While the rest of us are staying indoors, focusing on keeping warm and not thinking about spending time in fields watching music, the people who actually book those festivals are attending… well, festivals of their own.
One of the most influential on the international booker’s scene is the annual M For Montreal showcase event which takes place in the Canadian city at the end of November each year.
As with any ‘trade show’ there are a lot of commercial acts looking to shift units, inflate ticket sales and the like in as many foreign markets as they can get their hands on – with bookers for festivals including Glastonbury and Bonnaroo in the audience who can blame them? – but along side the horse-trading M For Montreal’s programmer, Mikey Bernard Rishwain (something of a living legend on the festival circuit), makes sure there’s some true musical gems on the bill too… not least year in the form of Grimes, who returned the favour of his early support with an exclusive club show in the city where she went to university (amongst other things, M staged Grimes’ first ever South By South West showcase).
Q’s Paul Stokes managed to sneak on the guestlist – if anyone Canadian asks StoksieFest is a real thing – for this year’s event and here’s a selection of the best things (both old and new, Canadian and not) he witnessed. No doubt they’ll be heading to a music festival near you once things warm up…
For more head to Mformontreal.com
