Despite the retreat of the headliners and the moody weather, those responsible for the Festival d’été were surprised by the rush on the Plains of Abraham. Nobody expected that the site would have to be closed twice during the event.
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However, this happened during the Imagine Dragons and Pitbull concerts. More than 90,000 people, the stadium’s maximum capacity, crowded to hear their favorites.
When the Rolling Stones played in 2015, it had been eight years since the Plains hadn’t closed.
“The Rolling Stones, that’s what we expected. This year we never would have thought it. I don’t want to disregard our artists, they’re wonderful, they’re big names, but neither the Rolling Stones nor Taylor Swift were in the Plains in 2023,” said programmer Louis Bellavance, specifying that the FEQ n never knew that many parties with more than 60,000 people than in 2023.
What happened? Louis Bellavance responds by asking questions himself.
File photo, Stevens LeBlanc
“Has FEQ reached a new level as an event? Does the event itself generate local people before the artists do? We were closed twice but it was busy every night. I make predictions and the audience beats me every time.
Avoid rejections
There is a downside to the FEQ’s popularity: people who paid for their pass are rejected.
“It is necessary to think about the reception capacity because this situation could arise again,” points out Louis Bellavance, but admits that he cannot propose a solution to this problem.
“Can we have the Plains in a different configuration? At the moment I would say no. How will we deal with this? That is a question for our management teams.”
The bigwigs on site
The huge crowds who partied with Pitbull, Imagine Dragons, Green Day, the Foo Fighters and Lana Del Rey didn’t go unnoticed across the entertainment industry, reports Louis Bellavance.
PHOTO DIDIER DEBUS SCISSORS
“No one in the world of show business knows what just happened in Quebec. The number of international agents we have received is unprecedented. It opens doors.”
Many artists would have expressed their appreciation after the concerts in 2023, reports Mr. Bellavance.
“I got a lot of feedback. Zach Bryan, you tripped. The Green Day team told us this was the best festival they had ever played. Lana Del Rey loved it.
With tram construction imminent, public transport needs to be maximized over the next few years to get to the Festival d’été, says the event’s President and CEO.
“Public transport will continue to grow,” predicts Nicolas Racine.
He doesn’t think he should change the current concert venues – the Plains of Abraham, Parc de la Francophonie and Place de l’Assemblée-Nationale – but worries about their accessibility during the work.
He relies on the FEQ’s ability to quickly find solutions when things go wrong.
“We are discussing some initiatives. We have good ideas, we have to see if it works, if it’s financially viable, but we want to maximize public transport with the work that we have to do over the next few years.
As for a return to shows at Place D’Youville, which hosted a Robert Charlebois mini-concert earlier this year, he is content to say that “all options are on the table”.