Here’s what’s good at Nuit Blanche 2016

La Nuit Tribe 2015. Photo by Lisa Sproull

Saturday, Feb. 27 is Nuit Blanche in Montreal, a night when hundreds of our cultural venues and other gathering places — clubs, bars, concert halls, galleries, museums, theatres, libraries, fitness centres, spas, cafés etc — keep their doors open into the wee hours, most of them waiving cover charges to allow the citizenry a free glimpse of the goods inside, some of them offering free snacks and hot beverages to warm the patrons passing through.

In addition to seeing pre-programmed exhibits, films, live performances and spa or sports facilities free, dozens of promoters and cultural organizations present special events for the occasion, creating plenty of competition on this night, the climax of the Montreal Highlights Festival.

Because the program/app of 200+ events is a beast to navigate — and, truth be told, there’s a lot of mediocrity to sift through — Cult MTL presents our annual list of Nuit Blanche highlights:

NIGHTLIFE

La Nuit Tribe

Phi Centre
407 St-Pierre
9 p.m.-3 a.m.
Free

Event page

Cult MTL partnered with Phi Centre on this party, the second annual edition of la Nuit Tribe. (Were you there last year? It was sick!) This year the dancefloor in the show space will be rockin’ to DJ sets by the Gaslamp Killer, Fred Everything and le Matos, live art by MissMe and food by Tomahawk. It’s also an opportunity to explore Phi Centre’s temporary virtual reality garden.

24 Hours of Vinyl

Le Bleury Bar à Vinyle
2109 Bleury
7 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Feb. 28

Event page

The annual Nuit Blanche edition of this globe-trotting one-day dance party features event founder and resident DJ Lexis (the guy behind the Music Is My Sanctuary blog) with guests  Spinna, Fred Everything and Christian Pronovost.

Lumière Noire

Bain Mathieu
2915 Ontario E.
9 p.m.-8 a.m.
$20 in advance/more at the door

Event page

The seventh annual edition of this Nuit Blanche blacklight party is an all-night techno-thon, with video projections, fluo art, body-painting, circus performers and all kinds of other trippy shit. Neon and psychedelic attire is recommended. An affiliated art exhibit will be up in the same space from Feb. 25-27.

Karnival

Club Soda
1225 St-Laurent
9:30 p.m.-3 a.m.
Free

Event page

Bootyshaking Caribbean beats are guaranteed at the seventh annual edition of Karnival, with primo music selectors Poirier, Kyou and Kobal, with Brazilian dancers hyping up the crowd.

Bleu Nuit!

Artgang
6524 St-Hubert
5 p.m.-3 a.m.
Event page

Suck on Tees is an art exhibition featuring work by over 30 local artists printed on (wait for it!) t-shirts! This art party will come alive with DJ sets by Alaclair Ensemble, Gully by Association, Simahlak and a surprise guest, plus visuals by Boycott.

RIDM YouTube Battle

Canadian Centre of Architecture
1920 Baile
9 p.m.-3 a.m.
Free

Event page

Documentary film festival RIDM presents a YouTube battle with 16 teams going head to head with the most outrageous videos online. A DJ set and hopefully a dance party will follow the battle.

Virée Rouge

SAT
1201 St-Laurent
8 p.m.-3 a.m.
Free for the ground floor/$5 for Satosphere

Event page

Video art, short films and an overload of sounds and visions by DJs and VJs await in the ground floor space and the third-floor dome and terrasse.

Prom!

MainLine Theatre
3997 St-Laurent
10 p.m.-3 a.m.
Free

The Art Matters festival brings you prom, a dance party with bonus art, performances and installations. Lavish attire is recommended — there’ll be a photo booth on-site to capture your party look.

CONTINUE TO PAGE 2: The best art events