Free tickets to the national honors ceremony for Karl Tremblay, to be held Tuesday evening at the Bell Center in Montreal, sold out in about thirty minutes Thursday morning. Almost 15,000 places were available.
At 10 a.m., several thousand people were waiting in the virtual waiting room on Ticketmaster’s website to get a ticket to this non-televised ceremony.
The charm of Marie-Annick Lépine
Later in the morning, Marie-Annick Lépine, member of the Cowboys Fringants and partner of Karl Tremblay, urged the public not to purchase tickets offered for resale online.
“Out of respect for Karl, I don’t want anyone to buy the tickets that are currently selling for $500,” she wrote on Facebook. We are working to find possible solutions around the Bell Center.
She also stated that the ceremony will be broadcast on social networks on November 28th.
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Minister Mathieu Lacombe reacts
On Thursday afternoon, Culture and Communications Minister Mathieu Lacombe urged people not to succumb to the temptation to promote the sale of free tickets by trying to purchase them on resale platforms.
The people who decided to put them up for sale should be ashamed of themselves, he said on the sidelines of the opening of the Montreal Book Fair.
“I am very disappointed to see this and it breaks my heart for Marie-Annick,” he added.
Mobilization of admirers
Also on Facebook, Vincent Gauthier, an admirer of the Cowboys Fringants, created an event to organize a meeting in front of the Bell Center for people who don’t have tickets. Participants are warmly invited to bring their musical instruments and their joy of life to make this moment a celebration in memory of Karl Tremblay.
Naya Koussa has been an admirer of the Cowboys Fringants since high school and received four tickets to Tuesday’s ceremony thanks to one of her sisters. I asked everyone in my family to sign up [sur Ticketmaster] to have a chance to make it, she says.
She then posted a message on Facebook asking people to swap their standing room on the floor for seats. She received about ten responses, with some people offering to buy her tickets. People want to go there so badly that they’re willing to pay for it, she said. This is not an option [pour moi] To sell these tickets, never in my life.
The family has more to do than fans or people with bad intentions trying to resell tickets for $500. I find it really disappointing to see some people trying to take advantage of this situation.
Jean-François Pauzé at the microphone
Last week, Prime Minister François Legault suggested that the family of Cowboys Fringants singer organize a national funeral. It is the formula of a secular national honor ceremony at the Bell Center, chosen with the consent of the family.
The ceremony, scheduled for 7 p.m., will be marked primarily by the broadcast of the film “America is Crying,” filmed in the country in 2020. Jean-François Pauzé, guitarist and lyricist of Cowboys Fringants, will speak and perform songs by the group. Members of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra will perform at the Bell Centre.
According to Mathieu Lacombe, this ceremony should be as unifying as possible.
The death of Karl Tremblay on November 15 caused great emotion in Quebec and elsewhere. The 47-year-old singer has been battling prostate cancer since 2020.
With information from Diana Gonzales