Concerts (English)

Thursday night was a night of choices at POP. Too many great bands were playing simultaneously in different venues of Montreal and difficult sacrifices had to be made. At 9pm, probably the best hip-hop band...

Pop Montreal is upon us once again, and just like each passing year, the city of Montreal has been blessed with a plethora of great Independent acts to be seen across the city. Now entering its sixteenth year,...

With over 400 bands playing in a single week at POP Montreal every year, it's hard to keep up. Especially when 392 of them are mostly unknown bands that (often) need to be discovered. In the past 15 years,...

There are some certainties in life. One is that if Joss Stone and Melissa Etheridge are sharing the stage, which they did for the first time 12 years after their interpretation of the famous Janis Joplin...

My evening started at the Club Jazz stage, near the Gésù, where Toronto trio Myriad3 were finishing a few of their own compositions and were attacking a jazz arrangement of Stravinsky's Ragtime Piano Song,...

If The Bad Plus are the most rock of all jazz bands, English musicians in Neil Cowley's Trio probably are the most jazz of all rock bands! At the Gésù tonight, they showed who was kicking that beat the most...

The Jazz Fest chose a new path for exploration this year with series Re:Creation, giving artists the opportunity to revisit a music repertoire and pay tribute to a musician of their choice. To impersonate...

Classic jazz and the repertoire from the 40s is the type of music that is fun to rediscover. That was the pop music of the avant-guerre era! Youngsters used to dance to jazz, musicians were these "rockers"...

Shaping is a different job than reinventing. The sound of deriving is originative, and Robert Glasper has declared that jazz has become a museum of itself, and he definitely has been looking for something...

It is always very impressive when you are about to see a concert from an artist that you really respect. There is this excitement, in the days before the show, that you want to tone down so you are not...

For its 14th edition, the festival most oriented on musical discoveries, POP MONTREAL, has a great guest: Mister John Cale. In a rare visit in Montreal, the legendary musician, co-founder of the Velvet...

At this point, it’s all about energy management. After 12 to 15 hours of concerts, mostly standing up, in two full days under the sun, you have to carefully select to which show you go so you don’t add up...

Day 2. Need to manage the energy level to get through and not be too tired for Sunday! Here are my picks for the day. I went through the whole schedule at Osheaga and listened to at least a song from each...

It is always exciting to go through the whole schedule at a grand festival like Osheaga and prepare for a terrific 3-day of music. There are many bands out there, many unknowns to discover, some playing...

Some of us knew it already: it is extremely difficult not to fall under the charm of the the London-based new sensation. A number who those who did were present in the packed venue after discovering her at the...

For now over decade, Bilal has been prominent figure of the R&B scene, a genre that is significantly less celebrated here than among our southern neighbors. If the american artist gained so recent exposure...

The supergroup formed by pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, bassist Armando Gola and drummer Horacio “el Negro” Hernandez delivered high-voltage free jazz at Theatre Maisonneuve tonight! Hard to follow as all...

A concert by Jay-Jay Johanson is always kind of the same... and it's a good thing for his fans. I saw three times live and it's pretty much the same mood every time. The Swedish crooner lingers in melancholy,...

Human beatbox Dave Crowe and fellow guitarist and singer Andy Balcon wanted to make our lives better at the Heineken Place tonight at the Montreal Jazz Fest, and they succeeded, based on the warm reception...

Keyboardist Martin Lizotte calls himself a musical mercenary from his prolific active years which generated collaborations with the likes of likes of Jean Leloup, Daniel Bélanger, Loco Locass, Karkwa,...

It is not news to anyone: Rufus Wainwright is grand. His theatrical style and endearing personality have conquered it all from the moon and back and his long-awaited concert series at Place-Des-Arts last...

Since its relatively recent inception, Montreal-based band John Jacob Magistery has certainly been enjoying a steady impulse. A debut EP, "Narcissism Unto Loneliness" was released in 2014, collecting rave...

What is great jazz? This question can have lots of different answers, depending on whom you ask it to. There are different tastes, different currents of thoughts. Some like their jazz pretty classical and keep...

Montreal Jazz Fest is so big at this point, it's hard to walk around the dedicated entire neighbourhood blocked off for it. So many people, from locals to tourists, flock to listen to a variety of music from...

News Release from the Festival - Montréal, May 25, 2016 – It’s been 30 years already! This year, Montréal’s Festival International Nuits d’Afrique is celebrating its 30th birthday – a historic...

News Release from the Festival - Montreal, June 6, 2016 - On August 26, 27 and 28, the Montreal International Reggae Festival (MIRF) will roll out its 13th edition at the Old Port of Montreal – maintaining...

Industrial rock idols Filter returned to the Gramercy Theater in New York City Tuesday night to throttle the crowd with its unconventional synthesis of electronic, atmospheric and hard rock music. Blending...

News Release from Spectra - Montreal, Tuesday April 26, 2016 — It’s an indoor program that combines quality, abundance and diversity! The 37th edition of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal,...

Sweden’s Amon Amarth shook the stage at The Playstation Theater in Times Square in New York City Friday night, delivering an unrelenting blast of punishing heavy metal before a sold-out crowd of 2100...

Music legends are falling one after the other. In the last few months, we have said fairwell to Scott Weiland (48 years old) Lemmy (70), Bowie (69), Glenn Frey (67) and Prince (57) and Lonnie Mack (74) just a...

The evening started with a movie, The Theory of Obscurity. A documentary on The Strangest Band on Earth, the beloved Residents with a bunch of very interesting musicians (Les Claypool from Primus, Chris...

I got at the Casa just in time to catch the last two songs of the second band playing tonight, Cian Nugent and his two musicians. The place was packed. Got stuck completely in the back. Fortunately, this...

The Cult made a triumphant return to The Paramount in Huntington, Long Island on Wednesday. The evening marked its third appearance in three years at the former vaudeville theater (originally opened in 1927)...

The atmosphere was electric at Montreal's Theatre Rialto for this sold our gig of the Baltimore duo. For one, the grandiose and slightly faded theater seemed like a perfect foil for their show - wishing there...

Don't be fooled by their small amount of gear and their minimal set up, the duo behind HEYMOONSHAKER sounds as big as a roaring monster truck! I jumped at the opportunity to be at their show in Theatre...

Before beginning this review, one has to put up a disclaimer. I was seduced into going to this gig by a friend, who is a massive Matt Berninger fan. I didn't know much about EL VY, outside a Google search and...

Winter is setting in but YOUSSOU N'DOUR brought the heat up in Montreal last Thursday. It was a packed house at the Olympia on November 12th. A mix of generations and nationalities, all united by the Legend...

It wouldn't seem corny to qualify last night's show at the Fairmount Theater in Montreal as bright and fiery, full of colours and smiles. It wouldn't be corny because if you do something for yourself...

I am always suspicious of albums made by "son / daughter of" celebrities. You kind of feel that this person got a free ticket to the media's ears just because of their name. Curiosity. That they probably got a...

I spent a moment with DABY TOURÉ in a small coffee shop in the heart of Montreal. He let me steal a few minutes in a day full of interviews, and I took advantage of it! Daby is touring North America at...