Preview: Osheaga 2012’s headliners and hidden gems

By: Julia Grabowska –

Osheaga 2012 Map – Click to Enlarge

In a couple of days, and for the seventh year coming, tens of thousands of music lovers will be making their way to Montreal, Quebec for Osheaga – Music and Arts Festival. Osheaga is the most renowned and largest music festival in Canada, and takes place on Île Sainte-Hélène, a tranquil island away from the hustle of the city. Over the course of three days (August 3-5), over 90 bands will perform across five different stages located on the island.

In the past, Osheaga has welcomed some of the most well known artists from across the world including Arcade Fire, Coldplay, Sonic Youth and Weezer, just to name a famous few. This year, the festival is featuring Snoop Lion (AKA Snoop Dogg) (Virgin Mobile Stage – Saturday), The Black Keys (Virgin Mobile Stage – Sunday), Justice (Virgin Mobile Stage – Friday), Metric (Budweiser Stage – Sunday), Sigur Ros (Budweiser Stage – Friday), Feist and Florence and the Machine (Virgin Mobile Stage – Friday) as their 2012 headliners. If the headliners weren’t enough to sway you into the Osheaga adventure, the heaps of artists, bands, and DJs that are not headlining might just be the hidden gems of the festival.  Here are some artists that I’m looking forward to seeing the most.

SBTRKT (Bud Light Stage – Saturday @ 7:30 – 8:15pm) – A musical duo (with half their faces concealed with tribal masks when performing) from the UK that involve electronic and acoustic drums along with keyboards and vocals. Their set is one that shouldn’t be missed if you dig funky electronic tunes.

Santigold (Budweiser Stage – Sunday @ 4:45 – 5:30pm) – One feisty girl with a lively and eclectic musical style that is perfect for those who love vibes of electronic hip-hop fusion.

Little Dragon (Bud Light Stage – Saturday @ 8:45 – 9:30pm) – A Swedish four piece electronic band that is led by the edgy sounding Swedish-Japanese female vocalist, Yukimi Nagano. This band will be enjoyed by anyone who takes pleasure in something a bit different and distinctive.

Also, several quality Canadian acts will be performing, with some names hitting close to home. A few include The Sheepdogs, Yukon Blonde, Classified and Toronto based Austra and The Weeknd.

Coincidentally, Osheaga will not be the only music festival that will be taking place the first long weekend of August. Lollapalooza, located in Chicago (also hosted in Brazil and Chile), will be hosting over 100,000 people throughout three days of festivities and music. This year’s line-up is very closely related to the Osheaga’s line-up, but with a couple more legendary names thrown into the mix, such as Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jack White.  Also, the first ever VELD music festival will be taking place at Downsview Park in Toronto. The musical line-up will consist of a varied range of electronic music that will include mostly DJ sets, with electro-house DJ’s Deadmau5 and Avicii headlining the event.

Osheaga, like many other music festivals, is an all ages event, which attracts individuals both young and old from all over North America, Europe and beyond.

Unlike festivals such as Coachella and Reading and Leeds, Osheaga does not allow camping on site, in which some people believe, takes away from the aura of the festival itself. However, among all the Canadian music festivals such as Riot Fest, Indie Week and Warped Tour, Osheaga is one of the biggest in terms of attendance, with more than 81,000 fans and 450 accredited journalists last year, and one of the most diverse in terms of musical performances. The festival has the ability to bring together various groups of people, who simply enjoy the gift of music and art under the sun.