Magazine

As the October nights shift drearier and drearier, and the slow chill of Montreal’s annual winter apocalypse comes creeping up my spine, I am often drawn closer to my Fairmount street hovel on a night out. I am much less inclined to make my way down to L’Esco if it means I’ll actually have to use their migraine-inducing coatrack system; you’ll rarely catch me shivering outside Sala for a smoke break in sub-10 degrees; and the beautiful sprawl of outdoor venues gets shuttered and abandoned, replaced by preppy snowsuit ravers at Igloofest (not my scene). Alongside this quasi-hibernation comes my hankering for hip-hop. Once I get a jacket and a hoodie on, a craving for punchy kicks and drumless loops runs through my veins - it's inevitable. 

The Linda Lindas took over Théâtre Fairmount on Saturday night, bringing their joyful rockstar energy to Montreal for the second year in a row. I walked into Théâtre Fairmount on Saturday to the sound of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer”, but left buzzing with the moxie that this young LA band brings wherever they go.

I arrived, 17 minutes late and positively drenched in rain, to an (almost) empty P’tit Ours last Wednesday. Shoes squishing, I had trekked across the Plateau after a classic 30-minute-actually-means-20-minute speedwalking session. For the record, it wasn’t raining when I left my house so my lack of an umbrella was not entirely misjudged, though the rain began soon after I left and did not stop. Let this be a testament to my true dedication to the lineup, which consisted of Raybody, Jackie West, and Kelly Elizabeth. Even though my sole reason for attending was to see Jackie West, I was determined not to miss a single second of any act, even if it meant my socks were soggy for the whole thing. 

On Tuesday, October 6th, Steve Lacy performed live for a packed Place Bell, touring his newest album Oh Yeah (2026). The concert was divided into two parts: a full front-to-back of Oh Yeah followed by some crowd picks of songs he hadn’t ever performed (including “UUU”, “Cody Freestyle” and “That’s No Fun”, to name a few -- which he sometiems struggled to remember the lyrics to). He eventually returned to the programmed setlist that featured many fan favourites from across his discography and even added cover of “This Night Has Opened My Eyes” by The Smiths. He bookended the concert with his Oh Yeah hits, opening with “Oh Yeah” closing with “The Feeling.”