Historically shunned in our lands by the media and the general public, American country music made a historic breakthrough in Quebec in 2022, thanks to the success of the concerts of Luke Combs and the new Lasso festival in Montreal. Will this interest last? Connoisseurs believe so.
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Matt Lang, one of the most prominent Quebec country artists of the moment, is adamant. “It’s going to get bigger and bigger,” says the man who had the chance to open for Luke Combs in Quebec City last summer.
MARIO BEAUREGARD/QMI AGENCY
Matt Lang in action during the first presentation of the Lasso festival, on August 13, in Montreal.
During this July evening, the charismatic American singer attracted more than 70,000 people to the Plains of Abraham. It was by far the biggest crowd since the Summer Festival featured country stars on its big stage.
That’s not all, Luke Combs then returned to give sold-out concerts at the Bell Center in Montreal and at the Videotron Center in Quebec, in November, for festive and… thirsty audiences.
“During the show, I didn’t see anyone come back from the bar with less than two beers in their hands”, laughs the host of the show Zone New Country, on the airwaves of the radio station WKND, Gab Marineau , who believes Quebec passed the test in 2022.
“If it hadn’t worked there, it never would have worked. »
Lifestyle
The signs that American country music is firmly established in Quebec are accumulating. Last summer, 35,000 spectators attended the concerts of the Lasso festival, evenko’s newborn, which hosted Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley at Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal.
MARIO BEAUREGARD/QMI AGENCY
Luke Bryan was one of the headliners of the Lasso festival in August.
The event will return in 2023 and we learned on Wednesday that the headliners will be Kane Brown and Chris Stapleton.
The recent announcement of the coming in 2023 of another American country star, Morgan Wallen, provoked a strong reaction and it is expected that all the tickets for his concerts in Montreal and Quebec, offered at gold prices, will be sold from Friday.
AFP
Morgan Wallen was a guest at the CMA Awards last month in Nashville.
“The current successes and enthusiasm are obviously more than a passing fancy,” thinks the director of programming at the Videotron Centre, Dominique Goulet.
“(Country music) reaches a vast, young audience, who recognizes in this music a lifestyle, a community, a habit of consumption not only of the music itself, but also of the experience during the shows”, she says.
Like metal fans
Ms. Goulet even draws a parallel between supporters of country music and those who love metal.
“They recognize themselves in the music, in the clothing and the rituals that are put forward by the artists, like the make-up of Ghost or the throwing of beer by Luke Combs. »
Matt Lang submits that the unifying side of country music strikes a chord with Quebecers, as does its accessibility. “It goes everywhere. You can listen to it in a tank or when you are going through a heartbreak. »
Other stars in sight
In addition to the Combs, Wallen, Brown and Stapleton, Quebecers can hope that other country stars will come to visit us over the next few years. “The trail is tapped”, image Gab Marineau, who is counting on the possible arrival of artists of the caliber of Blake Shelton and the Zac Brown Band.
For his part, Dominique Goulet adds the names of Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, Old Dominion, Hardy and Thomas Rhett among the big country names that could occur at the Videotron Center.
So keep your cowboy hat close by, dear country lovers, you will surely have more and more occasions to wear it.