Drake Announces OVO Fest 2019
Since 2010, Drake has used OVO Fest, his annual hometown show, as a sort of regular statement of dominance. Every year, Drake takes over a Toronto arena and brings out a dizzying array of surprise guests. At the 2017 OVO Fest, that meant appearances from the Weeknd, Migos, Cardi B, Nelly, Rae Sremmurd, and previous Drake adversary Tory Lanez, among others. In 2016, he had Rihanna. But last year, Drake skipped OVO Fest, never making any announcement about it. Not long ago, Drake promised that the festival would return. And late last night, he made it official, announcing this year’s OVO Fest on Instagram.
This year’s OVO Fest comes to Toronto in less than a month. It includes events like the OVO Summit — not sure what that means — and the OVO Bounce basketball showcase. The proper festival kicks off 8/4 at Budweiser Amphitheatre, and the first-night lineup is simply the lineup for B2K’s current reunion tour. B2K, the early-’00s R&B boy band, lead a bill that’s heavy on ’00s scream-tour heartthrobs: Mario, Pretty Ricky, Lloyd, Ying Yang Twins, Chingy, and Bobby Valentino.
For the second night of the festival, the only announced performer is Drake. This is normal. You can be pretty certain that he’ll bring out a whole mess of his peers, but he never announces who will share the stage beforehand.