Continuing this week-long series of recaps from our first experience at the 2024 Festival de la Poutine in Drummondville, QC, the focus today shifts to one of the highly anticipated Saturday evening acts that made this festival a must-see event for us. Luring us to the Scéne Loto-Québec were the JUNO-Award and Polaris Award winning Montréal indie-rockers, Karkwa.
In similar fashion to a statement made earlier this week regarding Les Trois Accords, our earliest recollection of Karkwa also dates to around 2008, courtesy of the arrival of the (long departed and much missed) SiriusXM Air Musique channel. With singles like “Oublie pas” and “La façade” (both from the “Le volume du vent” album) earning a ton of radio airplay, their unique sound (less focus on guitars, instead adding more synth and other forms of percussion) and style made their music essential listening during our early days of discovering French language music from Québec.
Following up with their groundbreaking “Les Chemins De Verre” album in 2010, we seemingly lost touch with Karkwa, learning only recently of their decade plus-long hiatus from the Québecois music scene. Making a surprise return in 2023 – and with it, an equally surprising (and sonically outstanding) “Dans la seconde” comeback album, the spotlight beckoned for Karkwa once again! Never in our wildest dreams did we expect that just twelve months later, we would have the opportunity to catch them in concert.
Attending the first half of the week-long Francos de Montréal festival back in June earned us our first ‘chance encounter’ with Karkwa, appearing on the Les Petits Rois bill, a tribute concert that paid homage to the musical career of the late Jean-Pierre Ferland. The band collaborated on a few classic Ferland tunes (including a rousing version of “God is an American”), while frontman Louis-Jean Cormier made other frequent stage appearances alongside Marie-Pierre Arthur, Ariane Moffatt, and Patrice Michaud. This may have temporarily satisfied our need for a Karkwa fix, but after enjoying this fabulous tribute, our craving for a show of their own (and original material) only intensified.
Just a few weeks later, that music itch would be satisfied, thanks to the social media team at the Drummondville Festival de la Poutine – who sneakily dropped their 2024 summer lineup into our feeds and announced Karkwa as a main-stage Saturday night act. And with vacation plans in place to be in Canada just a few days prior to this event, all we had to do was tweak things a little to secure that fix. Yeah, tough choice, right? Tickets bought!
With the 60-minute mid-card slot at their disposal, this much revered band received quite a welcome when invited on to the stage, and promptly launched into a seamless one-two punch of “Ouverture” and “Parfaite à l’écran” from their latest album. The five musicians – Louis-Jean Cormier (vocals/guitar), François Lafontaine (keyboards/vocals), Martin Lamontagne (bass/vocals), Julien Sagot (percussion/guitar/vocals) and Stéphane Bergeron (drums) – would progress into their 2010 material – much to the delight of the packed crowd found at the Centre Marcel Dionne complex – performing the first three album tracks in succession.
Props to the noticeable keys from François during “Moi-léger,” whose emotional delivery brought with it every ounce of ambience akin to that of the potent studio version. Equally fascinating were the loud and lengthy instrumental moments (allowing Julien to shine) during “Nouvelle vague” – providing the contrasting yin to Cormier’s softer vocal yang. The familiar rings of “Oublie pas” easily energized the crowd, as did the heavier, industrial-rock vibes of “Le coup d’état” – the only foray into their career launching 2005 “Les tremblements s’immobilisent” album material. And with another well-placed shift into “Les chemins de verre,” the momentary mid-song slow down to just vocals, piano, and kick drum brought out an assault of the goose bumps – before the band kicked things back into gear, and then, with barely a pause, continued into “Dormir le jour.”
As the stage clock ticked down to the remaining few minutes, Karkwa would revisit their new album one final time to deliver “Gravité,” before closing the show with a no holds barred performance of their popular hit tune “Échapper au sort.” As both the band and audience fed from the off-the-charts energy all evening, we left armed with the knowledge that while Karkwa’s long overdue reformation had proven worth the wait, it was the collective appreciation of a few thousand souls down at ground level soaking up the atmosphere and in awe of finally witnessing this band that were the most satisfied. Thank you Louis-Jean and Karkwa for providing such an experience – it was truly a spectacle to behold.
Set List:
- Ouverture / Parfaite à l’écran
- Le pyromane
- L’acouphène
- Moi-léger
- Nouvelle vague
- Oublie pas
- Le coup d’état
- Les chemins de verre
- Dormir le jour
- Gravité
- Échapper au sort
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.
