Take note of traffic closures for your long weekend here.
Two rallies against conjugal violence this weekend after a spate of femicides in the province: one march is Friday, 1pm at Lafontaine Park (Calixa-Lavalée and Rachel) and a second march organized by the family of Rebekah Love Harry, Saturday at 4:30pm at Cabot Square, with a vigil at Dorchester Square at 6pm.
In the Old Port, the pirate-themed Voiles en Voiles adventure park reopens today. There's archery, aerial circuits, inflatable games. And MTL Zipline and The Observation Wheel in the Old Port has reopened, open daily 11am to 7pm. (Each carriage is cleaned after use.)
The Space for Life complex is open, including the Biodome, Botanical Gardens and the Planetarium, but make sure to reserve and buy your ticket in advance.
Lachine and RDP will host Easter activities on Saturday, with Éducazoo activities for kids.
OASIS immersion is a new, 'touchless', next-level experience on the ground floor of the Palais des congrès. There are 105 laser projector, 119 surround sound speakers and a LED lighting setup. You begin in the Anticipation Room, proceeding through a set of different rooms and wind down in the Decompression Chamber. Current exhibitions include: stepping into the worlds of pianist Alexandra Stréliski, and astronaut David Saint-Jacques's recent trip to space. There is also a tribute to hygge, the Danish tradition of finding coziness in the everyday. Each visit is about 75 minutes. Open exceptionally until Monday.
Last chance today to check Verdun's spring event Cabane Panache, returns for its '9.5 edition'. There is also a promenade along Wellington, featuring a photobooth, an enormous moose and photographs of the maple syrup industry. Until April 2.
Or, stay home and support a sugar shack and feast on maple treats by ordering a feast in a box through Ma Cabane à la maison, an initiative to support Quebec's sugar shacks.
Penultimate Saturday Night Live of the season: Actor Daniel Kaluyaa (Get Out, Black Panther and currently Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-winning for playing Fred Hampton in Judas and The Black Messiah) was spoofed by Chris Redd a few episodes back - now he's hosting! Ever-evolving indie darling St. Vincent is ready to debut a new persona when she performs as musical guest. Saturday, 11:30pm.
Indie Montreal's virtual concert series Les Dimanche Couvre-Fun features a Quebec artist or group every Sunday evening. The final episode spotlights Urban Science Brass Band, a New Orleans-style brass band with true Montreal flair, bringing high-energy street performances to hip-hop standards. Sunday at 8pm.
R&B-soul band Superfly perform with La Voix competitor Jason Valentino, Friday, 8pm from the Wheel Club.
Nothin' But Time, Jimmy Buffett's virtual 2021 tour, rolls through his past live concerts, and this weekend you can flash back to 2017, when he performed for the good people of Eugene, Oregon. Saturday at 8pm.
The Besnard Lakes perform live, Saturday, 7pm.
The spot to get your country fix: The Grand Ole Opry features Steven Curtis Chapman, Natalie Grant & Bernie Herms and Ricky Skaggs this Saturday, 8:30pm.
I say a little prayer for the day Dionne Warwick joined Twitter. The octogenarian singer has been heating up the social with her quips and sassy rejoinders. Get the in-person experience this weekend, with the Dionne Warwick: At Home With You show, Sunday at 2pm and 8pm.
Care, fear and denial: three themes, three brand new short, audio plays by female Canadian writers, presented by Imago Theatre. A talented raft of Montreal actors will be performing these three stories live in Tuning In, broadcasting from the MAI. Tune in Friday through Sunday at 7:30pm.
Jewish gastronomy collective The Wandering Chew hosts a Mimouna, a traditional Moroccan dinner to celebrate the end of Passover. Hosted on Zoom, participants will get to jump between different rooms: music, storytelling and a cooking workshop to craft the traditional mufleta, a sweet pancake. Sunday, 8pm.
Consider checking out a museum, now that they are open to the public: you pick your entry time in advance, so visits are socially distanced. Demand is high as well, so you will want to select your date in advance. Visit the McCord for the Dior haute couture show (today is the anniversary of the debut of the New Look!) or the MAC for Des horizons d'attente, its bundle of recently acquired works that address today's sense of malaise. The Museum of Fine Arts presents Riopelle: The Call of Northern Landscapes and other shows.
A quarter of a million Montrealers count themselves as having roots from Italy. Now, Pointe-a-Calliere Museum is profiling the community and how it has shaped the city in a new show called Italian Montréal. Drawing on loaned treasures from local families, the show touches on culinary traditions and how first-generation families fared after arriving in the city. And you can also check out Pointe-a-Calliere's train-themed show, A Railroad to Dreams.
And if you don't want to leave the house, several museums are still offering virtual shows... including the MAC, which has updated and expanded their sensational exhibit on Leonard Cohen, A Crack in Everything. Cohen gave his bliessing for the show, which features pieces inspired by his life and work, back in 2015, and it went on display around the time of passing in 2017. The show has been enriched for online viewing, available until February 2024.
The Louvre has also just put its over 480,000 items online. From the world's most-visited museum, check out the antiquities to Islamic art to medieval decorative arts, to modern sculpture and beyond.
At the movies: Godzilla vs. Kong features a dust-up between a giant gorilla and a giant lizard. In Netflix's Concrete Cowboy, Idris Elba raises his troubled son (Caleb McLaughlin of Stranger Things) in the gritty cowboy subculture of Philadelphia.
Demi Lovato went from a child performer on Barney & Friends, to Disney Channel starlet to pop icon, but there were more than a few cracks along the way. After a harrowing fall from sobriety and an overdose that nearly took her life, as well as family troubles and mental health struggles, Lovato bares all in a new documentary. Several instalments of Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil are on YouTube, with episode one is here.
I started watching Little Birds, an adaptation of one of Anais Nin's books, on Prime. A debutante moves to Tangier to marry a British diplomat. We meet all sorts of characters from all stratas of society, with the backdrop of brewing rebellion in Morocco. It's a sexy and funny show, saturated with colour and gorgeous costumes. I'm also rewatching kooky family sitcom Arrested Development (rest in peace, Jessica Walter)
And a new documentary promises to change the way you see dogs: Stray is a documentary that brings you down to the level of three stray dogs as they go about their lives in Istanbul. It's a remarkable look at how dogs communicate and organize, even go on adventures.