For those who don’t know Festival d’été de Québec is the SECOND largest music festival in Canada at the moment. The 11 day event runs annually every July and features some of the biggest local & international artists. This year we were graciously invited to check out the first three days, which included performances from Foo Fighters, Imagine Dragons, Weezer, Billy Talent & so much more.

Arriving on day one, you could instantly feel like something large was happening in the air. Lots of last minute crew running around and tons of people swarmed the streets to check out the sights. Besides the main stage which houses 90,000 people. There were 3 other stages plotted all within a 10 minute walking distance next to tons of beautiful architecture and restaurants and bars to hang between sets.

Main Stage (Bell Stage) gates were jam packed with fans eager to get their front row seat for each day. For all three days at as soon as 6PM came you would see a sea of fans literally running to get their spots at the barriers. The 90,000 quickly built every night and became a blur of energy when that first mic check went through.

With each artist or band that played it seemed like you were taken away to a festival in the same vein as Glastonbury or somewhere overseas. Our hometown boys Billy Talent were as graceful and rocking as ever. Weezer, who played days before did not miss a beat. Imagine Dragons were quite astonishing and got 90,000 cell phone lights shining bright which you could see from kilometres away. Every support band was the perfect selection to build up into the headliners. We would be here all day if we mentioned, but we thank you all!

The extra special treat was checking out Foo Fighters. This was their one out of only TWO performances in Canada since the recent passing of Taylor Hawkins. People travelled from all over the country to catch a glimpse of the power of that band especially with a new drummer taking place in the mighty shadow of Hawkins The band did not disappoint and had 90,000 people singing almost lyric to lyric.

Not only you had an entire afternoon and evening of music. Programming carried into the night at 11PM with EXTRAS FEQ. This included two DJ sets which played deep into the night to keep the party going.

Overall. You should not hesitate on checking out Festival d’été de Québec next year. Dates are locked in for July 4th-14th, 2024. Click here to keep up to dates with artist announcements and how to score your tickets.