It's that time of the year again. Every year in early October, a bunch of bands just happen to stumble into Montréal on tour. Way back in 2002, conveniently at the height of the world's fascination with Montréal as a music "hot spot," a few people had the brilliant idea of calling this short musical phenomeon a festival. Pop Montréal was born.
Okay, so I'm a big supporter of the music industry and all, but seriously, I think it's unnecessary to create such a big deal about a few days of live music. Do the big international names of the festival come to Montréal just to participate in this "special event"? I highly doubt Nick Cave, Ratatat, or Hot Chip had even heard of it. The purpose of any tour for the big guys is to promote albums. It's been like that since the dawn of time. Besides, the vast majority of the festival's artists end up in Toronto and New York either the day before or after touring Montréal. Essentially, it's nothing that special.
Nick Cave, from way back when.
To call the event a "five-day party" in a city where literally hundreds of things that can be classified as a party happen every day is what really gets me. Has the festival abandoned its "grass roots" ideals (if it ever had any to begin with) for shameless promotion?I know it's funded by the Province and the City so attracting peoples' dollars is clearly a priority.
Gilles Duceppe totally digs the pop scene.
Despite all this, Pop Montréal actually has some pretty interesting and, dare I say, unique attributes. The partnership with McGill University's Music School that began last year gives the festival some much needed legitimacy. I'm not sure if the partnership still stands for this year though. Their latest initiative, Kids Pop, is also pretty cool. It's certainly a huge plus for all those alt-families in Montréal (and there are a lot).
The festival does give opportunities for up-and-comers or new artists. But when I look through the festival promo material, the little guys don't come across as the focus, at least not as much as other like-minded festivals (and partners), NXNE in Toronto and SXSW in Austin. Well, at least Montréal has something to call its own in the music-film-art-culture festival department. Take that, Toronto!
Capitalizing on the glory years of the Montréal music scene...
Arcade Fire "Haiti" [Mediafire]
The Unicorns "Peach Moon" [Mediafire]
Pop Montréal begins tomorrow, and runs until October 5. Click for full schedule.
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