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Here’s what’s happening on the Kingston entertainment scene from Saturday April 23 through Friday April 29.

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Homegrown Live – the main fundraiser for the Joe Chithalen Musical Instrument Lending Library, aka Joe’s MILL – has announced the lineup for this year’s festival.

Before the pandemic, the one-day event would feature performances at venues scattered around the city, but this year’s scaled-down version features 23 artists in just four venues: BluMartini, the Mansion, Overtime Sports Bar and the Hotel on Wolfe Island (just a ferry ride away). And this year, rather than buying a bracelet that admits the wearer to all locations, it will be $10 at the door for each. To see who is playing where and when, go to www.homegrownlive.ca.

While the 14th annual fundraiser doesn’t take place until May 7, you can catch a glimpse of the festival on Saturday night as three of the artists lined up for the BluMartini – FASTFast, Futura Free and KaKaow – play the Toucan. FASTFast opens the free show at 10:30 p.m., followed by Futura Free and KaKoaw.

Speaking of festivals, the Juvenis Youth Arts Festival kicks off this week and features in-person events for the first time in two years.

This week’s big event is the Thursday night opening of “13: The Musical” inside the Baby Grand Theater.

The show features a cast of local high school students and is described as “a hilarious, high-energy musical for all ages about discovering that cool is where you find it, and sometimes where you least expect it. After all, if you really want to know more about someone, ask them which table they sat at.

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The musical opens Thursday and runs through Sunday. Schedules and tickets (which cost $20 each) can be found at kingstongrand.ca.

Also opening this week is the ‘Mixed Media’ art exhibit at the Kingston School of Art Window Gallery at the corner of Victoria and Princess Streets, and the ‘Storefront Art Gallery’ inside the Cataraqui’s former Bluenotes spot. Center. Both open on Wednesday.

There will also be a few workshops starting this week. Go to juvenisfestival.ca for more details.

It’s also a busy week ahead on the ground floor of the Regina Rosen Auditorium at the Grand Theatre.

It begins Saturday night with the end of the Comedy Road Show Just for Laughs. Host of the show will be Adam Christie from Toronto with comedians Laurie Kilmartin, Josh Johnson and Randy Feltface joining him. Tickets and the show start at $44.50 plus HST and handling fees and 7:30 p.m., respectively.

Sunday, two performances of the “Bright Lights Relit” tour of the Mini Pop Kids. A second show, at 6 p.m., was added after the sold-out 2 p.m. show. Ticket prices vary, so go to kingstongrand.ca for more details and to purchase them.

On Wednesday, Bruce Cockburn brings his 50th anniversary tour to town, just like the Stampeders did on Thursday. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. and tickets start at $44.50 plus HST and handling fees.

Paquette Productions’ “Legends” show – featuring covers of songs by Roy Orbison, Connie Francis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley – finally takes place Thursday night after already being postponed three times. The show starts at 7 p.m. and ticket prices vary, so go to kingstongrand.ca for more details.

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The end of the week sees another tribute show, this time to Pink Floyd with the band Comfortably Numb. A portion of the proceeds from each ticket is donated to the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation. Tickets are $59.20, $54 and $45.09 plus HST and handling fees.

The Leon’s Center has a few shows scheduled this week in addition to the Kingston Frontenacs playoff games.

The first is the wildly popular Arkells, who won the Juno Award last year for Group of the Year and are nominated again this year, with their “Blink Once” tour. Haviah Mighty opens the show at 7:30 p.m. Tickets range from $41 to $71+, and there seem to be plenty of good seats available. Go to leonscentre.com for tickets.

Friday is Celtic Illusion, a mix of Celtic music and dance and, finally, magic tricks. The show starts at 8 p.m. and tickets range from $42 to $69.50 plus taxes and fees.

The Isabel Bader Center for the Performing Arts is relatively quiet this week (it’s exam time, after all) with the exception of Monday’s performance by the Amici Chamber Ensemble. The trio will perform pieces by Beethoven, Brahms and more beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $42 to $59.

Another gig to consider is Donovan Woods on Thursday nights at the majestic Spire. The Juno-winning singer-songwriter delivers well-crafted songs, a distinct voice, and some of the funniest in-song banter around. General admission tickets are $30 and the show starts at 8 p.m. flyingvconcerts.com for more information.

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Speaking of the Spire, I made a big splash in last week’s column by including the Kingston Choral Society’s first concert since December 2019 a week before it was supposed to take place. It actually takes place on Sunday, April 24 at 2:30 p.m. My apologies if anyone showed up on the wrong day.

Let’s try again, from the top:

The choir will perform Johannes Brahm’s “Requiem”, which it had originally planned to perform in April 2020.

The concert will use Brahms’ “own English edition for piano 4 hands”. Under the direction of artistic director Ian Juby, the hour-long performance without intermission features Clare Marion and Emily McPherson as these four hands playing the piano, as well as soprano Charlotte Stewart-Juby and baritone Stephen King.

General admission tickets are $27.54 and the concert can also be streamed live for $16.93. Go to kingstonchoralsociety.ca to buy them.

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