’ve always said from the start that reputation matters and for our kids to see Taboo at the top of the lineup performing, as an Indigenous performer, I think is massive for our students.”
The festival itself emerged from the school's Wake the Giant campaign, which encourages local businesses to show their acceptance of Indigenous people, especially students coming to study at DFC from remote communities in Ontario’s north.
Its growing reputation and its mission are in part responsible for landing such a big act.
“We’ve been messaging Taboo on Instagram for a couple of years. They really wanted to do it. They loved what we were doing. We were tagging them in Wake the Giant posts and eventually they worked it out in their schedule that they could come to Thunder Bay,” said Spenrath, the student success coordinator at the school.
Wake the Giant Music Festival is more than just a one-day event. Activities are held with students throughout the week, and this year G Dubz is writing a song with them and together they’ll perform it on stage.
Debra Thomas, an 18-year-old from Fort Severn First Nation, performed at last year’s festival and since then her career has started to blossom, with paid gigs in Toronto and Winnipeg.
The graduating student said it’s an event that fosters inclusion.
“Wake the Giant brings a community together (with) acceptance, diversity. It just brings a lot of opportunities in general and I love to see it, especially with Indigenous youth,” she said.
The music isn’t bad either.
“I’m really excited. Black Eyed Peas? I’ve always listened to them growing up and I’m going to be working with G Dubz as well. It’s very exciting.”
Wake the Giant tickets are on sale now here.
