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Concerts

Ottawa Bluesfest Gets Shania Twain, Hozier, Turnstile, Kaytranada For 2025 Edition

One of Canada's biggest summer festivals will return to Lebreton Flats from July 10-20 this summer, with Lainey Wilson, Sean Paul, Def Leppard, Papa Roach and Green Day also headlining.

Hozier

Hozier

3_Barry McCall

Ottawa Bluesfest is bringing Canada's queen of country to the nation's capital.

Shania Twain will take the stage on July 13, one of the festival's seven headliners. Another country star, Lainey Wilson, will close out the first night of the festival, and legacy bands Green Day, Papa Roach and Def Leppard will bring some rowdy nostalgia to their sets.


Dancehall star Sean Paul, Montreal producer Kaytranada, Irish singer Hozier and Baltimore hardcore heroes Turnstile round out the list of headliners, making for an eclectic lineup with something for music fans of all kinds.

The festival returns to Lebreton Flats July 10-20.

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This year's lineup is looking a little less male-dominated — last year, the only headlining act fronted in part by women was Mother Mother — with The Linda Lindas set to support Green Day and Charlotte Day Wilson appearing before Hozier. (Per Book More Women, the 2024 lineup was 76% men and 24% women).

Also slated to perform are '90s alt-rock legends Pixies, Montreal dream poppers Men I Trust, Grammy-nominated blues artist Sue Foley, Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello and Hey Rosetta!'s Tim Baker. The Dead South, whose Danny Kenyon has faced allegations of sexual assault, will perform July 11.

Some of those headliners will also be making trips out east this year. Hozier is headlining PEI's Sommo Festival, while Lainey Wilson and Shania Twain are performing at Cavendish Beach Festival (both produced by Whitecap Entertainment).

Check out the full lineup below. Pre-sale starts Wednesday, February 26.

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Théodora
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Théodora

Concerts

Francos de Montréal 2025 Highlights: One Language, A Thousand Faces

From June 13 to 22, Montreal transformed into a vibrant capital of Francophone music. From French rapper Théodora to local rockers Corridor, this year’s acts showed that the French language, far from static, is an endless playground.

In Montréal, June rhymes with music, and Francos de Montréal are the perfect proof. Once again this year, the festival celebrated the full richness of the French language in its most lively, vibrant, and above all, varied forms. While French served as a common thread, every artist inhabited it in their own unique way – with their accent, life experience, expressions, imagery and struggles. Between urban poetry, edgy rock and hybrid Creole, Francos 2025 showed that French has never been so expansive – or popular.

What Francos 2025 proved is that the French language is no fixed monument. It’s alive, inventive, plural. It can be slammed by a poet from Saint-Denis, chanted by an afro-futurist rapper, whispered by an indie band, or hammered out in Montréal neighbourhood slang. From Congolese expressions to Québec regionalisms, from playful anglicisms to Creole nods, the French language danced in every form this year. It was « full bon »!

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