Enjoying an extended vacation in both Ontario and Québec, Team GDW made a visit to Drummondville, QC to attend the annual Festival de la Poutine, tempting us with a social media campaign that dropped some of our favorite Québecois artists into our feeds, before luring us in with an attractively priced (bargain) weekend pass.
Taking place on two stages over three consecutive evenings, we had circled the Friday and Saturday night activities on the Scéne Loto-Québec stage as essential viewing, and with this first in a series of upcoming festival recaps, focus on a pair of artists who performed at Friday’s event.
Shaina Hayes
Kicking off the Friday night festivities with a 35-minute set, Shigawake, QC-born – and now Montréal-based – indie folk singer-songwriter Shaina Hayes (with full band) used her time to share several tunes from her 2024 “Kindergarten Heart” album. Seeing Shaina’s name on the bill was quite a surprise, given that she performs in English rather than French, but based on the crowd around us (many singing each song word for word), and naming Feist and Joni Mitchell as some of her own influences, the artist clearly had a strong following here in La belle province.
Opening with “New Favorite,” Shaina would draw upon this album material on six occasions, delivering some fabulous versions of her singles “Sun and Time” and the album’s title track. It was so easy to be mesmerized by Shaina’s cleverly constructed lyrics as the tunes played out, most notably on “Sidewalk” – “An impulse to passive / Your objections are born in brackets / Your charm is a swarm of tangled habits / Your heart’s on the sidewalk / You drew it there in blue chalk / Now it’s fading away with every raindrop.” And with a brief sojourn back to her 2022 “To Coax a Waltz” debut album, both “King” and the popular single “Honey Friend” were added to the set.
Set List:
- New Favorite
- Sun and Time
- Heat Wave
- Sidewalk
- Honey Friend
- Kindergarten Heart
- Fun
- King
Les Trois Accords
Having been fans of the popular Québecois alt-rockers Les Trois Accords for just over fifteen years now, our earliest recollection of hearing their music came courtesy of the (long departed and dearly missed) SiriusXM Air Musique channel – sometime between the band’s 2006 “Grand champion international de course” and 2009 “Dans Mon Corps” albums, if we had to guess.
Calling Drummondville home, it made perfect sense for Les Trois Accords to headline on the Friday night, performing to a lively and engaged audience packed in around the downtown Centre Marcel Dionne complex. And with a musical back catalogue spanning twenty years at their disposal, we were entertained with a well curated evening of their popular hits.
Offering cuts from their 2004 debut “Gros mammouth album turbo” release (“Lucille” / “Hawaïenne”), along with “Grand champion international de course” (“Tout nu sur la plage” / “Grand champion”), once the band progressed into their “Dan Mons Corps” material, many of those early memories came flooding back. We rejoiced in hearing the stunning album’s title track, followed immediately by ““Le bureau de médecin,” and with one further album track, “Caméra vidéo,” added later that night.
It was equally thrilling to hear some of the band’s more recent material, which we must confess to not being overly familiar with. One notable example was the performance of “Les dauphins et les licornes” from their 2015 “Joie d’être gai” album, which progressed through the stages of balladry, punk rock, and finally into an anthemic ‘sing along with lighters held high’ moment – musical theater at its finest. And from their most recent 2022 “Présence d’esprit” recording, Les Trois Accords delivered some rousing versions of “Vol à l’étalage” and “Internet.”
Closing their 90-minute set with a stunning encore, Les Trois Accords came back out swinging, ultimately returning to their 2004 debut album to send us home with an all-out rocking performance of their smash hit single “Saskatchewan” (almost 9 million streams on Spotify – yeah, I consider that more than a hit). A fabulous show from one of Québec’s most revered alt-rock bands, and one finally scratched from our list of must-see Francophone artists.
Set List:
- Corinne
- Les amoureux qui s’aiment
- Hawaïenne
- Vol à l’étalage
- Tout nu sur la plage
- Lucille
- Internet
- Dans mon corps
- Le bureau du médecin
- Bamboula
- Les dauphins et les licornes
- Je me touche dans le parc
- Costume de bain
- Caméra vidéo
- Elle s’appelait serge
- Grand champion
- Ouvre tes yeux Simon!
Encore:
- J’aime ta grand-mère
- Pâté chinois
- Youri
- Saskatchewan
The British guy that crossed the ocean and crash landed in central Pennsylvania (to quote Greg Keelor, “And I wonder what am I doing here?”). As the youngest of four siblings, exposure to music from a very early age nurtured my passion and appreciation for many musical genres. Continuing to discover some amazingly diverse and talented musicians based in Canada, I gravitate to live music experiences and remain devoted to spreading the word about such a vibrant music scene.
