The love relationship between Quebec City and rock music is well known. Fans will therefore get their money’s worth this summer at the Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ), where the Foo Fighters, Imagine Dragons, Billy Talent, Weezer and Green Day will perform in turn.
Bleufeu, organizer of the festival, unveiled Wednesday noon its “muscular” program full of “big hits” for the 2023 edition, which also includes Les Trois Accords and Les Cowboys dashing as headliners on the main stage. The two favorite groups of Quebecers will be entitled to carte blanche formulas.
Country singer Zach Bryan, rapper Lil Durk, DJ Illenium — for Électro-FEQ —, Pitbull and singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey will also be entitled to performances on the main stage of the Plains of Abraham during the festival, which will take place from July 6 to 16.
As for French-language programming, Bleu Jeans Bleu, Lumière, Robert Charlebois, Coeur de Pirate, Roxane Bruneau, Patrice Michaud, Les Louanges, Québec Redneck Bluegrass Project and Jonathan Roy are names to remember.
As in 2022, the Parc de la Francophonie will host two stages side by side, but the festival promises to redevelop the site to improve the experience of festival-goers. Last year, the site experienced logistical problems due to heavy traffic.
For the Foo Fighters, this will be the first stop in Quebec City since the group’s drummer, Taylor Hawkins, died last year. David Grohl and his band have a very special history with the FEQ, since their 2015 show was interrupted for the first songs due to a thunderstorm. The group had revived with a sold-out show in 2018.
Imagine Dragons was also forced to end its show at the FEQ in 2019 due to the whims of Mother Nature. The American group was supposed to return to Quebec in 2020, but the pandemic meant that its big comeback was postponed to 2023.
Bleufeu is also pleased to have succeeded in attracting Green Day, “one of the formations most in demand by festival-goers”.
General admission to the festival costs $140.