Called in to replace A$AP Rocky as Saturday’s headliner in Osheaga, Future did his job well. Under repeated streams of fire and smoke, the Atlanta native rapper finished the second day of the festival strong.
Posted yesterday at 11:45 p.m.
“Montreal, it’s been a while! After entering the stage between two pillars of fire while interpreting his verse of Life’s Goodcollaboration with Drake, Future did everything to blow up visitors to Parc Jean-Drapeau.
Dressed in a pink shirt, a damaged hat and a diamond necklace, the 38-year-old rapper interacted with festival-goers on several occasions. ” This is the type of crowd that I fucking love! “, he told them, among other things.
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PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, THE PRESS
Future in concert, Saturday
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PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, THE PRESS
Future in concert, Saturday
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PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, THE PRESS
The crowd packed in front of the main stage for Future’s performance.
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The headliner performed tracks from her new album, I Never Liked You, but has not forgotten its most popular tracks. Listening to Mask Off, relationship, Way 2 Sexy Where Bugatti, his fans completed the lyrics with ease when the music stopped.
Just before him, the singer Burna Boy made the spectators hum in chorus. Originally from Nigeria, he brought a touch of exoticism to this cool summer day. Meanwhile, French duo Polo & Pan took them on a ‘journey’, to use their words, with tropical-tinged house-style music on one of the secondary stages. DJ Porter Robinson concluded the evening in this area.
In a completely different style, the duo 100 gecs transported their fans in another dimension thanks to hypnotic visual effects and crazy costumes, at sunset.
At the end of the afternoon, singer-songwriter Mitski bewitched Montrealers with a mix of power and sweetness on stage. Feline, she kept a serious air – and moved with an assumed sensuality.
PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, THE PRESS
Mitski in concert, Saturday
The Toronto alternative rock trio Monowhales, the Canadian-Moroccan singer-songwriter Faouzia and the American pop rock group LANY took turns on the two main stages during the afternoon. Swedish singer Tove Lo and New Jersey rock band Bleachers also performed.
“From the start, the DNA of the festival has been to book a little different business from others,” Osheaga founder Nick Farkas told us in an interview this week.
One after another, these artists greeted the waves of spectators who settled on the big hill, who stood near the food kiosks or who gathered as close to the stage as possible. The atmosphere of the day remained pleasant from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m., without interruption.
Artists love the site. We are lucky to have Parc Jean-Drapeau: there is nothing like that in Toronto or anywhere else.
Nick Farkas, Founder of Osheaga
“I worked at La Ronde when I was 15, and it’s still special every time I go there”, adds the founder of the festival.
Obstacle course
If this first “back to normal” edition of Osheaga is going very well so far, it is thanks to the hard work of its employees over the past two years. In particular, they corrected the site’s technical drawbacks and redesigned the programming on several occasions, while coping with an increase “in practically all prices” and a constraining labor shortage.
Among the changes of which he is proud, Nick Farkas notes the displacement of certain technical teams. “We moved the sound systems to the sides, to the main stage, so the middle is free,” he explains. We’ve been looking for a way to avoid having a huge control room that directly blocks the view of festival-goers for years. »
For us, the experience of fans, this is the most important matter. We always want to find better ways of doing things.
Nick Farkas, Founder of Osheaga
After the Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend, the Osheaga weekend is the most fruitful for the tourism industry in Montreal, said the Hotel Association of Greater Montreal in The Press in June. “A lot of people tell me that,” adds Mr. Farkas. If we are able to contribute to the Montreal economy, we are always happy. »
The Foo Fighters, who were to open on Friday, have been grieving their drummer Taylor Hawkins since March. Arcade Fire has come as a backup. And on Saturday, Future replaced A$AP Rocky, who is in trouble with the law. The only one who did not withdraw, Dua Lipa, has already performed last week at the Bell Center.
For 2023, Osheaga management says it will be better prepared to counter the instability of lead artists. “In the previous 14 years, we lost a headliner only once,” recalls Nick Farkas. We are really in adaptation mode now. »
Dua Lipa will be in charge of closing the festivities this Sunday evening. Machine Gun Kelly, Glass Animals, Idles and Girl in Red are also among the headliners of this third and final day.