FME 2025: A Review

  Sunday, alas Sunday, the final day of the festival, filled with ominous dread, the end of FME for another year. To help soothe the soul, there was an afternoon concert by Vancouver’s Empanadas Illegales. With their jammy salsa cumbia rhythms and infectious grooves, the sextet provided the perfect musical backdrop for a lovely Sunday afternoon in a park. Or in this case, the city's botanical gardens. The band, Jaime Millan guitar, Ricardo Perez guitar and vocals, Andrea Milagros maracas, Jocelyn Waugh trumpet, Alonso Benavente Fortes congas and percussion and Daniel Ruiz drums, timbales and vocals, had the smiling crowd dancing to their beat all while munching on the complimentary corn roast. 

  With the famous metal extravaganza and closing concerts not until late into the evening hours, there was still time to catch the last of the unscheduled pop-up concerts. This one was being held at a picturesque stage along the lakeside boardwalk of Parc Trémoy. For those who missed her extraordinary performance the night before Baby Volcano was scheduled. Sprung from the familiar confines of an atmospheric, dark, dank basement and exposed to the bright sunshine and an all-age audience, the band seem to take it as a challenge to escape from their norm. Singing in both French and Spanish with a background in contemporary dance, gone were the trippy strobe lights and some of the artistic frills; in their stead was the depth of their repertoire. Donning a blonde wig and channelling, much to the surprise and applause of the audience, Baby Volcano’s alter ego of sort, a classical flamenco guitarist.    

  The big closing event featured Les Freaks de Montréal and their homage to legendary Quebec band Aut’Chose or as they say, “Un bummage à Aut’Chose.” Featuring the star-studded collective which brought together members of Voïvod, GrimSkunk, Groovy Aardvark, Tricky Woo, and Entre Aut’. Joining them for this special night was a who’s who of the festival lineup. Putting their own take on the classic songs, Montreal art pop artist N Nao and Pierre-Luc Gratton from Population ll were just two of many to join in the celebration of Aut’Chose. The concert certainly lived up to the hype, but unfortunately for the following band, they raised the bar quite high that not many could match. 

  From the classic rock of Aut’Chose to the bizarre Psych/Fusion of Montreal band TEKE::TEKE. Or was this FME’s version of And Now For Something Completely Different? The psychedelic rock septet fuses Japanese folk, Brazilian garage and psych rock. “While gazing at the sky one afternoon, TEKE::TEKE vocalist Maya Kuroki saw a cloud that looked like it had a bite taken out of it. The word that came to her mind, Hagata. Something profound: a trace, a mark, or a presence left behind, a sense of duality—of being in-between worlds.” This was taken from the band's press release used to describe their album, the music they perform and just by chance, maybe even the festival they performed at. 

  The metal show, always Sunday night, an FME icon in its own right, scheduled Montreal’s deathcore legends Despised Icon to end the trio of metal bands (Digital Ghosts and Scorching Tomb were the prior). Pounding the metal pavement for twenty-odd years, the band did not show any signs of slowing down. Dual lead vocalists, Alex Erian and Steve Marois, pummeled the sold-out theatre with machine gun-like short wrap style vocals behind the crashing, mosh pit frenzied beats of Alex Pelletier on drums, Sebastien Pichè on bass and Eric Jarrin on lead guitar.

  For those who refused to call it a night, there was one last chance to dance, to sway, to postpone the inevitable. Automelodi at the small outdoor Fizz Stage. The alley is dark, the stage afire in red light while the fog machine works overtime. The dense electronic grooves of Montreal synthpop songwriter/producer Xavier Paradis seem to be the perfect match for the moment. Then it ends abruptly without warning. Our hero leaves, exiting into the dark night. No encore, no more FME. The brain and body reel, longing for sensory overload. The late-night DJ turns up the volume, pumping out the beats for the few remaining stragglers. The kids dance and shake their bones while the old folks drink the last of their beer and stare at the barren festival site. Despite the DJ’s best efforts to keep the antidote flowing, the FME virus could already be felt lingering in the Rouyn-Noranda air. In a last-ditch attempt to fight off the infection, highlights of the festival, memories of the last four days, attempt to serve in lieu of the vaccine. The past, even one so soon, proves to be a placebo at best. For Festival Music Emergent is always about the future, and the real cure is still a year away at FME 2026.  

  Tristan Lacombe (keyboards ) and Pierre-Luc Gratton (drums) of  Population II.

  Baby Volcano and friends.

 Les Freaks de Montréal “Un bummage à Aut’Chose”

Densi McFalane of the OBGMs out among the faithful.