One of Canada’s biggest live music festivals is returning this summer after several years of cancellations because of COVID-19.
The Osheaga Music and Arts Festival is back for its 15th anniversary, and has finally released its lineup after months — or even years — of anticipation from fans looking forward to return to the live music scene.
Headliners include the Foo Fighters, A$AP Rocky and Dua Lipa and will also feature acts like Kygo, Girl in Red, Burna Boy, Mitski, Machine Gun Kelly and The Halluci Nation.
The three-day festival, running from July 29 to 31 at Parc-Jean Drapeau near downtown Montreal, is back after a nearly three-year pause.
“This year’s lineup is almost three years in the making; it has given us a lot of time to reflect on the last fifteen years,” said Nick Farkas in a press release. Farkas is the senior vice-president of booking, concerts and events at evenko and founder of Osheaga. “We wanted to stay true to our roots by putting forward a lineup that is diverse, eclectic, and multi-genre, as well as finding the balance between current and more established artists.”
Fans quickly took to social media to share their excitement over the event, but also to lament about the hefty price tag.
Toronto-based artist Ceréna is among Sunday’s star-studded lineup, and tweeted her excitement about being scouted for the festival less than a year after she began her music career.
Other performers have also tweeted about being included in Osheaga’s lineup.
Between ever-changing restrictions and lockdowns since the start of the pandemic in 2020, live music events and venues have been struggling to survive.
In June 2021, the Canadian Live Music Association reported more than 100,000 arts, entertainment and recreation workers lost their jobs and revenue dropped 92 per cent year-over-year since 2020. This is a significant drop considering the CLMA also reported the “Canadian live music industry contributed approximately $3 billion annually to Canada’s GDP and created 72,000 jobs.”
Last October, a scaled-down “Osheaga Get Together” took place with mostly homegrown artists performing for a fraction of the event’s usual turnout, but organizers said the full festival was coming back “stronger than ever” in 2024.
This year, the festival will share the weekend with Toronto’s EDM music festival, VELD, at Downsview Park, and Toronto Caribbean Carnival, North America’s largest Caribbean festival, which have all experienced cancellations over the last few years.
Weekend general admission passes for Osheaga are on sale now for $375, along with gold pass tickets for $675 and platinum for $1450. Weekend passes are set to be released on Friday for $145.
The festival notes that all scheduled performances, including those of the headliners, may be cancelled, and no refunds will be given in the event of such changes.
With files from Canadian Press and Associated Press.
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