Festival International de Jazz de Montreal, Canada

Montreal, Canada. Over 170 festivals every year. Yeah, you read that right. One. Hundred. And. Seventy. And that’s a conservative estimate. So, if you’re a festival lover, throw your hands in the air and wave them around like you’re about to book a flight to Montreal.

Festival International de Jazz de Montreal happens in early July every year, and pretty much takes over the entertainment district. Ten outdoor stages with free music for everyone, and ten more venues getting in on the act with world class acts gracing their stages. When I was scouting for festivals to head to on this adventure, the boys from Sunshine Coast band Oka told me this was a must-see, and I so appreciate the heads up! Keep the suggestions coming, too!

The first night of the festival I wandered down the street to find thousands of fellow music lovers alongside me. The sheer number of people astounded me, and even more so the fact that in the entire 12 days I was at the festival, I didn’t see a single negative incident. There were no lines to the bars because guys in Heineken shirts were constantly wandering through the crowd selling beer, and women with eskies selling spirits. What a great idea!

Montreal band Franklin Electric was my introduction to the festival - you may have heard their tune 'I Know The Feeling' on triple j in recent times. They reminded me distinctly of early Matt Corby sounds, with all the ‘oohs’ being thrown around onstage. It was gorgeous. Headlining that first night was Half Moon Run, who had a huge crowd out to see them. They are a band that never disappoint, and even though I couldn’t get anywhere near the front of the stage, I loved it. I still remember the first time I saw Half Moon Run - it was at BigSound music conference in Brisbane, and they were playing a tiny room in Fortitude Valley to less than 50 people. To be able to see them now in their home country, alongside thousands of Canadians, was mind-blowing.

As you can imagine, over twelve days I saw a lot of music. It’s difficult to wrap it all up in one neat little package, but there’s some artists that I really want to share with you, so bear with me.

Sometimes you find the best music by simply stumbling across them, and that’s exactly what happened with Djmawi Africa. The eight-piece band had the crowd singing along from the get-go. It’s no surprise that they are good at what they do - they’ve been around for 11 years, and played all across the world. Not in Australia yet though!

If you know me then you know I love the blues, and so there was one name high on my must-see list: Selwyn Birchwood. He’s one of the younger artists on Alligator Records, and I’ve been spinning his tunes for the past few years on triple j’s Roots N All. I was prepared for the battle to the front of the stage, but the universe was on my side because it poured with rain for the 3o minutes before he started, clearing out the crowd, and stopped just as he took to the stage! By the time he was a few songs in the place was packed, but I managed to snag a front row spot. He lived up to the hype, grinning his way through a solid blues set. Baritone sax player Reggie Oliver was a highlight too, particularly when he and Selwyn went up against each other in a duelling-guitar-and-sax scenario.

Do you know the work of Alan Lomax? He was an American ethnomusicologist, who produced a whole bunch of field recordings in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and he was one of the big reasons for the folk revival of the time. You should check out his stuff - there is a wealth of musical knowledge and talent in those recordings! No, he wasn’t at Montreal Jazz Fest, but a lady who loves his work was. Betty Bonifassi released an album called ‘Lomax’ back in 2014, reinterpreting some of those classic tunes that Lomax recorded, and she brought the live show to the festival stage this year. A slew of backup singers and an amazing band helped to create a spectacular show, and it was so great to hear those old blues and folk tunes on a big stage.

Heading back to the world music bent, I need to mention the Villalobos Brothers from Mexico. I love a good family band, and these guys were all smiles through their set. Coordinated moves to accentuate different parts of the music, you can tell showmanship is in their blood. Who knew violins could be so cool??

I know I already mentioned Kid Koala’s show to you, but whoa, talk about a show! He started the gig in the middle of the crowd, with some kind of contraption strapped around his neck that looked like the DJ version of a key tar. Every single song had props - dancing girls, puppets with UV lights, giant puppets shaped as trombones, huge ant puppets, a massive spider that crawled over the crowd, and so much more. Kid Koala kept calling it the “silliest show on earth” and I think he was right, in a wonderful way. I’ve joked over the years about certain artists who are “like The Wiggles for adults”, but Kid Koala really embraced that and ran with it. At one point he even asked us “are you ready to channel your inner two to five year olds?” Hell yes we were! He played a song that he’s co-written for kids show Yo Gabba Gabba, and we all followed along with the actions of opening and closing our hands, and reaching high. “Because it’s important to reach high in life”, he says. There was so much more - we made a giant ‘conga snail’, curling in on ourselves until we created what looked like a giant record; flight attendants came onstage and threw out paper aeroplanes, which continued to circulate over our heads for the next three songs; he got two audience members onstage for a kazoo battle. It was so much fun, and I grinned more than I have in ages. Thanks Kid Koala.

Local Montreal band The Brooks had a packed house at the Metropolis, as they were supporting the enigmatic Charles Bradley. Horns, saxophone, and a full eight-piece band makes for a full and tight sound, and their frontman Alan Prater has a voice that’s as smooth as can be. If you love your funk and soul, these guys are definitely worth checking out.

As far as Charles Bradley goes, well, we already know he’s amazing. Humble as ever, he was making heart shapes with his hands from the moment he walked onstage, responding to the audience’s enthusiastic applause with his quiet “I love you too”. His style was on point, and he’s definitely still got the moves. I hope I’m that energetic when I’m 68. Some days I’m not even sure I’m that energetic now.

One of my guilty pleasures for this festival was Joss Stone. She’s amazing, and I’d somehow never seen her live. She was enigmatic, adorable, and couldn’t stop giggling throughout the show - apparently we were making her nervous, she said. There was a standing ovation from the moment she walked on stage. No pressure, right? I was actually pleasantly surprised at the amount of reggae in her set, as she sang songs about marijuana and her fair share of love songs. I particularly liked the one that she introduced as being about the fact that “you don’t get to choose who you fall in love with, and let’s face it, sometimes you fall in love with a bit of an asshole.” Hah!

The last act I saw at the festival was Lisa Simone. Yes, Nina’s daughter. She’s her mother’s daughter in that she has an amazing voice and is a captivating performer, but this show was all her own. She was the one artist that made me cry in Montreal, and for all the right reasons. She had an exuberant, positive energy, and even though she was speaking French for almost all of her banter I was enthralled. Near the end of her performance she sang a whole song while walking through the crowd shaking people’s hands. At one point she was literally laying on the stage singing a tune, and she embraced the legacy of Nina Simone by turning one of her mum’s tunes into her very own reggae version. She didn’t think her mum would be too impressed by that, but she said it was her generation’s time to shake things up.

This festival was absolutely amazing, and I can see why it is so highly regarded worldwide. If you ever have a chance to come - do it! You can absolutely get away with just heading to the free shows, because there are so many of them and they actually have fantastic bands playing! None of this ‘you get what you pay for’ - you just get awesome, regardless!

Sarah Howells, Festival Hunter, signing off from Montreal!