U2 and the band's custom-made ampitheatre seating 80,000, built expressly for the Irish band's July 8 and July 9 run in Montreal are expected to cause a far bit, if only temporary chaos in the venue's surrounding neighborhood.
Jasper Juinen / Getty Images
The Montreal Jazz Festival might be over, but there's plenty more music fests on the way, starting with Nuits d'Afrique and best bets Meklit Hadero, Madjo and Zoutenn de Mondélé.
Then there's Heavy MTL, but we don't see eye to eye on a certain definition. The main one. When I think heavy, flashes of Carcass, Meshuggah and Ministry spring to mind. In Heavy MTL's world, heavy is Kiss, Disturbed and Billy Talent, though hefty props go to booking Lemmy the legend, with Motörhead as one of the main headliners.
Meanwhile, Osheaga's got over 90 acts -- Eminem, Elvis Costello & the Imposters, The Flaming Lips and more -- crammed into three days at month's end, and MEG proposes 60 of its own over a four-day course, including Designer Drugs, LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy and Montreal's own, my local pick of the month, aKido.
Local highlight #2? All five of Kid Koala's Space Cadet Headphone concerts held at the charming, unconvential locale, the Montreal Biosphere. Each one features a pre-show gallery exhibit followed by Kid Koala requiring guests to wear individual headphones to actually hear the concert. This, coming from the same adorable Montreal native who, in the winter of 2009, thought it would be fun to have audience members casually draw, knit, work with clay, or whatever -- but no dancing! -- while he performed and his wife, whose dream is to open a bakery, served baked goods.
And a special hat tip for Circus, a venue that's seriously upped its afterhours cred in this city since it brought in scene godfather John Digweed last June, following suit this July with French producer Tom Pooks and a personal favorite of mine -- they've had a place on all my portable MP3 players since 2006 -- Dutch duo 16 Bit Lolitas, whom we rarely see in these parts. And if that isn't enough electro, two of my top Piknic picks of 2011 -- Claude Von Stroke and Dillon Francis -- are due on deck late July.
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Things to do in Montreal from July 1 to July 3, 2011 include attending the mother of all Montreal events, the
Montreal Jazz Festival, catching the
Canada Day Parade, soaking it up on one of
Montreal's terraces, signing up your teen for a
free day camp at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, discovering the truth behind the
Ark of the Covenant, brunching at one of these
hot spots, and much, much more.
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Celebrate Canada Day
Canada Day is also moving day in Quebec. But if you're not knee-deep in boxes, then consider Friday's parade, free activities, concerts and mega-cake. Also, find out what's open and closed on the statutory holiday. On Friday. Details.
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Stalk the Royals
As part of their Canada-wide tour, newlyweds the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are passing through Montreal on Saturday for a six-hour period. Find out where they'll be and when they'll be there.
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Montreal Jazz Festival: Headliners
I'm placing my bets on Kaki King and Tony Bennett both playing different venues this Friday, Saturday's filled with top choice, including The Roots, and Sunday features Jake Shimabukuro playing the ukulele like you've never heard it before. Details.
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Montreal Jazz Festival: Free Concerts
Hip hop collective Nomadic Massive is primed to deliver one of the best shows at the 2011 edition (trust me on this), this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Got a soft spot for Aussie singer/guitarist Kim Churchill (can you believe he's only 20?) who takes to the outdoor stage Saturday and Sunday, and stick around after his Saturday night show for a double dose of Susie Arioli. Details here.
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Catch the Fireworks Competition
Catch them for free or splurge to see them up close. This Saturday at 10 p.m. But is it worth paying for tickets? I wrote about that last week.
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Outdoor Art Festival: Festival International Montréal en Arts
"Over 100 exhibiting artists from Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Argentina will wait for you on the BoulevArt, on Ste. Catherine Street East, between St. Hubert and Papineau. Dozens of performers, movie makers and multimedia artists coming from Quebec, Germany, Malaysia, Argentina, Ontario, Turkey and the United States present their moving and living art." Free admission. Thursday through Sunday. In the Montreal Gay Village car-free perimeter (map).
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Photo courtesy of the Montreal Jazz Festival
"God is everywhere. Under a woman's skirt. And inside a man's pants. Your God feels so good, but good might feel bad." Light Me Up Twice by Legendary Tigerman
Some artists sing from the heart. Legendary Tigerman sings from the
groin. At least sometimes. Once quoted saying that the world would be a different place if we all just lived in the nude two days a month, the one-man rock 'n' blues band from Lisbon,
Portugal likes to keep things simple, pared down, raw, shifting from the topic
of sex to love to nudity to strings-free, "I'm not your friend" one-night
stands to love again as he negotiates his guitar with his bass drum, hi hat and suggestive kazoo blows.
Even though Tigerman, aka Paulo Furtado, has a fan base including the likes of Peaches, Jarvis Cocker and the late Joey Ramone, who had Furtado and his then punk outfit, Tédio Boys, play at his birthday party in 1997 -- "I don't have a lot of fans, but the ones I do have are good ones," he chuckles -- Legendary Tigerman is still under the radar in North America compared to across the pond, in Europe, and for some reason, Japan. In fact, the Montreal Jazz Festival is Furtado's first gig in Canada.
And it was tight. Enticing. Alluring. Exactly what I expected from one of my top choices of the fest's 2011 edition.
And he seems to love it here. Halfway through his 80-minute set, Legendary Tigerman blurts out, mid-riff, "actually, this song reminds me of Montreal," stopping The Whole World's Got The Eyes On You ten seconds in, "it was written in Italy because of this girl who was wearing a miniskirt. And yeah, there seems to be a lot of girls wearing miniskirts and short shorts in Montreal."
Catching him backstage, we chatted for a few minutes, covering his impressions of the city, his longing for a Marianne Faithfull collaboration, alternative career paths the oozing bluesman can barely bring himself to consider and how a film script can turn into an album. And in that short time, I discovered a softer, gentler side to the tiger, one that purrs.
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Not moving on Canada Day?* Great. Then you'll have time to enjoy all that Montreal has to offer on Canada Day, from its Old Port activities to the city's annual parade -- count on MP Justin Trudeau to make an appearance but don't expect Mayor Tremblay to be there; director Peter Nauth says the committee invites Tremblay to join the procession every year, but he's yet to show up.
*Why does moving day fall on Canada Day in Montreal and in the rest of Quebec? Long story. Some suggest political conspiracy, others say it's just a coincidence.
