By barnaby
Boy Golden, Bob Moses, July Talk, The Beaches, Metric, Dear Rouge, The Glorious Sons, Arkells, Billy Talent, The Darcys, Monowhales, Anyway Gang, Mother Mother, and Dear Rouge stand out in the year-end Alt category.
Aside from a few hiccups — Gracie Abrams' set cut short due to rain, Doechii's cut short for time — it was a smooth weekend with many highlights.
Read a recap of Doechii on night 1 here, Tyler, The Creator on night 2 here, and Olivia Rodrigo on night 3 here.
Here's what else stood out at Osheaga 2025.
Glass Animals at Osheaga 2025.Charlotte Rainville @jailli
When the Glass Animals frontman, Dave Bayley, hit the stage on Friday (August 1) evening, he let out a loud “Osheaga!” into the microphone. “We always have the best time at Osheaga and tonight’s no exception,” he shared. The British group launched into tracks off their decade-spanning discography. With planets and intergalactic imagery to set the stage, festival-goers went on a journey during their hour-long performance. Throughout the set, the crowd riffed off of Bayley’s high energy as he bounced around and ran the gamut of the stage multiple times.
For the fan-favourite track “Gooey,” he headed into the crowd and stood between the two main stages, immersing himself in the abnormally cool festival day. Once he was back centre stage, he threw a lone pineapple into the crowd, an indicator for the band’s track, “Pork Soda.” The quartet flowed into tracks off their recent album, I Love You So F***ing Much, most notably “Heat Waves,” the Billboard-charting track that hit No. 1 on the Canadian Hot 100 for two weeks in 2022. Bayley expressed immense gratitude for Montreal and called it one of the coolest cities. “We love it here and we love this festival,” he said.
On Sunday (August 3) evening, American rock band Cage the Elephant returned to Canada, taking the stage before headliner Olivia Rodrigo. With almost two decades of material, the group performed a bevy of songs like “Ain't No Rest for the Wicked” and “Cigarette Daydreams.” They peppered the wave of nostalgia with two songs from their most recent project, 2024’s Neon Pill.
Frontman Matt Shultz’s energetic force was a sight to see — not to mention the flames that outlined the band on-stage. After the band took a five-year hiatus from releasing music, it was refreshing to hear Shultz effusively praise his bandmates, who include his brother, guitarist Brad. “I dance around and act like a fool, but these guys are f—g badass,” he told the audience, while he sported a bedazzled baseball cap from a crowd member.
“This is the best time I’ve had in a long time,” he shared. During the outro for “Trouble,” Shultz paused to receive the passionate reception from the audience. — Heather Taylor-Singh
Dominic Fike at Osheaga 2025Tim Snow via Osheaga
After a last-minute cancellation last year, Dominic Fike finally made his way to Osheaga to give his first performance in over a year, and it came with some new music. He premiered a new track titled “One Glass” that he recently previewed on Instagram, as well as “Great Pretender,” which he only revealed was unreleased after performing it, joking to the crowd that he was indeed one step ahead of them.
This was one of many unfiltered tangents the singer/Euphoria actor went on, such as when he began talking about MrBeast’s Beast Games competition TV series. “I was thinking about going on it myself but it would be like in Survivor, like, everyone would try to eliminate me because they knew I already had some money. And I’m like man, I could probably buy another f–ing house,” he explained.
Elsewhere in his set, he revealed that he started smoking weed again, told a story about staying up all night on a drug binge the night before a drug test while listening to his song “King of Everything,” and doubled down on his Mr. Beast comments once more.
He also covered Coldplay’s “Yellow” right after telling the crowd that they wouldn’t expect his next move. He was definitely right about that. — Stefano Rebuli
Shaboozey at Osheaga 2025.Charlotte Rainville @jailli
Shaboozey was all smiles during his set on Friday, and the Montreal crowd was treated to not just one incredible performance of his breakout hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” but two.
“Are y’all ready? The longest running No. 1 song in Billboard Canadian Hot 100 history,” he said in an address.
Boozey used the opportunity to create special moments with his fans, signing a cowboy boot and hat before playing the track. He went down into the crowd and he sang while standing atop the barricade, where one young fan crowd surfed to the front. The country hitmaker embraced him and gave him a shoutout while others sang and clapped along to the record-breaking hit.
The rest of his set encapsulated his unique style, ranging from country/hip-hop tracks like “Drink Don’t Need No Mix” to acoustic songs like “Annabelle,” which he performed with his guitar in hand.
Shaboozey has made plenty of history in Canada, including a plaque presentation from Billboard Canada at his Toronto concert last year for his chart success. Now, he'll do it again, becoming the first artist to play both Osheaga and Evenko's country festival Lasso on the same grounds in the same year. Shaboozey plays Lasso on August 15.
Alex Warren at Osheaga 2025.Tim Snow via Osheaga
Alex Warren was booked for this year's Osheaga before "Ordinary" became a chart phenomenon, hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Canadian Hot 100 for weeks. Similar to Shaboozey, whose "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" peaked in this country first (the two artists had a nice reunion backstage at this festival), Warren has a major fanbase in Canada and they showed up in a big way for his early 3 pm set on Saturday (August 2).
The sun beat down while the former Hype House founder performed anthemic folk-pop songs like "Carry You Home," which fall in the zone of artists like Ed Sheeran, Noah Kahan and the less glammy side of Benson Boone — earnest, big-voiced, almost secular worship tunes that encourage a chorus of voices. The young crowd was belting at the top of their lungs with Warren. While he chuckled at Osheaga's fan-cooling strategy — a giant hose sprayed at the front rows without warning — he cut the opening strums of his set-closing "Ordinary" short to get help for a fan who had passed out from the heat before restarting the song. Exuding nice guy energy, he felt like an artist worth rooting for.
Dressed modestly in a red t-shirt and jeans, he seemed to be genuinely surprised by the reaction. He might be at the top of the charts, but it's still new to him. "I've only been doing this for 6 or 7 months," he said, apologizing for all of his "thank you"s. "Not long ago, I couldn't sell 500 tickets," he said. Now, he had a full crowd of people having an emotional reaction along with him.
That was a common sentiment at this year's Osheaga. Playing in front of such large and engaged crowds, artists can tangibly feel the effect they have on fans. Playing on the mainstage before MARINA on Sunday (August 3), Gigi Perez had a spontaneous reaction. Performing her raw and emotional queer-coded love song "Sailor Song," a surprise charting viral breakout for the 24-year-old songwriter, she stopped to take a breath and heard a large chorus of fans singing it back at her. "Wow," she exclaimed, before starting back up again. The singer-songwriter brought a shy yet strong energy to the Mountain stage on Sunday afternoon. Her unique husky voice and acoustic songs were a perfect downtempo moment on the festival’s final day. The crowd swayed along with the music.
On Saturday (August 2), Gracie Abrams remembered playing Osheaga in 2022 and thinking it was "the biggest play." Now, following a breakthrough aided by Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, she was back as a top-line on the poster with a prime slot on the mainstage right before Tyler, The Creator's headlining set. She was greeted with a sea of phones capturing the moment and a bouquet of flowers from one audience member in what felt like it could be a headlining set of its own. Unfortunately, it was cut short by a sudden lightning storm, which meant she didn't get to play "That's So True," which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 late last year. It looks like she'll have to come back again. — Richard Trapunski & Heather Taylor-Singh
TV On The Radio at Osheaga 2025.Benoit Rousseau via Osheaga
Even if the festival now features major pop stars like Olivia Rodrigo and Gracie Abrams that cater to an increasingly young and social media-savvy audience, indie rock is still a vital part of Osheaga's DNA. Early years saw standout sets by bands like Arcade Fire and Pavement, plus Quebec breakouts like Karkwa, and TV On The Radio felt like a nice throwback to that era on Saturday (August 2). Their set was part of a relaxed three-set afternoon/early evening stretch on the side-by-side Forest and Valley stages following fellow long-running bands Whitney and Future Islands.
TVOTR have reunited for their first live dates in five years, over a decade since their last new music. Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone have settled nicely into elder statesmen roles (guitarist/producer Dave Sitek is still part of the band, but not touring with them), with their nervy 2000s post-punk energy now stretching into longer, more rhythmic grooves. That emphasizes the soul that was always in their music, and they brought it to the forefront in slow-unfolding songs like the show-opening "Young Liars" and a standout version of their classic "Wolf Like Me" embellished with a trombone.
Now separated from their Meet Me In The Bathroom Brooklyn rock explosion "moment," TVOTR's genre-bending influence is fully felt — and for one night, their long-running fans got to bask in it. — Richard Trapunski
Emerging in the early 2010s as Marina & The Diamonds, MARINA has been a popular figure in the pop scene for over a decade. Playing right before her, Gigi Perez expressed excitement for the British singer's set. "She's my favourite artist of all time, so it’s crazy that I’m seeing her," she shared.
As MARINA took the festival’s mainstage on Sunday (August 3) afternoon, festivalgoers were somewhat muted for her newer tracks from Princess of Power, but immediately turned up for songs like "Froot" and “Primadonna.” Upon her reference to 2012's Electra Heart, the crowd erupted. "Do we have heartbreakers in the crowd?" she asked before the sugar rush of "How To Be a Heartbreaker" took over.
Despite the lack of modern hits, MARINA's theatrical voice and commanding stage presence were the focal point of her show. The sentimental moments were spread out between her performance, but MARINA ensured her set ended on a bop. “Montreal, you’re gonna know this song,” she said, wrapping up with the Electra Heart track, “Bubblegum Bitch,” giving the crowd a dose of nostalgia. — Heather Taylor-Singh
The Beaches at Osheaga 2025.Tim Snow via Osheaga
The Beaches have exploded in popularity since the viral success of their 2023 single "Blame Brett," but it hasn't come out of nowhere. They've been grinding it out on the road for years, and this year's Osheaga wasn't their first rodeo. They've played the festival twice before, in 2014 and 2018, but this time they were back in a much more prominent position: on the mainstage in a prominent Sunday slot (August 3), in the biggest font on the lineup poster.
They've been finding their audience, which now skews younger, more female and more queer and has a nice overlap in the Venn Diagram alongside Olivia Rodrigo (who headlined later that night). The crowd was packed for the Toronto band's set, and they fed off their energy in both relatable and playfully suggestive ways. "There's so many hot girls here," they said, before launching into "Last Girls at the Party," during which Leandra Earl dropped to her knees to mock lick the guitar of a soloing Kylie Miller. "Is anyone else in the audience wet right now?" asked Jordan Miller at one point.
Later, they brought a fan up to be their Jocelyn during "Jocelyn." Before launching into "Did I Say Too Much?" they asked if anyone in the audience had been in an open relationship, then dedicated the song to "the toxic girls out there." And before "Blame Brett," they took a moment to say "f- all your exes." Just about everything hit. The Beaches are clearly happy to have found their people, and the fanbase seems to be growing by the day. — Richard Trapunski
The Dare at Osheaga 2025.Tim Snow via Osheaga
The indie sleaze revival is back — and The Dare is one of the artists leading this resurgence. In the heat of Sunday afternoon, the American singer flailed around on the Valley stage in his go-to uniform of a black suit and sunglasses. The ensemble remained intact for the first half of his set before he shed the jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his white button-up towards the end.
The musician — born Harrison Patrick Smith — boasts a style of electro-dance-pop that brings back the 2000s sounds of Gorillaz and LCD Soundsystem. Despite hailing from Los Angeles, his music has a New York club sound, which resonates with new artists like Charli XCX and PinkPantheress, who he has collaborated with. The former shouts him out on her Brat track “Guess,” and he played that line on loop: “send them to The Dare/yeah I think he’s with it."
It felt like a sound more suited for a late rager than a broad daylight set, but he did his best to bring that energy, asking the crowd to give him “more” on multiple occasions. During his final song, the TikTok viral song “Girls,” the crowd leaned in as The Dare banged a lone cymbal to the beat. — Heather Taylor-Singh
Amaarae at Osheaga 2025.Benoit Rousseau via Osheaga
Amaarae is aiming for world domination with her new LP Black Star, due August 8, and she brought the Black Star experience to Osheaga, premiering a handful of new tracks on Sunday (August 3).
The track “Fine Shit” is inspired by ‘90s dance and house music with its club-ready synth melody, while the entrancing and thumping “B2B” is all about love, with lyrics like “I fell into you, I like what we do / Now, come into me, see my point of view.” She also previewed “I Might Be,” which mixes uptempo keys with a bold, deep vocal delivery. If Amaarae’s set at Osheaga is anything to go by, Black Star will be one of the more eclectic albums of the year.
The Black Star title also refers to the flag of her home country of Ghana and she incorporated several of the most popular tracks in Ghana into her set. Then she played what she called the biggest Ghanaian song worldwide, her viral Afropop hit "Sad Girlz Luv Money," inciting a feel-good call and response. — Stefano Rebuli
