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Rock on! Jonas, Porn Flakes, Pag |
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The parade of music festivals in the Townships continues tonight in Cowansville with the 17th edition of the Festival Musique en Vue: The Best of Rock.
“The secret behind our success is that we aim to present a more ambitious line-up of Quebecois and Canadian rock from year to year, as well as up and coming local acts as well,” said the festival’s communications director, Jean-Benoit Bernier.
“From year to year, the programming keeps getting better. Each concert is a nice mix of talent with two headliner performances.”
As part of their pursuit of programming, organizers secured some big name talent, opening the concert series last night with Quebec’s own The Lost Fingers, and carrying on with the likes of Jonas, who rocked a crowd of some 30,000 people in Sherbrooke during the Canada Day festivities at Jacques-Cartier Park, and the Porn Flakes tonight, Michel Pagliaro on Friday and Kaïn on Saturday.
Also, ’80s and ’90s rock legends April Wine and Alannah Myles, whose Quebec appearance is an exclusive for the summer season, will rock the stage to close out the festivities on Sunday.
Festival organizers expect large crowds for the outdoor event, as there have been a record number of advance ticket sales.
“We anticipate good crowds, if Mother Nature can hold up, but it’s never easy to predict the number of spectators at each show. We do anticipate breaking the previous record of 38,000 people in attendance over the five days,” Bernier said.
There are also activities for the entire family, including, as has become tradition, the Stars en vue singing competition held every night, affording young performers an opportunity to croon in front of a live audience.
“It’s important that the community is involved. This festival has become a part of summer vacation tradition in the area. It started as a much smaller event, was adopted by the community and has grown to include many visitors from Sherbrooke and Montreal,” Bernier said.
For the festival’s complete line-up, or for more information, visit www.musiqueenvue.com.
By Joe Strizzi
July 24, 2008 |
Montreal Canadiens
