Time to get messy

Party, afterparty, repeat. Event recommendations for festival lovers and haters, and a heads up about a very special hip hop event around the corner.

shineIt’s my journalistic duty to lace you with the knowl for a week of parties ahead before I disappear into the festival hole, possibly only to re-emerge sometime in October,  somewhere in southern Argentina, covered in bro-sweat, inflatable toys, a floral crown and a bindi jewel.

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Hope to see you out there somewhere in the freak show.

OSHEAGA AFTERPARTIES: There are tons, so if you aren’t holding your pass to the big shebang, you can at least get in on the post-action action.

Young Fathers and Shash’U hit the Phi Centre Friday. Not to be outdone, le Belmont hosts a Montreal-centric afterparty with Thomas White, WLYN, Dear Lola, Dave Luxe and Wasiu. Cashmere Cat and Brodinski are at SAT on Saturday night. Sunday night, the Fairmount Theatre hosts Sylvan Esso and Future Islands with a DJ set. These parties, from experience, definitely continue the good daytime vibe, so go join and if you’re a little jelly about not being part of the fest crowd, at least feel good knowing you probably smell better than the rest of us.

This year, a unique after-event (well, kind of a “during” event, really) takes place Saturday at Phi Centre, with a screening of the Nas bio doc Time Is Illmatic, which also includes a live Q&A between Montreal’s rapper/journo Narcy, the film’s director One9 and producer Erik Parker. The tie-in, of course, is that Nas is performing in the early evening at Osheaga. So far be it for me to start a rumour, but there’s a decent chance he’ll show up. Barring that, POP Montreal founder Daniel Seligman will keep you entertained on the wheels of steel as will a live set with the Posterz.

There are also a slew of regular club nights purporting to be Osheaga afterparties, so let the buyer beware. Not to say they won’t be great too, but I gotta save my energy for three days in the field so I’m not digging those up.

UNDER PRESSURE 20: Next week, the country’s premiere celebration of hip hop’s elements turns 20, which is totally unreal. Full disclosure: I’m a festival organizer, but you and I both know I’d report enthusiastically on UP regardless, and always did well before I joined the team two years ago.

Things get underway with pre-fest jams Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night about town; the main event happens all day Saturday and Sunday around the Foufs-area campus the fest has occupied for the past 17 years; and the free closing show at Foufs is a behemoth, with the legend Kool Herc, Q-Bert, Bobbitio, Lord Finesse and Illa J headlining a dope roster of Canadian talent that includes locals Loe Pesci and Flight Distance.

The best thing you can do to keep abreast of UP20 is join the main event group and track the different posts for all of the parties on and off campus, which I will additionally round-up next week in a short supplement for your perusing convenience.

That’s all I’ve got this week. There is no doubt other shit going down out there — the main thing is to enjoy the summer while it’s here. And if you hate the festival scene and can’t get down, that’s cool too. Chill with friends, go visit your mom, take a walk along the Lachine
Canal and make your days count. Peace. See you on the other side. ■

 

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