Wanna chill out? Igloofest starts tonight in Montréal

Third year of Igloofest in January 2009 in Montreal, Canada. / 3e édition du Igloofest en janvier 2009 à Montréal, Canada. Image: Francis Bourgouin, Creatove Commons

OK, I’ll admit it. I never even heard of Igloofest until today. And I won’t go either, because it’s in Montréal, it’s at night when it’s super cold and it features music I can’t get excited over.

But that’s just me. And even though I’m not going, it’s something I’m glad to know about under the category of “cultural quirks”. You know: what crazy people in super cold parts of the world do for fun.

Obviously, others do find it worthwhile, as in this from Erik Leijon, in a special for the Montréal Gazette, who spoke with event program director Michel Quintal:

“We’ll have DJs from California who think we’re nuts for coming out when it’s minus 25 to see them,” says Quintal, adding that the DJ booth is a comparatively balmy 5 to 10 degrees Celsius. “More and more we have artists come to us and say they want to play because they heard about it from a colleague who was here.”

If Igloofest presents an opportunity for electronic music artists to break the monotony of the club touring circuit, then for festival-goers, it’s a defiant act against the depressing winter doldrums. It’s held annually at Jacques Cartier Pier in the Old Port, and last year’s 12-day edition was attended by more than 85,000. Some nights do better than others, but Quintal says the festival, held across four weekends, isn’t at the mercy of weather forecasts.

“It amazes me that on the coldest nights we’ll still get dedicated audiences that show up and are more into it than on regular nights,” he says. “From their perspective, it’s part of dealing with a winter that lasts five months out of the year. Nobody wants to stay inside for five months.”

I embrace winter by cross-country skiing, preferably on a sunny day when it’s not so cold my hands freeze inside my mitts. But whatever gets you through to summer, I guess! And plenty of people (usually far younger than me) do like that sort of scene.

So find your bliss, be it your own community’s winter carnival, or beating the season with thousands of fellow electric music lovers.

Igloofest runs Fri-Sat now through Feb 8th.

Tags: canada, Igloofest, Montreal, music, Quebec, tourism, winter