[Concert Review] It’s Ok World 2026 Brings Music, Community, and Soul to Toronto’s Waterfront

Written & Photos: Amber N.

On August 8, 2026, It’s Ok World Music Festival brought together live music, local vendors,

and a strong sense of community during a one day outdoor festival at Trillium Park. Part of the park’s Summer Series, the black-led festival is put together by It’s Ok, an organization led by cultural programmer Said Yassin, which also operates It’s Ok Studios, a multipurpose arts space in Toronto’s historic Queen West neighborhood.

From the moment festivalgoers arrived, the setting played an important role in shaping the experience. Inside the park opening toward the water, people spread picnic blankets across the grass to enjoy the beautiful clear summer sky. Rather than feeling like a festival where attendees rushed from one performance to another, It’s Ok World encouraged people to slow down. Friends talked, people played chess, and groups lounged together while DJs filled the park with early-2000s throwbacks from Ne-Yo, Destiny’s Child, Ashanti, and more.

That leisurely atmosphere didn’t mean the festival lacked things to explore. Food and drink vendors, including Matty’s Patty’s and Dose Coffee, were joined by booths selling clothing, books, essential oils, and other goods. There was also a bar, a free flow drink station, and photo booths for people to snap a picture and commemorate the experience. Together, these details made the festival feel less like a space designed solely around a concert and more like a community gathering. 

As the night began, DJ Shysofly and MC Myles Isley Brown Bramble helped maintain that welcoming atmosphere. MC Bramble was especially lively, talking with the crowd and even moving through the festival grounds to dance with attendees between sets. The focus on audience engagement added energy to the concert and created an intimate experience where the crowd became one with the stage. 

DVYN

Performances of the night were diverse in styles. DVYN opened with a soulful set, beginning with “Trusting You,” accompanied by a poem from Shahaddah Jack. She then followed up with “In My Face”, her acclaimed track praised by Erykah Badu, which highlighted a lineage of soul and R&B. KWNCY continued the night’s musical momentum before Clairmont The Second brought a noticeable shift in intensity. Backed by a band, his dynamic performance of hip hop track “intrest-ing” energized the crowd and demonstrated how naturally the festival moved between laid-back and high energy moments.

CLAIRMONT THE SECOND

Keiyaa took the stage alone but needed little else to command it. Taking over the stage with hits such as “take it” and “stupid prizes”, her smooth delivery and presence created another change of pace. Headliners LIV.E and Karriem Riggins, known to people as GENA arrived and blew the audience away with performances of “Unspokerrn” and “Circlesz”. By the end of the night, the festival had showcased a range of sounds and performance styles while maintaining a cohesive atmosphere.

GENA

What made It’s Ok World Music Festival memorable was ultimately more than its lineup. It was the intimacy we could feel throughout the day, the encouragement we received to simply be, in community, and in nature. It’s Ok World Music Festival offered something increasingly valuable: a third space where people can gather without the obligations of home and work. The result was a festival that felt energetic, unhurried, and genuinely rooted in the community.