CJLO @ FME 2018

September 19 2018 // Robert Portnoff // Magazine // Concert Reviews

The 18th edition of the Festival de Musique émergente, or FME, took place over the Labour Day weekend. From Thursday to Sunday, the city of Rouyn-Noranda was overflowing with music.

Montreal band Random Recipe kicked off Thursday night with a high energy show featuring guitar shredding by Frannie Holder and vocals by former Concordia student FAB. Another Montreal band The Brooks followed up on the Scène Extérieure Desjardins. However, the standout on Thursday had to be Hubert Lenoir at the intimate space L’Agora des Arts.

Friday saw garage-punk band Johnny Mafia from the Yonne region of France kick off the night at the outdoor stage. Up next was one of the highlights of the festival, Montreal band Galaxie. Led by the frantic guitar playing of Fred Fortin and Olivier Langevin, over the top costumes, and musical tributes to 70’s glam rock, the band proved to be a whole lot of fun.

Friday proved to be just a taste of things to come, for Saturday brought an FME exclusive event featuring Karkwatson. The language-barrier-busting supergroup is composed of Patrick Watson’s four-piece band and the five members of Karkwa. Also on Saturday was Israeli born Yonatan Gat, who was joined on stage with native drummers and the Eastern Medicine Singers. It should be mentioned that this concert was CJLO’s on air personality Danny Payne’s favorite of the festival. Also included on Saturday's roster was the outdoor Hip-Hop show featuring Zach Zoya, Fouki and Loud.

Sunday went out with a bang with a trifecta of death metal bands, Backstabber, Depths of Hatred and Cattle Decapitation (unfortunately for this reporter, no fake cows were harmed during the concert). For those looking for something on the quieter side, there was the much anticipated concert by electropop duo Milk & Bone.

This years edition of the festival proved once again that the sun never sets at FME. With late night Rockabilly and EDM until dawn, Rouyn-Noranda really knows how to throw a party. Come Monday morning at the 24-hour poutine place, the only thing people were talking about was the next FME, and how the weekend passed so quickly.