A new music fest presents what might be Montreal’s most important band

With the colder weather, festivals in the city are going to come hard and fast in an effort to grab some of that student cash before they hit the ramen noodles around November. If you think Montreal has been suffering from festivalitis this summer, just wait until POP Montreal, Wings of Metal and OUMF lay down stakes over the next couple of weeks.

The new kid on the block is happening over the weekend at the Viaduc Van Horne and despite not being located officially in Mile End or Mile Ex is flying under the banner of the Mile Ex End Musique Montréal festival. I won’t go into much length on it as I have had my fill of writing about festivals every week — and to be honest I think the line-up is a bit skewed towards your average Q radio listener. Take that with a pound of salt though, as I am jaded as fug. There are, however, two bands I would be excited to see, and if you regularly tune into Q for your musical shimmy, then you will probably jizz over your Chuck Taylors for both nights.

Friday: Sheer Mag and Lost Balloons are at la Sala Rossa, but you will definitely want to get there early to catch the melodic know-how of openers Doggo. Blink 182 cover again? 4848 St-Laurent, 9 p.m., $13 advance/$15 door

Saturday: Boom! Right out of the gate I’m gonna get to the undeniable gig of the week: the almighty doomsters Pallbearer will blast away le Ritz with the sudden return of Kayo Dot (who were awesome opening for Today Is the Day a couple of weeks back) and Bask. If you wanted to know how doom could work in 2017, Pallbearer is your go-to. 179 Jean-Talon W., 8 p.m., $21.50 advance/$25 door

The Mile Ex End festival gets underway at noon at Viaduc Van Horne and the real reason you should be showing up is to catch local psych warriors Adam Strangler, who are up second. Personally the rest of the bill today is too tepid for me to even type up their names. Van Horne & Rosemont, 12–11 p.m., $50 per day/$90 weekend pass

Sunday: The fine folks at Extensive Enterprises are hosting some heavy hitters in the next couple of days, starting with Code Orange, Eternal Sleep, Jesus Piece and Trail of Lies at Sala. 4848 St-Laurent, 7:30 p.m., $20 advance/$22.50 door

The second day of the Mile Ex End festival is definitely the one you want to be at for the simple reason that one of Montreal’s most important and best bands godspeed you! black emperor will completely devastate and underline the vapidness of acts like City and Colour. The other added bonus is that many in the audience will be introduced to godspeed for the first time and will hopefully have them burning their Cat Power records. The hidden treat is Patrick Watson — known mainly for selling CD’s in coffee shops, Watson & co. can really melt some hearts in a live setting. For the hipper than thou, definitely stick around for Watson and get ready to be surprised. Van Horne & Rosemont, 12–11 p.m., $50 per day/$90 weekend pass

Monday: I know that I already gave Pallbearer my big pick of the week but Venom Inc. (made up original Venom members sans Cronos) is equally heavy. Venom Inc. absolutely steam-roll over the Cronos version of the band. In fact, having seen Venom in their heyday, I would venture to add that this is probably the best version of the band that has ever existed. Helping these legends crush with their own brands of heaviosity are Goatwhore, Toxic Holocaust, the Convalescence and Warsenal. Foufounes Electriques (87 Ste-Catherine E.), 6:30 p.m., $29.50 advance/$35 door

Current Obsession: The Descendents, Milo Goes to College

jonathan.cummins@gmail.com