Osheaga Lineup Announced

A summer rock festival overlooking Montreal from an island on the St. Lawrence River is a pretty amazing thing. The Osheaga Music and Arts Festival is now in its third year. Despite super line-ups in years past (including Sonic Youth, Flaming Lips, Tokyo Polic Club, Feist, Wolf Parade, etc.) I've yet to attend. Reason being is that it took place on Labor Day weekend. The beginning of September is a pretty magical time to be out in Vermont's wilderness, both years found me deep in the mountains amidst their last green days (even though it rained like a sun of a gun in '06). Thankfully this year's music is taking place at the beginning of August. The only downside I see with this set of dates is that it is during a non-holiday Sunday and Monday, unless you celebrate National Friendship Day. (Update: a glance at my calendar finds Monday, August 4th to be some sort of Canadian holiday identified as "Civic Holiday." The funny thing about this holiday is that it is not universally recognized across the country. Two provinces (including Quebec) and one territory do not recognize it at all, and five other provinces do not oblige employers to offer holiday pay. Beyond that, it doesn't even have a universal name. Click here for more info. According to one website the intent of the holiday is to "not work." Given that canadians also celebrate Labo(u)r Day, does that mean they have two holidays focused on not working? Also, is the festival's move from Labour Day weekend to Civic Holiday an in-country joke? Any Canadians out there that can make sense of this madness?)

What sets this festival apart from the masses is its location. Parc Jean-Drapeau on Ile Sainte-Helene was created as a public park in the late 19th century and is most famous as home of Expo 67 (but also for the 1976 Summer Olympics, the Grand Prix of Montreal, and a Six Flags) . The island was actually consolidated with several nearby islands using earth excavated during the construction of the Montreal Metro and it's related "Underground City." Expo 67 is the most successful world's fair of the 20th century and is regarded by most Canadians as one of the country's finest cultural achievements. Sadly the island today contains only a few buildings from this event (out of the original 90), but those that are left are spectacular: Buckminster Fuller's geodesic dome (originally the United States Pavilion, currently an environmental sciences museum called Montreal Biosphere), Casino de Montreal (originally the French Pavilion and the Quebec Pavillion), and my personal favorite Habitat 67.

A month ago a buddy and I took a personal tour of this landmark concrete housing development. It was created out of a 24 year old McGill University student's masters thesis. The structure is based on Moshe Safdie's deep interests in the socialist ideals of the 60s and, as you'd expect, was very controversial. (Interesting note related to controversy and ideals, American Apparel was founded by Safdie's nephew, Dov Charney). It's a truly wild place, which made me feel like I walked onto the set of Gattaca.

Ok, enough of the architecture and history lesson, on to the music:

AUGUST 3

THE KILLERS

IGGY & STOOGES

CAT POWER

SHARON JONES & THE DAP KINGS

DEVOTCHKA

PLANTS & ANIMALS

THE NATIONAL PARC

LOUIE XIV

SEBASTIEN TELLIER

DUCHESS SAYS

TURZI

LE HUSKY

THE TOM FUN ORCHESTRA

AUGUST 4

JACK JOHNSON

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE

DUFFY

GOGOL BORDELLO

CSS

THE GO! TEAM

THE BLACK KEYS

MGMT

MATT COSTA

THE WEAKERTHANS

JAMIE LIDELL

NEIL HALSTEAD

BONJOUR BRUMAIRE

THE DUKE SPIRIT

COEUR DE PIRATE

$105 (+ service charge) for the first 5000 weekend passes/$120(+) for the rest. $67 single day tix.

And like all festivals, expect acts to be added to this list.

They Might Be Giants | Purple Toupee | Buy