The Osheaga Music and Arts Festival (French: Festival musique et arts Osheaga) is a multi-day music festival in Montreal, Quebec, that is held every summer at Parc Jean-Drapeau on Île Sainte-Hélène. The festival takes place on six stages with various audience capacities. Translated from their French equivalents, they are called "River Stage," "Mountain Stage," "Green Stage," "Trees Stage," "Valley Stage," and "Zone Piknic Electronik." Each performance area is paired with a sponsor. Band set times fluctuate based on the status of the performer within the festival. Emerging artists play 30-minute sets, and headliners conclude each day with 90-minute plus sets.[2] The 2006 festival attracted a crowd of around 50,000 people. The 2012 festival reached its 80,000 attendance capacity each day.[3]
Since 2006, the Osheaga Music and Arts festival has established itself as the most important festival of its genre in Canada. With its numerous outdoor stages located at parc Jean-Drapeau on Montreal's Sainte-Hélène's Island, Osheaga attracted 120 000 music lovers from North America and Europe last year. A huge celebration dedicated to music and visual arts, Osheaga has given itself the objective of discovering local and national emerging talent offering them the opportunity to play alongside some of the biggest international artists in the business including: Coldplay, The Killers, Iggy & The Stooges, Sonic Youth, The Roots, Rufus Wainwright, Arcade Fire, Weezer and Eminem. Over the course of several days, approximately 100 bands take to the various stages at parc Jean-Drapeau and across the city in the festive ambiance that only a Montreal summer can provide. Osheaga also holds a series of concerts and exhibitions in several locations around the city during the week leading up to the main event. For its ninth edition, the Osheaga Music and Arts festival, presented by Virgin Mobile, promises an exhilarating experience with, among others: Jack White, Outkast and Skrillex.
In the past 2 editions, the festival has introduced "Osheaga Play", an interactive play area and social media integrated photo system. The "play zone" features carnival games where festival goers can play games and accumulate points to cash in for prizes. Osheaga Play also features roaming photographers who can scan participants' RFID bracelets so the photos will be directly uploaded to their social media.
Etymology
Crowd gathers behind Osheaga sign. The skyline of Montreal can be seen from the Île Sainte-Hélène, where the festival is held.
Osheaga is a title given to the particular region of Canada now known as Montreal. The name is first attested in written records by Jacques Cartier, one of the first European settlers there, when he communicated with the local St. Lawrence Iroquoian people, and recorded the name of their settlement as Hochelaga. Most linguists have ascribed the name to a francisation of either osekare, meaning "beaver path" or "beaver dam", or osheaga, meaning "big rapids" in reference to the nearby Lachine Rapids.[4] An alternative explanation has been claimed in which "Osheaga" meant "people of the shaking hands", tricking Cartier into recording the settlement's name as a word that was actually a mocking comment directed at him; in some versions of this story, the Iroquoian people were bewildered by Cartier waving his hands wildly to attract their attention as he first approached the settlement in his boat, while in others they were bewildered by his European custom of greeting them with a handshake.[5]
These latter explanations are favoured by the Mohawk people at Kahnawake, as in the Mohawk language the phrase "people of the hands" can be expressed as "O she ha ga" or "Oshahaka".[5] They cannot, however, be easily confirmed or refuted, as the few known surviving remnants of the extinct Laurentian language that was spoken by the Iroquoian people at Hochelaga are only moderately similar to the distantly related Mohawk language, which was not spoken anywhere even remotely close to Hochelaga at the time of Cartier's contact.[5]
History
The inaugural edition of Osheaga termed itself a "music and arts festival." It took place on Labour Day weekend, September 2–3, 2006. Nick Farkas, a concert buyer for Gillett Entertainment Group at the time, presented the event. Noticing a lack of similarly themed music venues on the East Coast, Farkas hoped to take advantage of Montreal’s newfound credibility among indie music listeners. "People love Montreal. Let's not kid ourselves—that makes it attractive (to bands), but it's hard for people to take a chance on a first year fest."[6] Farkas attempted to establish a lineup of underground artists that would appeal to both discerning fans and the broader public.[7] Organizers aspired to transform the festival into a destination event. "That's the goal—to get people talking about it, and coming from all over," said Farkas in 2006.
Osheaga's sophomore year began to take stride with the Smashing Pumpkins, M.I.A, Feist, and the Arctic Monkeys. Accordingly, organizers hoped to imitate the previous year's success by hosting an assortment of indie performers. "The fest offers an array of quality, mid-level alternative bands. But put them together—here's the key to Osheaga's success—and you have a headliner by committee."[8] In keeping with the festival's name, Osheaga organizers also incorporated several Montreal-based bands including the Sam Roberts Band, Stars, Dumas, Sixtoo, Pawa Up First, Pony Up, the Royal Mountain Band, Sunday Sinners, and Pas Chic Chic.[8]
Moving to the first weekend in August, the third Osheaga festival broadened its indie appeal by incorporating The Killers, a rock group, and Jack Johnson. Crowds initially complained that Johnson would muddle the festival's persona, but Farkas asserted, "…in (his) philosophy—everything fits."[9] At this point in Osheaga's lifespan, the event was not a financial success. However, the inclusion of more recognizable headliners was intended to draw more expansive crowds. Secondary acts consisted of Metric, The Black Keys, Cat Power, and The Kills. Osheaga 2008 occurred August 2–3 at Jean Drapeau Park, Montreal.
The fourth installation of the festival originally slotted Coldplay and the Beastie Boys as the two-day event's leading performances. However, the Beastie Boys were forced to withdraw after Adam Yauch was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his salivary gland.[10] Event organizers filled the opening with Yeah Yeah Yeahs, a then up and coming rock group from Brooklyn. 450 refunds were granted to attendees that requested them. Otherwise, reactions to the set change were positive. Despite these setbacks, the fourth Osheaga festival was the first edition to make a profit. Fifty acts performed on 4 stages from August 1–2, 2009, including Girl Talk, Lykke Li, Jason Mraz, the Decemberists, Arctic Monkeys, and Vampire Weekend.
In its fifth year, Osheaga welcomed Arcade Fire and a host of eclectic sets to its venues. The MEG stage was replaced by the Green stage—a wind and solar powered platform. In keeping with this environmental consciousness, free bike parking and public transit to Jean Drapeau Park was also offered.[11] After the sale of Gillett Entertainment Group, Osheaga fell under the promotion of Evenko.[12] However, Nick Farkas, the company's Vice President of Concerts and Events, continued to head the festival. Roughly 30% of ticket sales in 2010 came from Montreal, 20% from Ontario, and 12% from the United States.[13]
The sixth annual Osheaga festival sold more than 153?000 tickets—more than any previous year.[14] It was also the first three-day incarnation of the event. Eminem closed out the Friday performances, signifying a turning point in the festival's development.[15] 76,000 attendees, the largest single-crowd seen since Osheaga's inauguration, stretched the venue's 75,000 capacity.[16] Despite the absence of a similarly high-profile performer, the seventh edition of Osheaga in 2012 sold out at 240,000 total attendees over the three-day weekend from August 3–5, 2012. Farkas credited the surge to 2011s big-name lineup and the festival's recognition outside Montreal. Eminem’s performance inflated the festival's presence among American and European markets, making it a destination on an international scale.[16] Headliners in 2012 included The Black Keys, Snoop Dogg, Justice, M83, MGMT, Feist, Sigur Ros, and the Jesus and Mary Chain. However, the once intimate festival layout made for reportedly frustrating navigation among such massive crowds.
In 2013, the festival continued to out-do previous sales, selling out in record time with a total of 270,000 audience members. In fact, 70% of tickets were purchased from outside the Province of Quebec.[17] To accommodate these growing numbers, the site at Jean Drapeau Park was expanded to a 85,000-person capacity. The lineup slated Mumford & Sons, The Cure, and Beck as the main attractions, followed by Phoenix, Imagine Dragons, Vampire Weekend, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, New Order, The Lumineers, Tegan and Sara, and Kendrick Lamar. Physical organization of the venue continued to present issues in light of foot traffic-prone crowds. "Adequate flow patterns are something we never thought of before," said Farkas. "We were always focusing on the lineup, and making it better than the last year."[17]
Ranked by Pollster as the #1 festival in Canada and the #11 festival in the world, Osheaga has grown significantly since its inauguration.[18] Some have criticized the pronounced commercial presence at 2013's festival; however, those same reviewers admit that the lineup quality has been well maintained since 2006.[19] In total, the festival has presented more than 600 performances.
Osheaga 2017 took place August 4 through August 6 and was headlined by Lorde, Muse, and The Weeknd. There were some cancellations because of inclement weather and travel difficulties:[21]
Osheaga 2020, originally scheduled to take place from July 31 to August 2, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[22]
2021 (cancelled again due to COVID-19)
Osheaga 2021 was scheduled to take place from July 30 to August 1. On April 22, 2021, it was announced that the 2021 edition of the festival was cancelled for the second year in a row due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.[23]
Osheaga 2022 took place between July 29 to July 31.[25] The event was headlined by Arcade Fire, Future, and Dua Lipa. The Foo Fighters, who were originally headlined for this edition, were not able to attend due to the passing of the band's drummer Taylor Hawkins.
^Dunlevy, T (2006). "Osheaga: one more summer festival joins lineup: Labour Day Weekend. Music and arts event will focus on indie performers." Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
^Dunlevy, T (2006). "Osheaga: It's outdoor, It's Indie and it's all ours. A musical extravaganza is about to hit Montreal, lining up 50 bands - big and small - over two days. Where to first?". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
^ abDunlevy, T (2007). "Osheaga; Sophomore jump last year's festival was a blast; now, the stakes are raised even higher." Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
^Dunlevy, T (2008). "Osheaga 3.0; By adding big names like Jack Johnson and the Killers to an eclectic roster, the Osheaga fest is aiming to broaden its appeal". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
^Dunlevy, T (2009). "One act down, but almost 50 to go; The Osheaga Festival's organizers were thrown for a loop last week when Beastie Boys pulled out. One of the hottest live bands around saved the day, as did the overall strength of the two-day lineup." Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
^Dunlevy, T (2010). "A cohesive music fest that runs on solar power." Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
^25 March 2010. "Montreal-based Gillett Entertainment Group changes name to Evenko." The Canadian Press. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
^Dunlevy, T (2010). "A cohesive music fest that runs on solar power." Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
^Hickman, A (2011). "Oh-shay-ga? Oh-she-aga? Either way's music to our ears; Montreal fest 'already sold more tickets than ever."National Post. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
^Dunlevy, T (2011). "Eminem sets attendance record; Superstar rapper overshadows other acts with fast-paced set that sparks fan frenzy." Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
^ abDunlevy, T (2012). "Osheaga sells out; Despite the absence of an Eminem-level megastar this year, the festival crushed its attendance record set in 2011." Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
^ abDunlevy, T (2013). "A field trip for the masses; After years of building its brand, the three-day blowout has become a destination event for music lovers." Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
