Festival Preview: Osheaga 2024 Promises to Match the Scorching Montréal Heatwave

From Green Day to Skepta, Raye to Sleater-Kinney, 2024’s Osheaga Festival offers the best for every fan coming to Montréal this summer!

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It may be nearly the end of July, but a Montréal summer doesn’t really start ’til the first note at Osheaga.

The searing sun, the gorgeous Île St Hélène decked out ready to party, and a lineup befitting the occasion: That’s the true start of summer, the previous two months was just dress rehearsal.

Since its 2006 inception, Osheaga has prided itself on being Canada’s best fest – and they’ve attracted everyone from Coldplay to Kendrick Lamar to The Weeknd ever since.

This year, 91 artists will perform across its three days as hundreds of thousands of fans will pour through the gates, all with one common goal: To dance, to sing, and to make memories.

No matter what you’re into, there’s an artist for you: Here are the musicians Atwood Magazine is most excited to see!

LEGACY ACTS TO WATCH

Green Day

Saturday 8:45 pm – 10:45 pm

Look, I’m a ’90s baby. To be exact, I came online musically on September 20, 2004: The date American Idiot was released. What more do I need to say, it’s friggin’ Green Day. But I’m also aware their recent output has been somewhat lacking (read: bad). Luckily for us however, they’re still one of the most entertaining live acts around, with a set list rammed full of all the classics. I’m not sure if it’s a case of simply catering to fans or they don’t like the new stuff either, but irregardless there can be few sweeter ways to spend a Saturda night than screaming along to “Longview,” “Basket Case,” and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” You’ll find this writer at the front in the black eyeliner and fishnets, screaming along like it’s the summer of 2004 all over again.

Sleater-Kinney

Friday 4:35 pm – 5:20 pm

I may have missed Sleater-Kinney the first go around, but I assure you I’ve put in the hours since. Legends of the stage—and arguably one of the founders of riot grrrl—the now-duo are still putting out great albums: 2019s The Center Won’t Hold might be one of their strongest albums to date, showcasing their ability to evolve while still being their vulnerable lyrics and political ethos. They’re a band who’s very existence feels against the odds, and yet they’re still kicking ass and taking names. Sleater-Kinney rarely disappoint, so it’s hard to imagine they’ll pick 2024 Osheaga to start. So bring your feminist rage, sense of justice, and dancing shoes for what promises to be a festival highlight.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

T-Pain, Smashing Pumpkins, Blonde Redhead

SURPRISE ACTS

Arlo Parks

Friday 5:30 pm – 6:15 pm

How do you follow up one of the best RnB debuts of the last decade? The answer is obvious really: Release a sophomore album that’s even better. Arlo Park’s 2021 album, Collapsed in Sunbeams, was vulnerable and stirring and dripping with a confidence befitting of youth. Last years My Soft Machine took these assets into overdrive, showing a maturity that only comes from working her way through the mess that is everyone’s early twenties. Trading in the Neo-soul for a more bedroom pop sound, My Soft Machine rocks where her debut merely sways. And as quickly as she is conquering the hearts of England, she’s taking over North America too. Catch her on Friday evening, before she’s playing arenas.

Ash

Sunday 5:15 pm – 6:25 pm

Imagine if Tash sultana played a saxophone, and you’re halfway to Ash. The Cairo-born, Montreal based musician beautifully weaves modern electronic beats with traditional French and Egyptian music to create a tapestry at once mesmerizing and danceable. The fact he does it all himself, looping drum beats, guitars and saxophone into uncountable layers makes it a visual as well as sonic delight. His 2024 debut, Self-Discovery, is an exercise in building worlds and then hand guiding you through this universe, never rushing you, but rather creating expanses for you to examine yourself. Here’s hoping his life show offers the same experience.

Lola Young

Saturday 2:45 pm – 3:30 pm

Another young Brit looking—and deserving to—become a global name is Lola Young, who’s comparison to Amy Winehouse feels only too apt. While sonically she’s on her own rough edged indie pop trip, if you love Amy’s tough-talk about shitty partners, mental struggles, and super shitty partners triggering mental struggles, then Young is your newest obsession. (Lyrics like: “Until I throw a punch, You call me a cunt, And that tips me over the edge, Ha, you throw my phone out the window, The next thing the neighbour said she’s calling the feds, And I wish you were dead, For a sec,” feel right out of Winehouse’s oeuvre.) June’s This Wasn’t Meant For You Anyway has been getting steady rotation in my world, and it grows rather than tires. When Young needs, her huge Adele like pipes drive her songs into the stratosphere, but more often a deeply accented, fast talking list of her faults and flaws are what the song needs (and gets.) In less than a year, she’s gone from another singer with an EP to a must-see performer.

The Linda Lindas

Saturday 2:40 pm – 3:20 pm

When their live performance of “Racist Sexist Boy” went viral during the pandemic, it was easy to sing along and then dismiss as a one-off, catchy tune. But The Linda Lindas stuck around. And they did more than survive,  after releasing Growing Up in 2022 and with a new album coming out in October, they’re only primed to get bigger. The foursome offer a brand of pop-punk that is hopeful, joyous and downright fun: Add is in the Montreal sunshine and all signs point to their live show being the same.

PREPARE TO BE BLOWN AWAY

Chappell Roan

Saturday 3:30 pm – 4:15 pm

Mark my words, if the fest was announced today, Chappell Roan would be one of the headliners. So rapid has been the rise of the Midwest Princess that she’s in the middle of the pack, but don’t be surprised by the number of Pink Pony Club cowboy hats, sequined chaps and outrageous earrings that’ll be adorning Parc Jean Drapeau on Saturday. (I should know, I’m deep in outfit planning mode as I type.) With Roan, it’s more than her music (which on its own is one of the best albums of the last decade), it’s the spectacle. The outfits, the connection with the crowd, the complete drama of it all: A Roan show is an experience, rather than a mere concert. If you take one thing from this article it’s this: Do not miss Chappell Roan on Saturday!

Skepta

Friday 8:40 pm – 9:40 pm

Hear ye, hear ye: UK grime royalty is coming to Montreal. Skepta, the London rapper has been around since the genres inception, first as a member of Roll Deep before making his own collective, Boy Better Know. His albums are clinics, first shaping the fledging genre and then later dragging it into the mainstream, with 2016’s critically acclaimed Konnichiwa making him a household name. Mercury Awards, top tens and even a Nigerian Chieftancy have followed, making Skepta one of the most important rappers of the 21st century. Grime is known for fast, eclectic beats, a techno heavy blast of noise that Skepta is more than capable of keeping up with. He’s one of the best to ever come out of the scene, and he’s gracing the island. Hear ye, hear ye: grime royalty is coming: Will you be there?

Raye

Sunday 4:50 pm – 5:35 pm

To listen to Raye is truly a treat. Her debut album, My 21st Century Blues, was sonically beautiful and emotionally raw, an aching combination that few can pull off. Later performing and releasing a live version of the album with The Heritage Orchestra just added to its cinematic vibe. By the end, you feel like you’ve lived her life, that you understand Raye – warts and all. Raye carries in her bones the classic music that came before her – Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald, Amy Winehouse – but doesn’t feel like a throwback tribute, but rather a modern take on a timeless movement. She has it all, and her Sunday set is a great chance to jump aboard the train before she roars into super stardom.

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