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Touring
How Montreal's Osheaga Festival Books Music's Biggest Artists Right Before They Break
Osheaga’s founder and the senior VP of booking, concerts and events at Evenko, Farkas was quickly informed that a lightning storm was about to strike at any minute.
Gracie Abrams had already been playing for close to an hour when the skies opened up. Festivalgoers who had bought VIP access were rushing into the exclusive terrasses and searching for any spot where there might be shelter. Fans hid under tables and held stools over their heads, as they waited out the storm.
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When it comes to booking a festival the size and scope of Osheaga, there’s a lot you can control — and a lot you can’t. One is the weather. Another is when an artist happens to break.
In some ways, the team at Evenko, the Quebec promoters behind the Montreal music festival, have gotten almost too good at predicting the next big thing.
Abrams wouldn’t have been playing that slot if not for her explosion over the last year. Farkas says the singer-songwriter was booked over a year and a half ago, originally to play in the earlier afternoon, but was elevated to sub-headliner status after her popularity as an opener on Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour propelled a major breakthrough. Her hit “That’s So True” rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 last year. Ironically, she didn’t get to play it because of the rain.
Gracie Abrams performs at Osheaga 2025.Tim Snow via Osheaga
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It’s nothing new for Osheaga. Last year, Chappell Roan played in the heat of the mid-afternoon sun for what felt like the biggest set at the festival — including headliners.
“Sure, it would have been great to move her later, but I love the fact that there were 40,000 people there to see it,” says Farkas. “I love the fact that she played before Rancid. I love everything about it.”
Osheaga has become great at predicting who’s going to take over the Canadian charts even before it happens. Alex Warren has had the No. 1 hit on the Canadian Hot 100 for 17 weeks and counting with “Ordinary.” Similarly to Chappell Roan last year, he got to perform it early in the day for a crowd of young fans who had arrived early to hear it.
A previous long-running chart topper, Shaboozey, played his former No. 1 hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” twice in a row.
Then, there’s Doechii.
“We booked her right as she was blowing up,” says Farkas. “Now, she’s getting Grammys and really exploding.”
None of these artists were officially headliners. That designation went to The Killers, Tyler, The Creator and Olivia Rodrigo. But Evenko’s long-term booking has created value all throughout the lineup.
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“We never want it to be a festival that once you get past the top line, it isn’t relevant,” says Farkas. “For me, the wow factor, that’s the thing that makes Osheaga special.
Tyler, The Creator played a show just weeks before Osheaga at Montreal’s Bell Centre, but because he surprise-dropped a new album Don’t Tap The Glass while on tour for his last album Chromakopia, he ended up playing two significantly different sets. Again, nothing they could have predicted — but it turned out to be a bet on the right artist.
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With touring such an important part of artists’ careers, these decisions have to be made further and further in advance, says Farkas. He reveals two-thirds of the headliners have already been confirmed for Osheaga 2026, and there’s even one headliner being talked about for Osheaga 2027.
It’s about creating a balance. Osheaga appeals to a range of demographics and audiences, with the mainstages typically garnering about 40,000 people and the two secondary stages getting about 15-20,000. There’s also the electronic-focused Island stage (which brought artists like James Hype and Sammy Virji), a collaboration with Piknic Électronik, and the local band-focused SiriusXM stage. There should always be multiple choices for any festival-goer at any given time, with different genres to choose from.
The main stage crowd at Osheaga on Saturday, Aug. 2.Tim Snow via Osheaga
Some of the local artists also double as “emergency acts” in case someone has to shift or drop out. This year, Montreal’s Group Project got moved to the main stage, while Magi Merlin got added to the lineup. It’s a good deal for local acts looking for the platform. They get access to Artist World, where they can get the whole festival experience no matter where, when or if they play.
Though it’s a section of the grounds paying fans don’t get to see, Artist World is pivotal to the festival’s success. An Osheaga calling card, it’s legendary for its food and hospitality. Early years saw a food program established by celebrity chef Chuck Hughes, and now the area features food by Mon Lapin and Au Pied du Cochon – two Montreal restaurants considered among the best in the world. Artists playing the festival can enjoy a smoked meat sandwich with maple mustard on a donut from famed chef Martin Picard while they wait for their turn on stage.
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“It’s a money-can’t-buy experience,” says Melissa Giampaolo, vice president of commercialisation & festival management at Evenko (and one of Billboard Canada's 2025 Power Players), while showing us around the area.
There are spots for massages, an onsite hair salon, PRIVÉ par David D'Amours, and lots of space to hang out and socialize with other artists. There’s also a full banquet area for hosting sponsors and partners, which is important for funding the festival.
Banquet area at Osheaga's Artist World.Julio Alejandro via Osheaga
When it started in 2006, these elements weren’t quite figured out yet. Evenko, the biggest concert promoter in Quebec — it’s majority owned by Groupe CH, the ownership group of the Montreal Canadiens hockey team and the Bell Centre arena, and also partially owned by Live Nation — knew how to put on big concerts, but took some time to figure out the importance of fan experience.
“The first year, we were basically an arena company that was doing a festival,” says Farkas.
The food goes beyond hot dogs and pizza to include vendors like the world-renowned St. Viateur Bagel. There are multiple tiers of VIP, including special elevated terrasse viewing areas and golf cart shuttles.
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Local artists are the foundation of all the art on site at Osheaga. Franco Égalité designed the visual identity, flyer and mural for a third consecutive year, while illustrator La Charbonne took charge of the entire Artist World branding.
“Montreal is a cool city,” says Farkas. “We have great food, great art, culture. We were really trying to take the city of Montreal and transport it onto the island and make it like a microcosm of what Montreal is.”
Franco Égalité working on the Osheaga 2025 mural.Susan Moss via Osheaga
Now, a lot of work goes into creating the perfect festival environment each year — which is no easy task, because the city won’t allow the promoters to leave any of their infrastructure on the Parc Jean-Drapeau grounds past the summer. They have to construct it from scratch each year.
This year, the venue also hosted two 50,000+ capacity shows by The Weeknd on July 24 and 25, the weekend before Osheaga, which imposed a five-day delay for the festival stages. That means, they worked around the clock to build them in record time.
To capitalize, Evenko runs three consecutive festival weekends: Osheaga, the electronic-focused ÎleSoniq and the country festival Lasso (which takes place August 15 and 16). Now, the company is experimenting with multi-festival artists, like Shaboozey who is playing both Osheaga and Lasso.
For Osheaga itself, this year had one sold-out day: 55,000 people on the August 2 day headlined by Tyler and 142,000 for all three days. That’s just 3,000 shy of the 145,000 record in 2023.
The main stage crowd during Gracie Abrams' set on Aug. 2, Osheaga 2025's sold-out date.Tim Snow via Osheaga
Now, Osheaga is known as one of the biggest and most successful festivals in Canada. But it didn’t start that way in 2006.
“It evolved a lot. The festival grew immensely,” says Giampaolo. “But it didn’t start like that at all. At first, I remember there was some requestioning [in the early years] because it was really really tough. [We had to ask] ‘are we still putting the same amount of money out there and risking that?’ Because we see it today as wow, it’s such a big success. And it is, it’s amazing. But you need to invest to get to that point.”
The turning point was in 2011, when Eminem became their biggest headliner and facilitated the expansion from two days to three. That year, the festival also moved one week later to the first weekend in August, which is a long weekend in Ontario, from where more than 40% of attendees travel. In general, about 60% of Osheaga attendees come from outside of Quebec, including the United States and outside of North America.
After nearly two decades, Osheaga has grown into a defining moment in Canada’s summer calendar — a highlight for both locals and music fans from around the world — yet it still depends on those unpredictable, lightning-strike moments.
“Sometimes you get lucky,” says Farkas. “And sometimes, it really works.”
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