The Festival d’été de Québec has hosted some of the biggest international stars over the years – from the Rolling Stones to Metallica, including Sting, The Weeknd and Lady Gaga – but it’s still not enough to appear in the rankings of the 50 biggest festivals just compiled by the magazine Billboard.
In this list, which gives a lot of space to American festivals and which is dominated by Coachella, there is only one Canadian event, the Osheaga festival in Montreal, at 22e rank.
Not a first
This is not the first time that the FEQ has been ignored in the development of such a selection. In 2014, the magazine RollingStone hadn’t included it in a list of 40 must-see summer festivals.
Clearly, the Festival d’été remains one of the best-kept secrets on the circuit of major world music events.
“We are still one of the only festivals where Rage Against the Machine will play this summer,” says FEQ communications director Samantha McKinley.
How to explain it? “It’s a question of contacts and canvassing in the market,” she replies, specifying that the FEQ lost its press relations officer for the United States during the pandemic.
Despite this omission, the FEQ will be talked about in the American media, because the influential music website Consequence of Sound and Forbes have confirmed their presence in Quebec this summer.
“Consequence of Sound, we’ve been dreaming about it for 12 years,” says Samantha McKinley.
The 53e Festival d’été de Québec will be held from July 6 to 17. Charlotte Cardin will be the star of the opening night. Luke Combs, Maroon 5 and Rage Against the Machine are among the headliners.