[5] The festival presents a diverse lineup of rock, jazz, funk, world music, hip hop, bluegrass and electronica performers.
[6] The festival was first conceived by Joe MacEachern, a resident of Antigonish, who then recruited Jim Dorey of Toronto to become the second founding member of Evolve Tribe.
[6] In 2016, the festival moved to Beersville, New Brunswick,[3][7] after the Municipality of the County of Antigonish revoked Evolve's permit due to issues involving the lack of a medical plan.
!, Battles, Beardyman, Black Tiger Sex Machine, Brazilian Girls, Danny Brown, Chali 2na, Delhi 2 Dublin, Do Make Say Think, Dub FX, Easy Star All-Stars, Grandtheft, Moldylox, Hey Rosetta!, Holy Fuck, Man Man, Medeski Martin & Wood, Pretty Lights, Rezz, Rheostatics, Xavier Rudd, The Sheepdogs, Slowcoaster, The Jimmy Swift Band, Telesma, That 1 Guy, The Be Good Tanyas, Wintersleep, and Luther Wright and the Wrongs.
Though the death was unrelated to the event itself, it brought the festival's drug policies into public interest as medical professionals raised concerns.