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.
The 17th round of Osheaga kicks off in a few hours, with a constellation of rising and established musical acts. Vermont native and indie rocker Noah Kahan headlines on Friday, with star British grime MC Skepta and buzzy singer-songwriter Teddy Swims. Saturday’s big acts include Green Day and The Smashing Pumpkins, and several stars having a big moment: singer Brittany Howard, Mean Girls star Reneé Rapp, teen punk act The Lindas Lindas and possibly one of the biggest draws: Midwest princess Chappell Roan. on Saturday and RnB star SZA. Two dance duos perform Sunday night: French electro act Justice and English funk-rock Jungle, with SZA wrapping up the weekend.
Monthly food truck rally First Friday leaves its perch at the Big O once again this August, visiting the Old Port under a Fiesta Latina banner. Foods like churros, tacos, Argentinian barbecue and paletas will be on offer. Musicians like Ramon Chicharron (Friday, 9 to 10:30) perform in the evenings. Pick salsa moves with the dance school Latin Groove, Sunday 4 to 8pm. Friday through Sunday at the Clock Tower Quay.
Fierté Montréal has just kicked off with parties, shows and events celebrating and honouring the city’s LGBTQ2S+ community. Take in readings by trans poets, Friday 8pm. Latino Burlesque celebrates its 10th year with a lineup of queer and gay performers, Saturday 7pm at Jardins Gamelins. The Quebec Lesbian Network hosts a barbecue at the Esplanade Tranquille, Sunday 4 to 8pm. Until August 11.
It’s the men’s turn to visit Montreal for the tennis action at the National Bank Open. The tournament technically begins Saturday, with free access to the grounds on Sunday for the IGA Family Weekend. You’ll still want to claim your ticket online, here.
Otakuthon is one of the biggest conventions of Japanese art and culture in the country, covering anime, music, video and tabletop gaming and more. Fans will gather for the Cosplay Summit, the popular Masquerade and various panel discussions. Until Sunday at Palais des congrès.
The final screenings of the best in horror, sci-fi, animation and downright strange roll at Fantasia Film Festival on screens around town. Catch the Canadian premiere of South Korean thriller The Killers, which unspools around four different tales about murderers for hire, Saturday 6:45pm. The closing film is the star-studded Quebec film Ababouiné. André Forcier’s film follows kids in a small town who take up arms against the Catholic Church. Sunday, 6:30pm.
Italfest celebrates the best of Italian culture throughout the city: catch the Moda Sotto Le Stelle fashion show, Saturday, 9:30pm in Little Italy. The neighbourhood also hosts live music: singer-songwriter Nicola Ciccone, Friday 9pm, Justin Saladino Band, Saturday 8pm and Cinzia & the Eclipse, Sunday 8pm. Cap off the weekend with a performance of Puccini’s classic opera, La Bohème, Sunday, 9pm. Until August 11.
Celebrate Scottish pride at the Montreal Highland Games, with pipe bands, Celtic music, athletics and highland dancing. Music will include Scottish bagpipe rock band, Gleadhraich, along with Celtic-Canadiana band Mariner's Curse. The Ceilidh tent will host the address to the Haggis at 2pm, followed by a haggis-eating contest. The Games go Sunday on the grounds of the Douglas Hospital in Verdun, rain or shine! A free shuttle bus leaves every 20 minutes from Angrignon metro, 8am to 7:30pm.
Glengarry Highland Games marks 75 years of Scottish culture and sportsmanship in Maxville, Ontario. Family-friendly activities like highland dancing, rugby, tug of war, kilt runs, harp workshops, and for adults: whisky tastings. Saturday and Sunday.
One of the most popular, epic musicals of all time is in town: Les Misérables is based on Victor Hugo’s famous novel, set at a tumultuous time in 19th-century Paris, the June Rebellion. We follow hero Jean Valjean as he tries to rebuild his life after a long prison sentence. The travelling show tours with 1,200 costumes and over 80 wigs! And, the music is live: 14 musicians play 23 different instruments. At Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier until Sunday.
Final weekend to catch Repercussion Theatre’s summer Shakespeare! Infinite Variety is a new play that riffs on the existential challenges facing artists and theatremakers, from climate to budget. True to its title, the show borrows from the variety show format with music and elements of circus. Friday and Saturday at Westmount Park, 7pm.
The Festival de Lanaudière winds down with a rich program this weekend at the Ampitheatre Fernand-Lindsay in Joliette: the Montreal Symphony Orchestra performs Ravel’s Boléro and other jewels on Friday, followed by Mahler and the Song of the Night on Saturday. Then, Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the Orchestre Métropolitain with Verdi’s Aida on Sunday.
Film Noir sur le Canal celebrates the centenary of Lauren Bacall’s birth with a screening of Dark Passage, the 1947 film co-starring Bacall and Humphrey Bogart. Vincent Parry is accused of his wife’s murder - can he find the real killer? Film critic Helen Faradji will speak before the screening, Sunday evening (movie rolls at 8:30pm) at Square Saint-Patrick along the Lachine Canal. Film Noir is also screening another of Bacall’s big hits, The Big Sleep. This was the second film in which she and Bogart co-starred. It will be presented at the Cinémathèque québécoise Saturday at 6pm.
Two dance parties at the Fairmount Theatre: Sapphic Factory: A Modern Queer Joy Dance Party for all ages, Friday 11pm. Followed by: a Cruel Summer eening with Taylor Swift Dance Party, Saturday 10pm.
Feel-good guy Nick Reynoldson headlines at The Comedy Nest, with talent like Allie Pearse, Peter Saran, Rasha Elfeky and more. Friday and Saturday, 8 and 10:30pm.
Montreal Improv in St Henri hosts a medley of shows, including The Last Minute, Saturday, 8pm, which is preceded by a 5pm karaoke party.
Beam me up! At burlesque headquarters The Wiggle Room, Star Trek Burlesque goes Friday 9pm with Eva Von Lips, Holy Von Sin, Moonshine Sunshine and Zyra Lee Vanity. Then: Moulin Rouge burlesque, Saturday, 9pm, with Cat Zaddy, Petro, Wild D’Lilah and Nanah Postel.
ONGOING EVENTS
Massive, summer-long ceramics event 1001 Pots continues 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.
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 hardy hibiscus are starting to emerge, and the roses and lilies are at the end of their blooms. 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 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.