There will be a lot less live music in Montreal this summer.
Promoters of Osheaga, one of the biggest music festivals in Canada, confirmed on Thursday that the festival is taking another year off due to COVID-19.
Also scrapped until 2022 are the electronic music festival îLESONIQ and the inaugural country music event LASSO.
"We’ve been working since last summer to try to deliver the full festival experience to fans,” said Nick Farkas of evenko, in a release. “We are keenly aware of how important live music is to our fans and our city, and how much everyone misses it! We want to be back there in the action too, but the truth is that it takes several months to line up the various elements to create a festival, and with current uncertainty, we don't have that luxury.”
Passes purchased for the three festivals will be honoured in 2022 or fans can choose to get refunds.
Foo Fighters, Post Malone and Cardi B were scheduled to headline the 15th edition of Osheaga from July 30 to Aug. 1. The festival will now take place July 29 to 31, 2022. The 2020 edition of Osheaga was also cancelled due to the pandemic.
ÎLESONIQ is now set for Aug. 5-6, 2022 and LASSO will take place Aug. 12-13, 2022. The latter had been scheduled for Aug. 13 and 14, 2021 with headliners Luke Bryan and Brad Paisley after COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the 2020 launch.
On Wednesday, it was announced that the Montreal International Jazz Festival and Les Francos de Montréal festival will be bumped from early summer to September due to the pandemic.
Other major Canadian music festivals taking a year off include Ontario's Boots and Hearts and Ottawa Bluesfest; the Country Thunder festivals in Saskatchewan and Alberta; PEI's Cavendish Beach festival; and Quebec's Summer Festival.