Sarah Deshaies produces the Andrew Carter Morning Show. Every Friday at 8:20am, she tells you about the big, quirky and off-the-beaten-path events happening in Montreal. Here is this week's list, with links for more information so you can get out and enjoy the city! Submit your event to sarah.deshaies@bellmedia.ca.
Final weekend for Festival International de Jazz de Montréal! Masked country star Orville Peck plays the TD Stage on Friday, 9:30pm, followed by the British nu jazz outfit The Cinematic Orchestra, Saturday 9:30pm on the same stage. Crossover veterans Pink Martini perform another set at Wilfrid-Pelletier, 7:30pm Friday. Americana-folk star Pokey LaFarge plays the Rogers stage, 7 and 9pm on Saturday. And the festival will also celebrate pianist Oliver Jones’ incredible career (as well as his 90th birthday) with a an evening of performances, including Ranee Lee, Chet Doxas, Taurey Butler and more, at Théâtre Jean-Duceppe, Saturday 9pm.
The food truck rally First Friday is once again settling in for the whole weekend at the Big O Esplanade. The theme this month is Mediterranean Cuisine, with culinary offerings from Boustan, Mazzeh, Moros Pizzeria and more. (As well as the usual food trucks.) There will be live music Friday and Saturday evening, plus a roundup of local musical groups on Sunday, starting at 2pm.
Italy will be competing in the second evening of the Feux Loto-Québec, with a medley of world-famous Italian songs, including the Twist and ‘the wild rhythm of disco music’, to accompany the fireworks, which kick off Sunday, 10pm.
Palais des congrès is a fan’s paradise with Montreal Comic Con kicking off. Big invitees include filmmaker Kevin Smith, who will be holding a special event Saturday, 8pm, Giancarlo Esposito (The Mandalorian, The Boys, Breaking Bad) and actor Vincent D’Onofrio (Law & Order, The Cell, Men in Black). Look for Jodi Benson (The Little Mermaid), Lisa Wilcox and Michael Dorn of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Tom Glynn-Carney (currently tearing it up on House of the Dragon as Aegon II) and The Hulk himself, Lou Ferrigno. Besides the meet-and-greets and panels, Comic Con offers up a plethora of activities, like the Maskerade ball, concerts, tabletop gaming, BurlesqueGeek performances and Dr Sketchy drawing sessions. Look for cartoonists like Terry Mosher and artists like Zeb Wells (Deadpool and Wolverine) in Artist Alley. Friday through Saturday.
Montréal Complètement Cirque has just kicked off, with a range of free and ticketed circus arts shows from Québec and around the world. The festival is spread out over different venues. At Espace St-Denis, you can check out two hit shows returning to the fest: Cirque Alphonse’s joyful roller-skating Barbu and Briefs Factory’s Dirty Laundry, with special guest, the drag queen Barbada. At La Tohu, the Gandini troupe’s Juggling2 is a homage to Pina Bausch, replete with dozens of oranges and watermelon. There is free programming at La Tohu and downtown at the Quartier Latin. Over at the Clock Tower in the Old Port, see the fire truck-themed Show Devant: Circus Arts Truck, with performances at 3 and 6pm Saturday. The festival runs until July 14.
The free West Island Blues Festival holds its first all-day music session of the season, with Salah and Family Steel Pan Band and Inus Aso Reggae Band, and more, on the lineup. Saturday, 3 to 11pm, in DDO, at 12000 de la Salaberry.
Friday music picks: The Used at L’Olympia, 7pm.
Saturday's music picks: Crooner David Marino, who had one of his interviews with Andrew as a mere lad of eight years old, performs at Cinquième Salle, Saturday at 8pm. Peter Kerr of the Montrealer performs hits from the 50s, 60s and 70s with his group Cadillac Music, at their annual show at The Piggery Theatre in North Hatley. Saturday.
The Carimas parade is scheduled to take place on Saturday, on René-Lévesque, starting at St Laurent running to Peel.
The International Wrestling Syndicate faces down the Gamechanger Wrestling in an all-out brawl that will include Green Phantom versus Mance Warner and PCP Manny versus Nick Gage. Sunday, 7:30pm at L’Olympia.
Massive, summer-long ceramics event 1001 Pots begins this weekend! Browse a selection of works by ceramicists across the province, and check out art installations and demonstration. The Potters' Olympics competition takes place Saturday. At 2435 de l'Église in Val-David in the Laurentians, on weekends until August 18.
Last Comic Standing semi-finalist Mia Jackson headlines at The Comedy Nest, with comedians like Michael Moses, Marianne Mandrusiak, Sylvain Laroque and more. Friday and Saturday, 8 and 10:30pm.
Montreal Improv in St Henri hosts a medley of shows, including Loosey Goosey, an unstructured narrative show, Friday at 9:30pm.
At burlesque headquarters The Wiggle Room, host and owner Frenchy Jones presents two soirées: Spectacular! A Night of Tease will start BonBon Bombay, Enshantay, Malinka Molotov, Miss Pretty Prententious, Friday, 9pm. Performers Charli Deville, Jolie Lolita, Zyra Lee Vanity and Yaya Havana perform in a Cabaret-themed show, Saturday, 9pm. And on Sunday July the 7th, a group called Reines Stones launch a new show, Sunday Sin Day, with the following performers incarnating the seven deadly sins: Quinzy Chase, Spiked Corona, Sasha Désir, Just Hxrny, Yikes Macaroni, Siren Mayhem, Odala Moore and Rosie Unholy.
ONGOING EVENTS
Waitress The Musical is the French-language premiere of the sweet-as-pie movie and very successful, Tony-nominated stage show. Marie-Eve Janvier stars as Jenna, a waitress in a small town who is in a loveless marriage and has given up on her dreams. With help from fellow servers (Julie Ringuette and Sharon James) and friends, she re-ignites her passion for pastry! Hit singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles penned the music and lyrics, and Jessie Nelson wrote the book. Until July 28 at Espace St Denis.
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’s latest show Saints, Sinners and Fools, a massive exhibit tracing three centuries of Flemish masterworks, including pieces by Rubens and van Dyck. You can also check out an exhibit on pop art and Japanese artist Hiroshige’s landscapes.
The McCord-Stewart Museum would also provide respite from the rainy weather: check out two new photography shows: a retrospective of the work of inventive, playful celebrity photo Norman Parkinson and Portraits and Fashion, a collection of iconic images captured by Quebec fashion photographers like Norman Jean Roy and Andréanne Gauthier.
Normand Brathwaite’s New Orleans Blues is a live concert in homage to the Crescent City’s famously musical French Quarter, anchored by immersive projections and a Cajun menu designed by Chef Paul Toussaint. Until September 1 at the Studio-Cabaret at Espace St Denis.
Cirque du soleil’s steampunk extravaganza Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities is back! Step into the Seeker’s wondrous, funny world, filled with contortionists and acrobats! Kurios is at the Big Top in Old Montreal until August 25.
Take a walk downtown to look out for 15 giant pink sculptures! Le Mignonisme is a series of sculptures known as Monsieur Rose, from the mind of artist Philippe Katerine. You’ll find them along an art walk downtown, including the Quartier des Spectacles and Place des Arts to the Esplanade PVM at Place Ville Marie and Phillips Square. Until September 29.
At the Botanical Gardens, the daylilies, coneflowers and astilbes are starting to bloom. Check out the other blooms of the week here. And check out Telling Our Story - The Territory, a photo and sound exhibit profiling the province’s 11 Indigenous communities, on now at the First Nations Garden.
Nearby, the Montreal Planetarium’s new show imagines what human life could like on Mars.. in 2100! With help from NASA aerospace engineer Farah Alibay and celebrated troupe Cirque Éloize, ROUGE 2100 explores the environment of the red planet as well as what astronauts would need to survive. You’ll have the A-I bot Felicity 87, to take you through the immersive exhibit.
Pointe-À-Callière Museum has launched a first-in-Canada show, Olmecs and the Civilizations of the Gulf of Mexico Explore 4,000 years of Olmec history through nearly 300 objects, some of which will be seen for the first time by the public. What’s fascinating is that traces of the Olmecs were not really “discovered” until the 1800s. This show, a collaboration with Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, runs until September 15.
Explore the beauty and diversity of our natural world in Root for Nature. This new, 90-minute show is a “nature hike” indoors, conceived as a powerful piece of edutainment inspired by the COP15 biodiversity talks hosted by Montreal in late 2022. This collaboration between National Geographic and OASIS Immersive Studios will take place in the same location as the UN conference, at the Palais des congrès. Also at the venue: Dreaming of Asia is a stunning exploration of Chinese and Japanese culture, making its North American premiere at OASIS Immersions. French digital art studio Danny Rose has crafted four different experiences, including a look at shadow puppet theatre.
Visit the city’s newest museum: Centre des Mémoires Montréalaises promises to capture the metropois’ history and citizens. Check out the vintage neon signs at the entrance, and look for the colourful balls that once decorated Ste-Catherine in the Gay Village. There are two exhibitions up now: a lookback at the 90 years of Le Chaînon, the women’s shelter and resource centre, and Détours, which focuses on hidden corners of the city. Located at 1201 St Laurent.