Must-see sets at the festival’s 11th edition
Montreal Gazette team picks its favourites from among 113 acts performing Friday to Sunday
Osheaga is upon us. With 113 acts performing, Friday to Sunday, on and all around the tree-lined surroundings of Parc Jean-Drapeau, the 11th edition of Montreal’s mammoth music festival promises no shortage of good times.
But a plan never hurts. If you’re among the sellout crowd of 45,000 attendees expected each day of the event, you likely already have a list of favourite bands you want to see.
Well, to complicate or facilitate things, depending on your perspective, the Montreal Gazette’s Osheaga squad has compiled its own list of shows we either can’t miss or are simply curious about. The beauty of Osheaga, after all, is if you don’t like what you’re hearing, you can always pop over to a nearby stage.
Here are 10 acts to catch at Osheaga 2016
FRIDAY WOLF PARADE (4:55 P.M. GREEN STAGE)
One of Montreal’s most decorated indie rock exports during the aughts, the Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner-led group came to an abrupt dissolution in 2011. Music loves a good comeback story, though, and even though odds of a reunion seemed remote with both deep into their solo efforts, earlier this year they buried the hatchet and released new music. I caught the band in New York during their initial spate of 2016 shows and they sounded more relaxed and easygoing than during their heyday. (Erik Leijon)
WHITE LUNG (5:40-6:25 P.M., TREES STAGE)
Vancouver’s White Lung has made the short list for the Polaris Music Prize for best Canadian album with its fourth release, Paradise. More melodic but no less heavy than the band’s previous material, it boasts a rousing mix of pop hooks and raw guitar grit. Singer Mish Barber-Way’s soaring voice has a galvanizing urgency that will shake you out of your opening-afternoon daze. (T’Cha Dunlevy)
HALF MOON RUN (7:20-8:20 P.M., RIVER STAGE)
The Montreal-based band gets bigger, in every way. Half Moon Run has enough swelling, openhearted sweep in I Can’t Figure Out What’s Going on, big pop in Turn Your Love and itchy synth grooves in Consider Yourself and Trust to both conquer and utterly confound a festival audience. Romance, with a shot of austerity somewhere in the mix. Should be mega for a local crowd. (Mark Lepage)
SATURDAY FUTURE (9:50-10:50 P.M., GREEN STAGE)
It wouldn’t be Osheaga without a hitmaking hip hop act on the bill. The mononymous Atlanta artist is arguably the most prolific rapper going, with mix tapes dropping on a near monthly basis. Despite writing from the slowed down perspective of a pharmaceutical fugue, the level of quality has yet to take a dip. Jumpman, a song from his collaborative album with Drake, will likely get one of the biggest pops this weekend. (EL)
TODD TERJE AND THE OLSENS (9:50-10:50 P.M. PIKNIC STAGE)
An aloof Norwegian DJ virtuoso known to ladle his electronic kitsch with heavy Svensk Sås (Swedish sauce). Terje skipped Montreal when he was touring for 2014’s It’s Album Time, an album 10 years in the making, but he’s already moved on to mambo-inspired disco covers with a full-band configuration. If he chooses to go in that direction, his set will likely stand out as the most eclectic act to hit the Piknic stage this weekend. (EL)
LANA DEL REY (9:40-10:55 P.M., RIVER STAGE)
Saturday’s headline name might not have the rock edge quotient, but she brings something that a festival context rarely offers anymore: uncertainty. Having caught Lana Del Rey only in concert on a screen, it will be fascinating to catch her in the flesh and discover if the narcotized swoon of her recordings translates onstage … or if it all slumps down in a trankpop heap. (ML)
SUNDAY LEON BRIDGES (4:45-5:40 P.M., RIVER STAGE)
The retro-soul movement gets a fresh wave of inspiration with the arrival of this 27-year-old Atlanta, Georgia native. On his debut album Coming Home, released last year, Bridges sounds like a young Sam Cooke. And he looks like one, too. The test will be to see if he can bring the stage presence to match that authentic, old-school vibe. On a hot Sunday afternoon, it will be worth stopping everything and giving this gifted singer-songwriter a chance to take you to church. (TD)
LITTLE SIMZ (5:40-6:25 P.M., TREES STAGE)
Hailing from North London, England, this gifted young rapper brings a dazzling mix of sass and lyrical ingenuity that Pitchfork aptly compares to a cross between Lauryn Hill and Kendrick Lamar. I would add her elder countryman Dizzy Rascal to the list, especially considering Simz’s affinity for boundarypushing bass and electro-tinged beats. Don’t miss the chance to see a next-wave lyricist on the rise. (TD)
GRIMES (5:40-6:40 P.M., MOUNTAIN STAGE) Alias Claire Boucher, Grimes’s backstory is cool — apparently expelled from the McGill University neuroscience program when she started spending too much time writing her gauzy club songs. Her über-hip electro/ dream-pop works equally well in a variety of cutting-edge environments/audiences, from the club to the chill-out lounge to the dorm. A previously opening slot for Lana Del Rey brings another little edge to the set. (ML) RADIOHEAD (8:50-10:50 P.M., RIVER STAGE)
OK, this one is kind of cheating. Of course we all want to see Radiohead. The headliners not just of Day 3 but of Osheaga 2016, period, the veteran British rock act brings star power, musical audacity, emotional resonance and an unflinching global perspective to everything it touches. The band’s latest album, A Moon Shaped Pool, finds Thom Yorke and his mates in an introspective mood. But fear not, even when these guys go small, they go big. (TD)