Everything You Need to Know About Festival d'été de Québec

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While the number of Canadian festivals has increased over the last 10 years, Festival d'été de Québec has been around for almost half a century. The festival was founded by a group of artists—Diane Lavoie, Constance Paré, Bernard Pelchat, Louis Ricard, Hélène Savoie, Hélène Trépanier, Michel Viel—who joined forces with business owners with the idea that they could draw tourists to the region and highlight the artistic and economic potential of Québec City. Originally the festival focused on Francophone and other world music, before expanding its repertoire in the last decade to include international headliners and acts representing genres across the board. 2007 was the first year that the festival saw a million spectators, and in 2010 sold out of passes for the first time in its 40-year history.

In an age where festivals are filing for bankruptcy (see: Pemberton) or reevaluating after only a few years (Bestival Toronto is a good example), Festival d'été de Québec continues to not only be able to balance their books but also offer some of the most insanely affordable prices for tickets that we've ever seen. Tickets for this year's big 50 year anniversary were only $95 for the early birds and $105 thereafter, giving purchasers access to all 11 days of the festivities. Another unique aspect of the festival is that attendees are allowed to bring in their own food, which eliminates the criticism of pricey festival concessions being a money grab and often driving up business in the eateries surrounding the festival sites.  The financial model of FEQ is of such industry interest that even Billboard published a profile on the festival a few years back detailing how festival organizers are able to stage such a huge event for such a low ticket price. One of the advantages that general manager Daniel Gélinas noted is FEQ's ability to host so many guests (read on for more). 

The Plains of Abraham stage is the "main stage" and this year will play host to Kendrick Lamar, P!nk, Metallica, the Gorillaz, The Who, Muse and more over the course of the 11 days. The stage, which is basically one of the stars of the festival in itself, is situated on a huge plateau with a natural slope at the rear, creating a massive amphitheatre with enough capacity for 100,000 people. Considering just over 500,000 people live in Québec​ City, it's an impressive undertaking. The stage takes 60 technicians 10 days to set it up, and once erected represents one of the largest outdoor mobile stages in the world. Those of us who paid attention in social studies class in school will remember that the Plains of Abraham are also a legendary battleground where the English defeated the French in the Seven Year War of 1759, so there's some extra incentive for history buffs as well.

Festival d'été is meant to be for everyone—whether you are young or old; hip af or impossibly uncool; a music snob or a Top40 slave—and the programming is reflected as such. Kendrick Lamar, Migos, Jazz Cartier, Anderson Paak, Muse, Metallica, The Who, Backstreet Boys, P!nk, DNCE, Nick Jonas, Fetty Wap, Death From Above 1979,  A Tribe Called Red and Gorillaz are just a few of the acts who will descend upon Québec City this year, and that represents just a fraction of the lineup. There's also a dedicated street art schedule and a family-specific stage. Peep the entire schedule for the most random festival lineup you've ever seen. 

We tried to warn you back in March that this would be a hot ticket, but Festival d'ete de Québec 2017 is officially sold out, with 135,000 passes sold in advance of the festival's kick off. "There’s no doubt in our minds that this year’s amazing 50th anniversary program put us over the top" said FEQ general manager Daniel Gélinas of the feat. "Local-area sales were huge, with marked increases in sales across Québec as well as in the rest of Canada, which looks promising for tourist and economic spinoffs." If you slept, there's always next year. If you got your passes, we'll see you in Québec City this weekend!