Coming to Montreal to attend Pop Montreal was fun. Pop Montreal is an annual music festival that showcases International and local music through various venues. Being my first time, it’s quite enjoyable. Although, I didn’t get a chance to see some of the acts I wanted to see, it was mainly due to walking and taking public transit around to various places. I seem to have gone to Le Divan Orange several times because there were free shows happening in the afternoon. My own problem was not preparing on who to check out as everything I did was on the fly and unexpected.
Friday night, I went to The Jukebox to see Grand Analog. Odario Williams and his band members (minus one) were surprised to see me and I haven’t seen them in awhile. They had a great set and it’s been awhile I heard their music. Before getting inside to The Jukebox, I finally tried Schwartz’s smoked meat sandwich. Luckily, it was across from the venue and had time to waste as I arrived early.
Saturday’s lineup was a lot to check out but I chose a few to attend.
The Notman House (Pop Montreal headquarters) had a Pop BBQ Show featuring The Whitsundays, Hot Panda, Maylee Todd, Forest City Lovers and others. I went for the food as I only checked The Whitsundays perform. Afterwards, I took the bus to Le Divan Orange to see Think About Life. It was a packed show as they couldn’t let any more people in. They rocked out a energetic half an hour set. I did the interview with the lead singer of the band and expect to be aired soon on CKCU.
After Le Divan Orange, I had to go further up to Ubisoft Montreal. Yes, it’s the videogame company. They are one of the sponsors and that event was called Pop The Roof. The photo above was Malajube performing at Ubisoft Rooftop. That was probably one of my favourites because being at the rooftop felt nice. Seeing the backdrop of Mont-Royal and downtown Montreal made it felt surreal. The secret party for Pop The Roof had good crowds and there were free food being served.
The next one was going further down to St-Catherine to go to Le National as I was recommended by a new volunteer at CKCU. She told me to check The Temper Trap and having a media pass, I didn’t need to pay. The opening acts at the show were The Hundred in the Hands (New York) and Delphic (from UK). Those two bands were electro-rock based and they had catchy tunes. Then came The Temper Trap. Their music is alternative music with grand sounds. Their first tune, it seemed epic with the drumming. I know it’s Montreal as the show was packed, but I never knew the band has a good fan following.
The unfortunate part is that the same lineup will be in Ottawa for Sunday night.
After checking out the fabulous show, I headed over to 3 Minots to find The Balconies and Laurent Bourque (along the Old Crowns gang minus their lead member) to pay them a visit. They were surprised to see me in Montreal. It was tough to get in 3 Minots as it was at capacity. I did hang out with Jacquie, Liam, their friend and The Golden Dogs for poutine.
Overall, it was an amazing Saturday I had at Pop Montreal.
Not sure what to check out on the final day of Pop Montreal.
Note: One of the proud sponsors of Pop Montreal, PKG, were kind enough to give me another giveaway for my radio show on CKCU. Keep tuned to it.
Here are a few photos that I took from the iPod touch.
