Rifflandia 2025 is a few days away.
Headlined by hip-hop legends Public Enemy, one of Anderson .Paak’s many projects in hip-hop superduo NxWorries, Canadian pop sensation Alessia Cara and British electronic music duo Maribou State, the festival will bring four days of music exclusively at the Matullia Lands at Rock Bay for the second year.
Rifflandia has once again made some significant changes. Phillips Brewery is no longer involved meaning their won’t be a Phillips stage, Pembroke Street will not be part of the festival grounds and beers will be provided by Driftwood Brewery for the first time.
The entrance to the festival grounds will now be located along Government Street. That’s a welcome change for those who hated having to walk all the way around to Store Street in previous years.
The Lafflandia stage will now be close to the main stage and there will be much more turf covering the asphalt on the grounds.
One other big change is the introduction to RFID wristbands. The change will allow festival attendees to enter and leave the festival grounds by simply scanning in and out and scanning your wristband will be how everyone will pay for food and merch by either registering a credit card through an app or loading money on to a wristband through kiosks inside the venue.
Kidlandia is back with activities programmed by Old Farm Market, The Royal BC Museum and St. Margaret’s. The Supper Club is back for those who want to experience a catered meal where you could potentially run into artists in the lineup. Pods are are back for groups that want private seating near the main stage with shade, power and access to Supper Club menus. If you want to get married, Lovelandia returns on the Sunday with weddings taking place on the festival grounds.
But what can you expect to hear this year at Rifflandia? Along with the top billed headliners, there are headliner worthy undercard names in Charlotte Cardin, Macy Gray, The Dead South and more.
Victoria and Vancouver Island-based artists that we like to focus on are not as abundant as previous years. So this year we’re previewing artists based from our province of BC.
Want to know what BC based artists in the Rifflandia lineup are like live? We searched long and hard for live performance video or recent DJ sets so you know what you can expect to see and hear this weekend.
Weekend and single day passes are available still at Rifflandia.com, but recent posts by the festival suggest that some passes are close to selling out.
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 11, 2025
Dust Cwaine – Main Stage 5:00pm
Dust Cwaine is a singer-songwriter and drag artist from Vancouver. They began as a drag performer in 2016 and started a songwriting project in 2020. Dust Cwaine’s music is discribed as “channeling the moody synthesizer excess of The Cure with the bare-faced honesty of Haim and Noah Kahan.” Their sophomore EP is still to be released.
ZEYDA – The Dome 5:00pm
ZEYDA is a Vancouver-based DJ who is heavily inspired by immersive sounds of deep underground progressive and melodic techno. Her music weaves Middle Eastern influences, reflecting her roots, alongside captivating vocal stems.
Mat The Alien – Main Stage 5:55pm
Mat The Alien is a DJ based in Nanaimo. He made a name for himself in the Whistler music scene. In October 2020, he unfortunately suffered a severe mountain biking accident leaving him paralyzed from the chest down. He still has use of his arms though, so he was able to mount a comeback starting in 2022. His set will be one of the more inspiring DJ sets of the weekend.
The Victoria Symphony performs Daft Punk – Main Stage 7:30pm
Fresh off the return Symphony Splash in Victoria’s Inner Harbour in August, The Victoria Symphony has something special planned as part of the Rifflandia lineup. They will be performing arrangements of Daft Punk tracks. Based on what we’ve seen at Coachella with the L.A. Philharmonic and composers Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman performing incredible sets, The Victoria Symphony should be a lot of fun. Will there be guest vocalists? We’ll have to be there to find out. We only wish the set was longer than 30 minutes. This isn’t the first time the Victoria Symphony has performed arrangements of modern music. In 2022, they collaborated with former Barenaked Ladies frontman Steven Page for a show at the BC Legislature.
Pigeon Hole – The Dome 8:00pm
Pigeon Hole are DJ Duo Colin “Dusty Melo” McCue and Lee “Marmalade” Napthine. Originally from Nanaimo, the started out as a hip-hop group and were members of Sweatshop Union. Their bio describes them as having carved out a home for themselves somewhere between Hip Hop and electronic music as they get deeper into DJing, releasing mixes and expanding their sound. All the while blending in their Hip Hop background and influence. Borrowing from a wide range of genres such as trap, moombahton, twerk, house and even dancehall.
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 12, 2025
Sekawnee – The Dome 4:00pm
Sekawnee is an Afro-Indigenous rapper and producer from Vancouver/Squamish. From his bio, his music is characterized by energetic, smirky lyrics and sonically engaging, diverse productions. It will be his first time performing in Victoria. We couldn’t find any live performance video that we could embed in this article, but here is his most recent music video.
Canadian Beauty – The Dome 5:00pm
Canadian Beauty are a Greatful Dead tribute band from Victoria. The group consists of musicians recognizable in other local music projects. Canadian Beauty first performed a Greatful Dead Tribute at Logan’s Pub 20 years ago in 2005. They will be the first actual band to ever perform in The Dome. They’ll also be the only band to perform there this year. Will there be intense visuals around the dome like the Dead & Company residency at Las Vegas’ Sphere to trip out on psychedelics on? We’ll just have to see.
Handsome Tiger – The Dome 8:00pm
Handsome Tiger, an Anishinaabe Métis and North African music producer/DJ hailing from Turtle Island and currently based in Vancouver, BC, blends traditional sounds from his heritage with other Indigenous and contemporary electronic bass music.
The Funk Hunters featuring Chali 2na – Main Stage 9:30pm
The Funk Hunters are DJ duo Nick Middleton and Duncan Smith originally from Galiano Island. Middleton now lives in Victoria and is part of the Rifflandia booking team. The Funk Hunters are no strangers to Rifflandia having performed a few times over the years. Joining them this year is long-time collaborator Chali 2na who is also no stranger to festivals in Victoria having performed before with The Funk Hunters, Cut Chemist, The House of Vibe and also with the rap group that made him famous, Jurassic 5. His baritone voice is unmistakable.
Whipped Cream – The Dome 10:00pm
Whipped Cream is a DJ and producer based in Nanaimo. Her music is mostly hip hop influenced dark bass. Whipped Cream has performed major festivals like Coachella. She last performed at Rifflandia in 2022 opening for DJ Diesel on the Phillips Backyard stage. She even got a shoutout from Shaq and joined him on stage that year.
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 13, 2025
Frog Eyes – Main Stage 1:50pm
Frog Eyes are an indie rock band from Victoria. Their music has been longlisted for the Polaris Music Prize twice and have collaborated with Dan Bejar of Destroyer and The New Pornographers. The band formed 24 years ago in 2001 and briefly disbanded in 2018 before reunited in 2021/2022. Their latest album ‘The Open Up’ was released in March.
The Choirs YYJ (performing David Bowie) – Main Stage 4:50pm
The Choirs YYJ have been a mainstay nearly every year of Rifflandia. Historically they have been the opening act in previous years, but this year they’re slotted in a mid-afternoon set. Their two sets for the weekend are themed. Saturday’s set will be all David Bowie songs. Sunday will feature pop hits. Marc Jenkins has lead the non-auditioned amateur choir for more than a decade and it has grown from a small group gathering in a small music shop to four ensembles.
S@M I@M b2b Steph Tsunami – The Dome 1:00pm
S@M I@M and Steph Tsunami are Vancouver-based DJs. It will be the first time the two will perform a b2b set together. It’s also the first time S@M I@M will perform in Victoria. Steph Tsunami specializes in techno, house, drum & bass, jungle, footwork, jersey, trap, breakbeat, and electro
Naturalist – The Dome 3:20pm
Naturalist are a DJ duo from Fernie. They consist of brothers Sam Moffat and Caleb Brown. Their live sets are made up of various styles of house and disco.
STUND – The Dome 4:10pm
STUND is house music producer Ben Stunden from Kelowna. His inspiration is drawn from elements of hip-hop, deep bass, and tech house. The combination of dark and dynamic sounds keeps the crowd moving through a constant climb in energy during his sets.
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 14, 2025
Trouble on The Outskirts – Main Stage 1:00pm
Trouble on The Outskirts are a rock band from Victoria. The band pulls inspiration from bands and artists like Sam Fender, Arkells, and The Killers. They were featured as a Zone Band of The Month in March with their single ‘Outlines’ getting radio airplay.
DATGUYRY – The Dome 1:00pm
DATGUYRUY is a DJ from Vancouver. Hi is a member of DJ/producer duo Marvelous Monday and the Hush Music DJ Collective. His sets blends afrobeat, hip-hop, R&B, reggae, dancehall and more in an open-format approach allowing him to adapt to the audience.
Armchair Cynics – Main Stage 1:45pm
Armchair Cynics are a rock band from Victoria that that performed what was thein their final concert at the then Sugar Nightclub in September 2010. The band’s first EP ‘Killing The Romance’ was released in 2005 and had Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger as a producer. Songs like ‘Coalmine’ and ‘Bang’ received significant airplay on modern rock radio. Following the group disbanding in 2010, lead singer Kenn Coutu moved on to form country duo Bucko & Toad with his wife. Adam Sutherland run his recording studio Infiniti Studios until 2019 and was a member of electro-pop project LABS and cover band The Brightside. 20 years after their initial release and 15 years after the start of their hiatus, Armchair Cynics have reunited and even released new music from their old recording sessions.
DJ Dabbler – The Dome 2:00pm
DJ Dabbler is a DJ from Vancouver. Dabbler was an early resident of some of Vancouver’s first rave companies in the late 90s. He has played along side nearly every top Drum & Bass artist in the world. He’s a longtime member of the Automatic Crew in Vancouver and the ROyal Platoon Sound System.
DJ Boitano – The Dome 3:00pm
DJ Boitano is a DJ from Victoria. He is a former music director at The [email protected] where he would perform Canada’s first-ever afternoon drive modern rock mix-tape show on the radio. He has been the house DJ for numerous festivals and events on Vancouver Island.
The Choirs YYJ (performing pop hits) – Main Stage 3:25pm
The Choirs YYJ their second of two sets of the weekend Sunday. This time featuring all pop hits.
oncor – The Dome 5:00pm
oncor (Conor Patton) is a music producer previously known as ‘Conro’ from Kelowna. His music as Conro has had more than 260 million streams since his debut in 2012. His new project as oncor creatively explores dreamy, nostalgic dance music. oncor’s set will transport audiences to a whrold where synths and dreamy soundscapes meets emotional depth.
