POP Montreal kicked off this year amid howling winds and pouring rains, which put a bit of a damper on the festival’s outdoor stage on the first night. Undeterred, Arabian Prince still worked the ones and twos at Marché des Possibles, the outdoor stage on Avenue de Gaspé which served as a sort of ground zero for the festival this year. Pockets of people huddled around each other in an effort to stay warm and dry, but spirits were still high as the anticipation for the week grew.

Arabian Prince

A couple of blocks away at the Rialto Theatre, legendary folk singer Iris DeMent took the stage in front of a captive audience that hung off of every strummed chord and every charming story told in between songs. DeMent played with an easy, carefree confidence, loose and limber as she made her way through her acclaimed catalog spanning more than 30 years, while introducing songs with charming vignettes from her life. After that, a quick rip down Boulevard Saint-Laurent to catch Laughing at Casa del Popolo. In the packed and sweaty back room, the local indie rockers traded riffs and laughs with themselves and the audience, serving as a much-needed respite from the pouring rain outside that threatened to put out everyone’s cigarettes between bands.

Iris DeMent

Wednesday threatened more rain and gloom, but as the last of the rain clouds burned off after pouring on Montreal for 36 hours, glowing incandescent red in the dying autumn light, Basia Bulat, in a matching pink dress and silver space boots, lit up the skies above the famed Rialto. From the rooftop’s stage vantage, the city sprawled beneath the singer-songwriter’s soulful freak folk. She even took a moment during the intimate show to announce (perhaps jumping the gun a bit, as she checked in with someone on her team) a new album out later this year, debuting a handful of brand new songs to the world. 

Basia Bulat

Over at La Sala Rossa, Argentina’s experimental pop queen, Juana Molina, took centre stage amongst the clutter of instruments, cables and gizmos that were set up for Barr Brothers’ headliner set later. Alone with her loopers, guitars and keyboards, Molina painstakingly built pop songs that were decidedly left-of-normal, layering each element one by one until each full song blossomed to fill the room. 

Juana Molina

Off to Bar Le “Ritz” for perhaps one of the evening’s most hype sets: Luna Li, who built a fierce following on TikTok over the pandemic on the strength of her virtuosic, multi-instrumentalist jams. There was hardly room to move, save for the sea of cellphones that tracked her every movement on stage for posterity, as the neoclassical bedroom pop artist left the packed house all but breathless. 

Luna Li

The UK’s Los Bitchos brought the Canadian live debut of their pan-continental psych cumbia to this year’s POP Montreal, and judging by the crowd’s adoration and reception, they’re eager to get back to our lands. The quintet was nothing but smiles as they danced their way through perhaps one of the most fun sets of the festival. Later that evening, we wove our way to Casa del Popolo for Yves Jarvis, who played a stunning, primal set that skirted the line between Prince, Fela Kútì and Serge Gainsbourg. Rudimentary rhythms kept everything grounded as Jarvis worked his magic on guitar, his soulful R&B vocals an essential voice from within.

Yves Jarvis

The final full day of the festival started back at Marché des Possibles for Skratch Bastid’s BBQ — the first time he brought his daytime DJ grilling extravaganza to Montreal, replete with smash burgers, beers and a dance battle. Over on the Rialto Rooftop, Begonia’s operatic vocals soared far and wide into the skies, crafting a beautiful moment to soak in her songs about self-discovery and acceptance. In between songs, she joked easily with the audience with self-effacing humour and charm, a tender moment to share with everyone as she broke down some of the traditional walls between performer and crowd. 

The crown jewel in POP Montreal’s programming this year was undoubtedly the dual 20-year anniversaries of The Dears’ No Cities Left and STARS’ Set Yourself on Fire. The Rialto Theatre was packed to the rafters as fans came to celebrate seminal albums that helped define an entire generation of Montreal (and Canadian) independent pop music. It was an emotional evening as each band worked their way through their respective albums — less about the show experience itself, though both were immaculate, and more about the communal sense of belonging and identity that have cemented these albums in fans’ hearts and memories. It was an emotional homecoming of sorts: those albums belong to no one and everyone by now. They’re less a collection of songs and singles and more the soundtrack to so many individual experiences that seemed to all coalesce at the Rialto into one collective memory. It was hard not to get swept up in the moment of it all, and when the final note of Set Yourself on Fire finally faded away to black, it almost felt like waking from a warm, nostalgic dream. 

Stars

POP Sundays are for parades and the yearly Parade du Mile End wove its way through sidewalks, streets and automobiles to close out the festival. Starting at Club Social, about 100 people followed a band of pied pipers (and saxophonists, and flautists, and horn players) through the streets of Mile End from corner stop to corner stop, where a solo singer-songwriter would post up with a portable speaker and play charming, quick sets. Residents and shopkeeps alike all emerged from their windows, balconies and stoops to see what all the fuss was about and the afternoon felt alive with a joyful sense of community. It was a fitting close to the festival, which prides itself on being well-rooted in its community and neighbourhood. 

The 23rd year of POP Montreal left its mark on the city once again, proving that — regardless of how we consume media and music today or tomorrow, regardless of how many phones are out at shows or how many artists feel like the virtual world of social media is all-encompassing and maybe just a little de-humanizing — the core joy of a festival is sharing spaces and places with people, shoulder to shoulder, arm in arm, singing along for just one more night.