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Country

Thomas Rhett, Mumford & Sons To Headline 2026 LASSO Montreal Festival

The fifth edition of the country/roots fest will also feature Jon Pardo and Old Dominion. It will run at Montréal's Parc Jean-Drapeau on île Sainte-Hélène, Aug. 15 and 16.

Thomas Rhett
Thomas Rhett
Josh Aikin

LASSO Montreal is getting ready to round up country fans in 2026.

Co-produced by Evenko and Live Nation, the fest has just announced country hitmaker Thomas Rhett and Anglo-Americana outfit Mumford & Sons as the headliners on Aug. 15 and 16, respectively, and they're joined by Jon Pardi and Old Dominion. The full LASSO Montréal 2026 lineup will be unveiled in the new year.


Shifting to a Saturday-Sunday format for the first time in its five years of operation, LASSO Montreal returns to Parc Jean-Drapeau on île Sainte-Hélène. The event kicks off on Friday Aug. 14, with LASSO in the City, the official pre-party that traditionally features emerging talent at a downtown venue,

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2025 was reportedly a record year for the event, with 51,500 fans checking out headliners Bailey Zimmerman and Jelly Roll and such Canadian stars as The Dead South and Cameron Whitcomb.

Major artists to have appeared at earlier editions of LASSO include Chris Stapleton, Sheryl Crow, Riley Green, Eric Church, Sam Hunt, Luke Bryan, Kane Brown, Kelsea Ballerini, Megan Moroney, Dierks Bentley and Brothers Osbourne.

That kind of star power will be in evidence again in 2026. Over the past year, American star Thomas Rhett has joined Morgan Wallen on the Still the Problem Tour, toured with Luke Combs on the My Kinda Saturday Night Tour and headlined his own Better in Boots Tour across North America in support of his latest album of the same name.

Though they fall more on the anthemic folk-pop side than country, Mumford & Sons are already established as Montreal favourites, having sold-out the Bell Centre in the city back in October. Across four acclaimed albums, they have earned many platinum-plus sales awards around the globe.

Of Note: LASSO Montreal co-producers Evenko are also behind two other major Montreal festivals, Osheaga and îleSoniq.

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The Canadian country music festival scene continues to grow, and last week the popular Boots and Hearts fest announced its expansion to Edmonton in Aug. 2026, with Shaboozey and Russell Dickerson headlining.

Last month, the original Ontario version of Boots and Hearts named The Chicks and Rascal Flatts as headliners for its 2026 edition, again set for August in Oro-Medonte, Ontario.

General Admission two-Day tickets for LASSO Montreal go on sale to the public on Friday Aug. 12 here. Single day tickets will go on sale later.

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Jairus Sharif
Matt Wallace via Jairus Sharif / Instagram

Jairus Sharif

Awards

Calgary Jazz Artist Jairus Sharif Wins the First-Ever Meridian Prize

Sharif's album Basis of Unity is the first recipient of the FACTOR-partnered award that recognizes an album of exceptional artistic achievement from Western and Northern Canada. The award was presented at BreakOut West in Victoria this weekend (Oct. 3).

Jairus Sharif has won the first-ever Meridian Prize.

This weekend, the Calgary experimental jazz musician was awarded the inaugural Meridian Prize for his 2025 album Basis of Unity at BreakOut West festival and conference in Victoria, British Columbia. The brand new prize was introduced this year to recognize an album of exceptional artistic achievement from Western and Northern Canada, serving a similar role as the Polaris Music Prize. In addition to a trophy, Sharif also receives a $5,000 honorarium.

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