Piknic Électronik (June 28th Edition)
Montreal has never had it so good when it comes to electronic dance music.
There are only a few great electronic music events in Montreal, and Piknic Electronik is high up there. While I’ve been to Bal en Blanc, Cream, Celebration/Resolution and countless of after-hours events with big name DJs, nothing comes close to Piknic’s setup. Take four parts of talented DJs (and maybe one or two that’s very well known internationally) throw in some powerful speakers and subs and host the event outdoors: you get a Piknic Electronic. What makes it better is that the event is on a Sunday and it starts at 2 PM and ends something close to 10 PM, so there’s no staying up late trying to enjoy the music. The cherry on top to all this? The entrance fee is only 10$.
The true electronic music lovers will recognize the big name artist in this lineup for the day, and that is the infamous Richie Hawtin who is an English-Canadian artist, owner of record label Minus. I could go on and on about Hawtin’s music style, but that is out of the scope of this review. The majority of Montrealers out there will most likely not enjoy minimal techno as much as I do, so I’ll leave it for everyone to hear for themselves and judge accordingly.
Last time I had a chance to attend the event was two or three years ago, or the last time Richie Hawtin was in town. There was something close to a thousand people and more wondering around Ile St-Hèlene, and a large portion of them dancing to the beats to the artist of the moment. It was a gorgeous day and everyone was in a damn good mood. If I’m not mistaken, I believe there was alcohol being served to the public, or it might’ve been people bringing in their own bottles of booze. I don’t remember much of my surroundings because I was dancing away to Hawtin’s music. What I do remember, however, is the amount of people smoking marijuana close to the water.
For June 28th, the line-up consists of the following artists:
- 2:00 PM: Stefny Winter
- 4:00 PM: Pheek
- 5:00 PM: Ambivalent
- 6:30 PM: Barem
- 8:00 PM: Richie Hawtin
Piknic Electronik runs from May to October, so check out Piknik’s website if you wish to know the upcoming artists and their respective dates.
I managed to get to the event at around 5:25 PM due to me getting lost, but all I had to do was follow the music. Parking cost me 10$ and was a good 7 minute walk away from the main event, but I didn’t mind it. At about 5:35, a rush of people started swarming in from a nearby metro station.
Entry was pretty quick; there was a lack of security as bags were not searched. Not that I fear that anything happens during these events, since rarely I hear about violence during an electronic music event. The lack of security, however, was made up for the fact that about twenty something police officers showed up to patrol the event. There’s no denying that drugs are being sold here and the cops want to crack down on it. I got a few looks my way while I sitting around watching people walk by. Perhaps they thought I was the one selling since I looked so suspicious.
This year, there are more people than ever, and to answer the mystery about the booze situation here: you can bring your own booze but don’t get caught! The trick is to either bring beer in cans rather than bottles. If you bring bottles, you should bring plastic cups. If you want to buy, there’s stands selling alcohol and food for the public.
Since I’m covering this event live (yup, out here with my camera and laptop) a lot of people came up to me asking why I’m on this darn thing. I told them I’m working and enjoying the music. 
More photos available, just continue browsing after the 30th picture.
The Montreal Jazz Festival
Up until last year, if we were to choose the biggest event in the city, there probably would have been a debate between the Montreal Grand Prix and the Jazz Festival. Loosing the Grand Prix to uncle Bernie has paved way to an undisputed champion of all events held in Montreal, The Jazz Fest.
The event is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and the performance lineup is very impressive, led by none other than Stevie Wonder, the living legend himself. As a celebration of this milestone The 2009 edition will be presented in the brand new installations called the Quartier des Spectacles ( Concert Block) which is being pushed to be completed for the launch of the festivities.
As usual, there will be tons of free shows, on a total of 8 different outdoor stages. Be advised that the addition of the Quartier des spectacles and its new facilities have resulted in some changes in the concert locations as Montrealers know it. This rearrangement will probably be a welcome change, a version 1.0 per say of the Montreal Jazz Festival in its new era, with a complete city block tailored to its needs.
Le Tour De l’Ile de Montréal
If you live in Montreal and haven’t done this at least once, you are definitely missing out on something very unique. It is not in every city where the streets are closed for a full day so that thousands of people of all ages ride around the city on their bikes. The tour, organized by Vélo Québec, will be held on Sunday June 7 and is a perfect opportunity to get to know your city as the trajectory pretty much takes you everywhere. The path varies between 40 and 50 km and has several sponsored rest areas with free food and drinks, although you should still bring a lunch because let’s just say that whatever they offer is kind of ‘bite-size’ especially for a full day of biking.
The registration fee is minimal (about 20$ for adults) and is worth every penny. The truth is you can probably do the same tour on your own for free, as the trajectory is pretty much a mish-mash of various bike paths, but nothing can be compared to riding along thousands of people, including families, couple, the people who are really into it (you know, the ones with their tights and shit) and of course, my favorites: the weirdos.
You might have noticed from some of my other posts that I am immensely intrigued by weirdos. Well The Tour de l’ile is like a specialty store for weirdos, covering the complete biking sector. These people are probably very normal individuals during the day, but when they get on their bikes, that’s when they transform into bicycle-freaks. A Lot of them are testing bikes they have made in their garage. It’s as if they are unsatisfied with the conventional bicycle design that seems just fine to me. Correct me if I’m wrong but the bicycle is the most common mode of transport in the world, with billions of them being used on a daily basis, and they seem to work just fine! But no. There are some people out there who think that is should be redesigned and end up with some things that look stupid, but not as stupid as the people on them, who typically look extremely proud and uncomfortable at the same time: very entertaining .
The Tour de l’Ile is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and they will be celebrating it with shows and concerts. The Cirque du Soleil is also celebrating their 25th anniversary, so look for some interesting free shows. The weekend has several bike tours, including the Tour la Nuit and the metropolitan challenge, which is a competitive version of the tour.
You can visit the Vélo Québec website for more info. Montrealing will be doing a recap of all 3 of the events. If you are interseted in reporting one of them, do not hesitate to contact us.