The 2024 Montreal Francos were launched Friday evening. And for the opening night, the festival decided to grant its opening show on the big stage of Place des Festivals to Quebec Redneck Bluegrass Project, a gamble according to those who are not familiar with the group. But a safe bet for anyone aware of this cult band’s loyal crowd out of the spotlight.
QRBP, for those close to me, have never enjoyed media coverage worthy of their reputation. It’s a bit their fault: fiercely uninterested in media exposure, they made their way with picks and shovels. The results are convincing, but not obvious to the general public.
And the team behind the Francos knew it. So unsurprisingly, by entrusting them with the opening show on the big stage, the crowd pushed back to the south of Ste-Catherine, with a party atmosphere guaranteed on the Place des Festivals.
With Weather Bomb and the medley Global Warming/Weaning/Wolf Valve At the outset, it seemed that the vast audience was familiar with the “banjoned” tunes of JP Tremblay and his band. An impression that would be confirmed with Tsé When things are going wellsung in unison by thousands of enthusiastic fans, would resonate through the city center.
If several more mainstream artists rely on guests to create a special moment, Québec Redneck believes in its own means. Just them is enough, as long as the atmosphere reproduces a huge open-air tavern.
Even for the most familiar, a few new tunes were offered: You alone, notably. According to our notes. But still, hard to say without being 100% familiar with their hardware.
Shortly after, they played a song identified as Basement : apparently, “available soon, I imagine, on an album near you, if possible, I imagine. » So, even in a situation of appeal to the general public, QRBP wanted to offer freshness to those who had been there since the beginning.
The troupe concluded with Radio Bongo and above all, the unifier Pantera Arctic 4 Triple 800, sung in unison by thousands of festival-goers. “Did you want more, cuddle?” Are you going crazy? », launches JP Tremblay, before returning for an encore for Eat my pad, Play with your life And Chu ben cooler sua brushsignature tunes of the band.
So, even if you hadn’t noticed it, Quebec Redneck Bluegrass Project is an unmissable success story, which even the biggest French-speaking festival in Quebec cannot ignore.
Marie-Annick Lépine and Jeanne Côté
At 8 p.m., on this same stage, Marie-Annick Lépine gave, for many, the kickoff of the Francos de Montréal 2024.
Surrounded in particular by colleagues Mara Tremblay and Catherine Durand (who form a duo called Hauterive with their own songs), and by the experienced Daniel Lacoste and drummer Pierre Fortin, the violinist of Cowboys Fringants has drawn as much from her own repertoire with songs as Oily Hair Or The world is beautiful and uglythat in the essential catalog of his group, with Hearts beator again, in the company of colleague and best friend Jean-François Pauzé, the titles Loulou, Shooting Stars And The White hairs.
We could hardly have found a more natural way to honor the memory of one of the most significant groups of the French-speaking part of Quebec, a few months after the death of its singer, moreover the spouse of the main person concerned here. The 2024 edition of the Francos is also dedicated to the training of Repentigny. We bet that many of them will be taking to the Cowboys tunes over the next few days.
At the start of the evening, the 2024 edition already boded well considering the more than respectable crowd gathered near the stage of the Pub Brasseur de Montréal for Jeanne Côté.
She has gained ground, Jeanne Côté, just a little over a year after winning the 2023 edition of the Francouvertes.
Mainly drawing on material from his first album released in January 2023, Côté also shared a few new tracks, as well as a convincing cover of On the Bound by Fiona Apple, a rare acceptable foray into the term Shakespeare in this sacro-Franco festival.
In a very respectable moment of solidarity and handover, Jeanne Côté also dedicated the excellent Following no one to his grandmother and his ten sisters, following The wave, very moving tribute to its predecessors, with this canon phrase: “And when the wave arrives / I swallow the wave / Strong and wild”. Soon after, she attempted to teach the crowd how to sing her part during It can get wet, but we must admit that several spectators already knew her, serving as guides for the others. Jeanne Côté’s career is perhaps more advanced than the main person concerned seems to realize…
Elsewhere on the site, colleague Noémie Rochefort saw Malaimer Soleil and Violett Pi, while Joshua Lessard was tender while attending the Francis Cabrel show and Jérôme Daviau experienced the very rock mass of Galaxie at Club Soda. Details to come!
Big Party! How we love them!
