Montreal turns into Nashville North for the inaugural Lasso festival

“This is one of the best things I’ve seen in a long time in Montreal,” said an attendee at the country music festival on Friday.

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Oddly enough, Montreal is a mecca for country music. At least for this weekend.

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More than 15,000 people made the trip to Parc Jean Drapeau on Friday to attend the first day of the inaugural Lasso Montreal, the city’s first major country festival, and after fans of alternative rock in Osheaga and fans of the electronic dance music on ÎleSoniq, it was time for people in cowboy hats and boots to take over the island.

And they did just that, showing up to nab country stars like Dierks Bentley, Old Dominion, Ashley McBryde and Tenille Townes. The Lasso festival continues on Saturday with performances by Montrealer Brittany Kennell, Riley Green, Kelsea Ballerini and Luke Bryan.

Until now, Montreal has been a pretty inhospitable market for country music, and most of the big country music artists bypassed the city. But Lasso’s success shows that there is much more support for the genre here than many of us used to think.

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Emilie Brunet loved what she heard, and that’s partly because “it’s not the western we used to have here in Quebec.” That is exactly why she is clicking with Quebecers no matter what language they speak. Mainstream country music of the last decade is much closer to old-school rock than classic Nashville country.

The perfect example was the James Barker Band that played Friday at Lasso. It’s really country rock with an emphasis on rock. At one point, they gave way to a song that sounded a lot like Rage Against the Machine alternative hard rock and there were quite a few intense electric guitar solos. Johnny Cash was not.

“I hope Lasso encourages other country artists to come because I think they often go to Toronto and not Montreal,” said Brian Moulaison, a big country fan who showed up on the first day. “Hopefully with this they will have a good vibe for Montreal and they will come in large numbers. I think it’s a great festival to bring country artists here. The country today is very different from the West. Then there is Blanco Brown (who played in the afternoon). He is a crossover too. He is very hip hop and he is very good. A lot of ritm. The country today has a lot of crossovers between genders.”

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Moulaison said people in Montreal are a little embarrassed to say they’re country fans.

“I think some people are shy to say it,” Moulaison said. “At the office, if you say you’re going to a country music show, you say it quietly. And then the other person will say, ‘Hey, I love country too.

Unlike Osheaga, which primarily attracts an 18-22-year-old audience, there was a much broader age range for the audience at Lasso and there was a very relaxed atmosphere on the site. The country attracts hockey players. It is very popular with the younger beer league players and is also popular with National Hockey League players, including Canadiens forwards Nick Suzuki and Josh Anderson, who were at the festival and met Old Dominion just before your presentation.

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Old Dominion garnered a warm response from the crowd for their energetic set, including such hits as No Such Thing As a Broken Heart, I Was on a Boat That Day and One Man Band. Bentley followed Old Dominion with a rockin’ show that also underscored that this kind of country is closer to John Mellencamp than old-school Nashville.

“Country has become the hottest thing,” said Ed Imbeault, who was watching the festival. “Everyone can get along. Everyone has a great time. It’s always fun. You don’t have to worry about the guy next to you getting mad and wanting to fight you. It has only grown over the years. You have Sirius XM radio stations. It’s blown up And it’s great. This is amazing. This is one of the best things I’ve seen in a long time in Montreal.”

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