Joel Plaskett

Joel Plaskett is playing The Carleton on Friday, November 13, 2026. It's a homecoming of sorts: he was the first artist to ever perform on that stage back in 2008, and he's returning to the same spot nearly two decades later.

If you've followed his work, you know he doesn't stay in one place for long. Over three decades, his discography has moved through a lot of different sounds, often drawing on East Coast musical traditions while pushing into new territory. There are the heavy riff epics like Thrush Hermit's Clayton Park (1999) and the low-fi solo records In Need of Medical Attention (1999) and La De Da (2005). Then there's the lean, loose rock and roll of The Emergency on Down at the Khyber (2001) and Truthfully, Truthfully (2003), and Solidarity (2017), a father-and-son nod to English folk traditions.

He's kept that restless streak going with Ashtray Rock (2007), the songwriting challenge Scrappy Happiness (2012), and the sprawling multi-record ventures Three (2009) and 44 (2020). Along the way, he's headlined Toronto's Massey Hall, played the NAC in Ottawa backed by the national orchestra, and opened for The Tragically Hip and Paul McCartney, picking up JUNO, Polaris, and East Coast Music Awards as he went.

The show runs from 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm, and it's a seated general admission night. Tickets are C$57.00, which is C$50 plus HST.