Travelling on the busy metro on the way to the island site of Osheaga, we stood next to a group of three men singing a full choral rendition of the Killers’ “Mr. Brightside”. If last year’s one-two punch of Smashing Pumpkins and Green Day was a gift to Gen X, I think it is fair to make an argument that this year there has been a nod to millennials, given the surety of hearing what the New York Times has called that generation’s “anthem”. The festival’s strength has been its ability to give a little something for everyone, but this time around there were some tough choices – more on that later.

As we made it into the Osheaga grounds, UK glam rockers The Struts were in the middle of demonstrating what it means to revisit a classic sound. It’s the 10th anniversary of their debut Everybody Wants, and they got the afternoon crowd enthusiastically (and obediently) following all instructions – stopping, starting and singing along. The set wrapped up with the arena-worthy “Could Have Been Me”. The Queen-vibes of the Struts was followed up by Damiano David, best known for humping microphones as lead singer for Eurovision-winning band Måneskin. But those at Osheaga hoping for some glam-on-glam action were served up tracks from his recent solo album Funny Little Fears. Evidence of just how much distance he has put between the sound of him alone versus with his band can be found in this fact: he performed a cover of Hozier’s “Too Sweet”.

Walking across the festival site, the big beats of Shermanology, drew me in. Mixing old school house (complete with versatile vocals courtesy Dorothy Sherman) with some dancehall vibes and bendy dubstep bass, this brother and sister production team from Curaçao makes music that I’m going to keep listening to for the rest of the summer – I dare you to listen to “Badder” only once.

This treat was followed up by Pennsylvania viral rap duo Joel Valance and Brae. They garnered a very enthusiastic crowd response, but it isn’t hard to do so when you are drawing from Rob Base and DJ Easy Rock (on “The Baddest”) and basically doing a full coverband-style homage of the Beastie Boys on “Punk Tactics”. These two had me searching for a Beastie “reaction video” while standing in the crowd.

Immediately following was Vancouver’s Ekkstacy (aka Khyree Zienty). Leaning very much into the more punk side of Ekkstacy’s output, Zienty seemed pretty pleased to be in Montreal and asked politely for a pit, which his performance deserved, and the crowd obliged. After teasing the opening bars of the softer “I Walk This Earth All By Myself”, it was skipped – for time, apparently, but this meant that some of the most charming punk I’ve heard in a long time shined through (the RIP Ozzy on his guitar was a lovely touch). It’s the kind of punk that is reminiscent of music you have heard before, but because it is so earnestly great, you don’t care.

Also,I had so wanted to see La Femme, but there was a long delay, and it is also a fairly long walk back to the other two main stages, so the decision was made to hoof it over to see Lucy Dacus. This was not her first time at Osheaga, and it was obviously an excellent choice in programming. She made a valiant attempt at French banter between songs, and the crowd was rapt, singing every word of her layered, clever songs like “Modigliani” and “VBS” (“Does Canada have vacation bible school?”, she asked), and cheering loudly whenever she would look in their direction.

I was unsure about another long walk, but I wanted to see Artemas, who I had heard was much more than his earwormy viral hit “I Like the Way You Kiss Me”. Short answer: he is. With Weekndesque falsetto vocals and a bit of a darker throwback synth feel, Artemas is perhaps best described as a softer, more romantic Nine Inch Nails. “I want to kiss you on the mouth” is a little less intense than “I want to fuck you like an animal”, but I’ll take it from this British goth heartthrob.

Arriving halfway through Dominic Fike’s set as he serenaded the crowd with a competent version of Coldplay’s “Yellow”, there was thankfully no kiss cam in sight. Fike is not even 30, he’s got a fair amount of stories under his belt that fuel his stage banter and, as he described, his songwriting. Born of Soundcloud and Tiktok, and perhaps a desire to replicate Post Malone’s success, Fike is not really my cup of tea, but the reaction to his set demonstrates that there is certainly an audience for his mix of heartfelt guitar ballads and trendy, genre-shifting pop.

I wouldn’t normally say this, but I would like to thank Jorja Smith for coming on late, so it was possible to witness the entrance of one of the West Midland’s finest. Yes, this UK singer has sang with Drake, but her soft, relaxed, smooth vocals are more than enough alone. As the sun set, tracks like “Addicted” and the 90s garage sound of “With You” were a balm. There’s a reason why some artists are deemed atmospheric – Smith is one of these.

Smith’s appeal meant that we were able to catch only the last song from the wildly excited Glass Animals, but it was the TikTok hit “Heat Waves”. We sang along while talking about how it would be possible to take in both the Killers as well as breakout hip hop star Doechii. It would appear that frontman Brandon Flowers heard our conversation and, after coming onstage soundtracked by Montreal 80s classic “Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats, they broke into “Mr. Brightside”. Though I’ve never really been a fan, this killer move from the Killers is one of the best things I’ve ever seen at a concert. Not only did the huge crowd explode with an enthusiasm that continued throughout subsequent songs (even when they had to stop a couple of times due to apparent issues in the crowd).

This also meant that we didn’t feel so bad about rushing over to see Doechii perform for the first time in Canada, bringing Florida to the stage with a set that looked like the swampy Everglades. We weren’t the only ones who had made this decision, as there was shockingly large number of people wearing Killers t-shirts in the huge crowd. Doechii is a charismatic performer, but she was cut off at the stroke of 11, after a set that spanned her mixtape and debut album. Here’s hoping this isn’t the first visit up north.

Onwards to the rest of the fest…

Words by Erin Macleod