WATCH: Quebec City’s popular Summer Festival is kicking off – and there are some big names in the line-up. Global’s Caroline Plante reports.
QUEBEC CITY – The streets of Quebec City were alight and buzzing Thursday evening as festival goers hunkered down to hear their favourite bands.
The popular Summer Festival kicked off its 48th edition with an indie rock night.
“We prefer ‘indie rock’ to being called a folk band which is what we get called a lot,” said Family of the Year guitarist Sebastian Keefe.
Bandmate Christina Schroeter added: “I think fans will hear that our songs are a little more diverse than ‘Hero.’ We love that song and it’s a backbone to a lot of our song-writing but yeah we wrote some rock songs.”
Opening for Family of the Year and Vance Joy was the up-and-coming Canadian band Current Swell.
“You’re trying to make everyone stop thinking about themselves, stop thinking about what they’re wearing,” said singer-guitarist Dave Lang.
“Just get free and just get lost in the music. That’s what you crave as a musician.”
The Rolling Stones, the Foo Fighters and Keith Urban are guests of honour this year.
Festival Communications Director Luci Tremblay said they’re part of a stellar lineup, but there was some last-minute scrambling.
Nickelback cancelled because of the lead singer’s voice box problems and the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl broke his leg.
“We were anxious because you know that Dave Grohl broke his leg in Sweden a few weeks ago and we didn’t know if they were coming or not,” said Tremblay.
“Now, they’ve decided to come and they have this beautiful throne that Dave Grohl is sitting on to play and the reviews have been terrific this past weekend in Washington.”
Rolling with the punches is part of the game and organizers said they’ve adapted over the years to grow into one of the biggest festivals in North America, selling over 130,000 passes at $78 dollars a head.
“We have about 40 per cent of the people who are coming from outside the Quebec area and about 10 per cent of tourists from outside Canada,” said Tremblay.
The festival runs from July 9 to the 19.
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