The first urban country festival in Quebec finally took place Friday and Saturday at Parc Jean-Drapeau after two years of postponement. In all, 35,000 festival-goers and country music fans gathered to celebrate this musical genre, which still had no showcase in the big city.
• Read also: Shows not to be missed at LASSO
• Read also: Old Dominion seduces festival-goers
“Community is the word that stood out the most yesterday [vendredi] », Says Nick Farkas from the start. The vice-president of programming, concerts and events at Evenko was visibly happy and relieved that his LASSO was finally launched.
“It’s hard to keep your people motivated and engaged when such an event is repeatedly postponed due to the pandemic. “.
Photo Agence QMI, Mario Beauregard
Luke Bryan was performing on the second day of the Lasso festival on Saturday.
Emerging artists
The festival is positioned as aimed at young people, many were there for the headliner Luke Bryan or attracted by the new country, but also as much for fans as for the less young and families. “Like all our other festivals, we wanted to give it a vibea very special spirit,” he adds.
Preceded by Osheaga and îleSoniq, LASSO can thus offer huge stages that provide a completely different experience, to the delight of fans, but also of artists.
“Many up-and-coming artists are not used to performing on such large stages. They are happy to find themselves in the same environment as headliners. It warms the heart, ”continues Nick Farkas.
The figures had not officially fallen at the time of going to press, but already there were 15,000 festival-goers present on Friday, and around 20,000 for the day of Saturday.
“For a first year, it’s really fantastic. Especially since we see LASSO as a long-term investment,” explains Mr. Farkas.
“Our goal is to position ourselves within three or four years as a destination with country fans who come from all over the world”.
A SHOW FOR MATT LANG IN MONTREAL
Photo Agence QMI, Mario Beauregard
Matt Long
Festival spokesperson Matt Lang was on fire on stage on Saturday afternoon. He didn’t shy away from going into the crowd, handing out beers as they passed, and waving cowboy hats in the air.
In the middle of his show, the singer of Maniwaki announced, happy, that he would be performing at the Corona in Montreal on September 29th. Tickets are now on sale.
BRITTANY KENNELL
Photo Agence QMI, Mario Beauregard
Brittany Kennell
First artist to perform on Saturday, Brittany Kennell solidly delivered the goods! Wearing a white dress, fringed suede belt, and white cowgirl boots, the Beaconsfield singer delivered songs from her album I Ain’t A Saint as well as a nice cover of All I Wanna Do de Sheryl Crow.
She has just opened for Shania Twain at the popular Boots and Hearts festival in Ontario. She is the only female Quebec artist to have given a performance at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.
THE REKLAWS
Photo Agence QMI, Mario Beauregard
The Reklaws band
The energetic brother-sister duo from Ontario kicked off their show on Long Live the Night much to the delight of festival-goers. Quickly, they got the crowd to stand up, singing the choruses profusely after them or clapping their hands on Feels like that or again 11 beers.
Jenna and Stuart Walker did not hesitate to give an even more festive touch to their show by singing sitting on a cooler, recalling the tone of campsites, or even by exchanging a few shots of whiskey.
Festival-goers happy with the event
Photo Agence QMI, Mario Beauregard
Festival-goers dance in a line during the first edition of the Lasso country festival.
Many of them were smiling, wearing cowboy hats, bandanas around their necks and plaid shirts on this perfect Saturday. The atmosphere was gently festive and from the start of the day, festival-goers strove to practice the steps of a line dance on Man ! I feel a woman.
Many were happy to finally be able to enjoy the event after a wait for some of just over two years since the announcement of the creation of LASSO.
“We bought our tickets at the very beginning,” explains Amélie de Valleyfield. She and her friends obviously enjoyed the atmosphere of the site. They had come in particular for Old Dominion, which they have the performance on Friday, Luke Bryan and had particularly appreciated to discover the Quebec artist Lily Rose and Ashley McBryde.
Nicole and Denis, “country maniacs”, had come down for the two days of LASSO.
“It’s a gift from our daughters, the best gift they could give us,” says Denis. They were in their fourth performance of Sarah Dufour in Quebec and had greatly appreciated the interactions with the public of Old Dominion the day before.
Appreciated atmosphere
Eric, Sacha and Nicholas from Montreal had come specifically for Luke Bryan and were also looking forward to seeing The Reklaws.
“We bought our tickets on the first day of the sale,” said Sacha. Young people in their twenties particularly liked the atmosphere of the site they were treading for the very first time.
Photo Agence QMI, Mario Beauregard
A young Old Dominion fan was present on Friday evening.
Several children were also present, including Zaélie, 10, who had accompanied her godmother Coralie. The young girl was also looking forward to seeing the headliner of the evening and had enjoyed the Ferris wheel rides the day before.
In the reserved section in front of the floor, Sylvie and Serge, fervent fans of festivals of all kinds, were satisfied with the atmosphere. “We came among others for Matt Lang and Luke Bryan. And for the folding chairs, it’s great for us who are older,” laughed Serge.