After two years of latency, the Osheaga festival was finally able to launch its 15th anniversary celebrations on the plains of Parc Jean-Drapeau last night with the big return to the stage of Arcade Fire. Reunion, therefore, between the Montreal group and its public, then between this one and the great Montreal meeting of trendy music, without imposed distancing.
Around 9 p.m., the orchestra took possession of the Rivière stage, choosing to begin its return with a first extract from its new album. WEthe song Age of Anxiety I, heralded by its distinctive piano motif. Win Butler then did not take long before taking his first walkabout, while Régine Chassagne was fidgeting, keytar around her neck. “Montreal from my heart! “, she chanted.
A pleasant appetizer which however had less impact in the crowd than the Ready-to-Start (of The Suburbs, 2010) following. The tens of thousands of spectators jumped up suddenly, dancing while Régine beat the time, passed to the drums. Followed The Suburbs, which Win dedicated to the family of the late Taylor Hawkins, drummer of the band Foo Fighters who Arcade Fire replaced at Osheaga. Chaining with Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels), from the classic Funeral (2004) and No Cars Go (of neon bible2006), the group immediately showed that they had lost none of their energy and evocative power in concert.
The group, however, seemed a bit rusty, more than two months after performing at Coachella. The sequences between songs were often laborious, with one or other of the musicians confusing the intended order of the songs, causing a few false starts. Arcade Fire plans to officially launch its tour on September 8 in London (Butler has announced that he and his friends will be at the Bell Center on December 3), this concert in Osheaga felt like a rehearsal, with the added bonus of a preview the imagined decor: a semi-circle placed in front of the giant screen reproducing the motif of the eye on the album cover WEa simple but stylish artifice.
After giving us a taste of the good old Arcade Fire, let’s move on to disco, just to take advantage of the huge mirror ball hanging above the group. Stunning sequence ofAfterlife, Reflector, Creature Comfort and Age of Anxiety II (Rabbit Hole)the Giorgio Moroder influence in each of the synth arpeggios, a sequence that we would have liked even longer when Win launched the sequel End of the Empire, taken from the latest album.
A candle snuffer. A black hole in this concert yet so explosive. Endless litany – returned to the fourth part of the work (Saggitarius A*), no one was holding their lighter or their phone on. Welcome, this epic rock burst with the sequel The Lightening (I & II), one of the news we were most looking forward to hearing in concert. The promise of studio recording proved on stage: a powerful moment.
Arcade Fire didn’t lose the rhythm until the end, even having the elegance to salute its two new members, Paul Beaubrun (from Boukman Eksperyans, on percussion, guitar and stage acrobatics!) and Dan Boeckner, co-founder of the group Wolf Parade, who was accompanied by his acolytes for a furious version of his song This Heart’s on Fire. This first evening of Osheaga ended in joy.
Revive your playground
The rest of the day was spent under the beating sun and the happiness of reconnecting with the festive crowds and outdoor music. In the metro towards Île Sainte-Hélène, it was not yet the rush to which we were accustomed before the pandemic; once there, the crowd was big and cheery, but no one was stepping on each other’s toes. Otherwise, the scene was familiar: the traveling beer vendors, the countless poutine stands, the lineups, and the still-unfashionable Hawaiian shirts.
A beautiful afternoon of strolling, getting to know the site and letting yourself be seduced by what emanated from the loudspeakers. Dominic Fike, like, on the big stage of the River, something like a modern rock phenomenon inflated by his role in the popular – and controversial – series Euphoria, broadcast by HBO. He had fans, the young man.
Arriving on stage 25 minutes behind schedule at 5:05 p.m., Fike quickly unpacked his repertoire of rock songs interested in the aesthetic upheavals caused by the irruption of rap and trap in pop music. Imagine Mac Miller professing his love for Led Zeppelin: the guy rocks, with a good layer of blues and distortion in his voice and guitar, but then surprises us by throwing out a verse with the same kind of prosody we were going to serve just after The Kid LAROI, rapper (Australian) enjoying the sound of an acoustic guitar. We want to hear them as two sides of the same contemporary pop piece.
Then head to the secondary site for a disparate double: the dancing pop of Parcels and the articulated punk of Turnstile – with a brief and providential stopover at the Green stage, just when Claudia Bouvette was performing her best songs from the album. The Paradise Club published last May, Shower bag and I’m sorry.
Parcels Aussies were like fish to water on such an outdoor festival stage. Sympathetic performance – the group passes for a simplified (primitive?) version of what the British Hot Chips have been doing for twenty years, and with so much sophistication: a disco song tending towards house, played live, which emphasizes on pop harmonies and choruses. Very pleasant.
However, the contrast could not be more dizzying with Turnstile which followed just after, past 7 p.m., on the neighboring stage. One of those rock slaps as we hear less and less in this festival now dominated by pop, rap and synthetic music. Released last year on Roadrunner Records, their album Glow On is a little gem of colorful hardcore with influences as varied as funk and thrash metal; in concert, it was also hilarious and dizzying. A favorite.
The 15th edition of the Osheaga festival will end on Sunday evening with a performance by British diva Dua Lipa; this evening, it is the American rapper Future, called in to relieve his colleague ASAP Rocky, who caps the poster. Mitski, Burna Boy, Men I Trust, IDLES, Safia Nolin, Zach Zoya and Wet Leg will also take the stage today or tomorrow.