Coming Out to Toronto’s Inaugural All Things Go Music Festival

October 4, 2025

Written and Photographed by Ivan Ceria (@isit.ivan.itis)

On October 4th, 2025, All Things Go made its inaugural Canadian debut at the Budweiser Stage, bringing a lineup of generational musical icons throughout the weekend. With clear skies and the temperature hovering around the mid-twenties, it certainly did not feel like Fall, and most definitely did not feel like the final event of the Budweiser Stage’s season for me, at least. The last time I was at this stage was back in 2008 when Journey performed back when it was called the Molson Ampitheatre. I barely had consciousness back then, but I vividly remember my love for live music starting off with their set. Coming back after all these years with the same passion since then was a full-circle moment, so it was a surprise to me when I found out that this festival was the last show before my short-ended reunion. However, that didn’t mean that I, or the many other passionate festivalgoers, seized this wonderful weekend. Before the gates opened at noon, a buzzing community of music lovers of all genres was already packed at the barricade, proudly showing off merchandise from their favourite artists. Some fans enjoyed the festivities from afar, back in the grassy, sunny lawn for an atmospheric view with a backdrop of Toronto’s skyline. This was only the start of a queer-friendly afternoon of nostalgic reconnection, healing, and celebration ofRenee Rapp’s headlining performance:

EMEI - 12:30 PM

LA-based EMEI woke us up thirty minutes after doors with an electric set of alt-pop/rock revolving around her latest EP Scatterbrain and some singles fresh off the press. She is no stranger to delivering energetic, raw, and relatable performances. With more than ten years of experience on stage, her lyrics reflect her life as a young adult and her emotionally driven coming-of-age journey, leading up to her opening act. By the end of her set, she signed one of her own shirts and catapulted it into the crowd with the help of her bandmates. Everyone cheered when the shirt landed in the arms of a fan in the back of the pit! EMEI definitely warmed the crowd up while the stage’s afternoon shade kept us cool in between sets.

ELIO - 1:20 PM

Swansea-born and Toronto-raised ELIO balanced the vibes out with some soft, ethereal, bedroom pop. Her latest album, Autonomy, explores her newfound independence following her breakup. She openly talked about the context of one of her jarring song titles, “Adderall”, which is about her former partner who used to take it. The crowd appreciated the normalcy and vulnerability of her songs and their titles, and this proved to be one of the many ways the crowd was accepting of everyone. Other fun song titles on her album that just so happen to fit with this wonderful Saturday in October include “Saturday Night” and “Late October”!

Julia Wolf - 2:20 PM

Fresh off her world tour promoting her latest album, Pressure, Julia Wolf gave us Twilight energy on a sunny afternoon. Having just received the Global Rising Star of the Year award at Billboard Canada’s Women in Music Awards earlier that week, her set also felt like a celebration of her music, tapping into a poppy, metallic shoegaze sound with a nostalgic emo attitude. For a moment, I wanted to quiff my hair into a pixie cut, but I would have already messed it up with my head banging to her emo beats.

Blondshell - 3:30 PM

Blondshell has also just finished her European and North American tour promoting her latest album, If You Asked for a Picture. One of its songs, “What’s Fair”, is notably featured in The Sims 4, where Blondshell herself re-recorded her song in Simlish, showcasing her lyrical genius with “stoosha theebs voo lekka skoob.” Adorning a Miley Cyrus 2009 tour shirt, Blondshell set the soundtrack for a nostalgic indie-rock afternoon as the sun pierced through the stage’s shade and into our backseats.

Chelsea Cutler - 4:45 PM

Chelsea Cutler gave us more queer indie music, now with an arpeggio synth pad, covers of Olivia Dean, Kygo, The Killers, and some of her own lo-fi acoustic deep cuts. Her music includes work from her three-part brent album series, and some brand new singles. Early into her set, Chelsea opened up about how she found out she was gay early in her life and how she has been embracing it alongside her songwriting since then. By the end of her set, the sunny afternoon rays jumped on stage and warmed it in preparation for the final three acts of the evening.

Ravyn Lenae - 6:15 PM

Chicago-based Ravyn Lenae had the most viral year in her career, after touring her latest album Bird’s Eye, and opening for Sabrina Carpenter’s and Renee Rapp’s tour. Earlier last month, she also accepted Billboard’s “R&B Rookie of the Year Award”. Her soft yet versatile vocals, alongside her breathtaking abstract nature visuals, welcomed the sunset as we witnessed the transformation of her music and stage into the evening. The last of the sun’s rays were hitting her and her stage perfectly as she sang, moving into graceful poses by the millisecond. Showcasing her mastery in the aesthetic of performing and storytelling, Ravyn even shared a glimpse into the paternal significance behind her gut-wrenching song, "One Wish", which set a healing tone for the audience as we, too, began to reflect on our lives from a bird's-eye perspective in the golden hour.

Remi Wolf - 7:45 PM

At sundown, the energy of the crowd only went up, and Remi Wolf’s saxophone-esque vocals with her jazzy funk pop-coded ensemble gave us all the enlightenment we needed. This was all tied nicely together in flowery stage decorations and campy Challenger’s tennis attire. Her visuals took us back to the lo-fi, hippie technicolour days as she invited us into her realm. In preparation for our journey into her world, Remi guided the crowd through a couple of exercises. One of which was a vocal warm-up, starting from the basic call and response, all the way to Elphaba’s cinematic “Defying Gravity” run. Not once, but three times, and the crowd matched her vocal enthusiasm throughout. Her second warm-up was physical, and she invited us to fan our faces, our upper bodies, all the way down to our legs and all the way up to our upper thighs. It was clear that Remi wanted us to feel brave and proud via vulnerability and goofiness. This brought the audience closer than ever, and when Remi brought another Wolf, Julia Wolf from earlier today, to cover “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac, it felt like a family reunion. By the end of her set, even Remi herself couldn’t contain her excitement for Renee Rapp’s headlining set, and the crowd couldn’t be more electric.

Renée Rapp - 9:30 PM

The star of the night, Renée Rapp was the penultimate Saturday icon. The stage finally unveiled itself, featuring a star-shaped stair platform and a star-shaped spotlight. Rapp’s first and only Canadian stop for her Bite Me tour was tonight, so it was only natural for everyone to show up for it. Leading up to her stage debut, there were “Kiss Her Cam” moments, accompanied by enthusiastic queer cheers for all the kissing and kissing-alternative moments.

Rapp, continuing the weekend’s theme of fostering queer community, used her platform to announce her partnership with “Save the Children” and to encourage us to donate for the children that need it most: “While we are incredibly lucky to be here in company and in community, many are not so lucky.” When Rapp finally took the stage, she also grabbed our attention as she delivered stunning pop-rock vocals with R&B stylizations. She casually brought out a grand piano and gracefully stood atop it as she delivered an emotional rendition of “That’s So Funny,” but not without talking to us about its predecessor friendship breakup song, “Poison Poison,” and her sobering retrospective writing “That’s So Funny” all these years later.

Throughout the day, this all-women lineup stood with their music and with what they believed in, and even invited the audience to explore their stories and identities with them through nostalgic reconnections, healing, and queer celebration.

All Things Go's inaugural sun-kissed afternoon in Toronto was nothing short of iconic, with its star-studded lineup, and Renée Rapp as the perfect energizing nightcap for Budwiser Stage’s final festival for 2025. The audience felt the love of each of the artists and certainly reciprocated in kind throughout the night. This music festival continued the following day, with the crowd carrying the same love from this night to Sunday, and onward with their lives. Even if this was only my second time at this stage, I will definitely tell this legendary story with the same love I had like when I first saw Journey all these years ago.