angine de poitrine performs surprise saturday set at osheaga

lightning strikes twice for angine de poitrine.osheaga stunned festivalgoers saturday morning, announcing a surprise main stage act: angine de poitrine, a quebec math rock band that became an international sensation seemingly overnight, would be performing at montreal’s largest pop music festival on saturday afternoon.at the apex of their fame, the chicoutimi natives performed at their second montreal festival of the summer. angine de poitrine headlined the montreal international jazz festival just over one month ago, delivering an electric performance to a raucous crowd of 150,000.angine de poitrine reached international acclaim after a seattle radio station shared a video of their performance at france’s trans musicales festival in february, which went viral. their oversize, black and white polka-dot masks caught the attention of millions online.

the pair’s second album, vol. ii, was released april 3, with the track fabienk topping spotify’s viral 50 global chart. the song has been streamed nearly 14 million times. while osheaga didn’t need to push for more ticket sales saturday — which is fully sold out — evenko vp nick farkas said they’re hoping to surprise their audience. “with social media, people are looking for that ‘wow’ factor, that edge. and i think going forward, it’s probably the sort of thing we’re going to keep doing,” farkas said in an interview on thursday prior to the announcement. “if you announce it before, sometimes people are disappointed that it’s not something else. so we didn’t really focus on it, but it’s kind of a fun thing that happens.” the band's rise to fame is equally a surprise — compared to some of today's biggest pop stars, angine de poitrine can only be described as unusual. the duo walked onstage barefoot, the eyes on their papier mâché masks lighting up orange as they communicated in an alien language in between fast-paced jams on a double fret guitar.

festivalgoer shean carmichael says when he first listened to angine de poitrine, he asked, "what the f--- is happening right now?""as a musician, you have to approach every act you get an opportunity to see, (asking) are they pushing boundaries? are they opening up doors?" he said ahead of the show.when he heard of angine de poitrine's last-minute addition to osheaga's lineup, he "could not pass up the opportunity to experience it live — especially after hearing about the impact it had on the montreal jazz festival and how the city basically shut down to experience what they had to bring."the osheaga crowd for angine was decidedly more tame than at the jazz fest — nobody was climbing up telephone poles or crowd surfing.but the crowd was grooving, their heads bopping. a small mosh pit formed, with some people seemingly pulled in against their will.

"quebec is probably so chuffed and filled with pride right now that everyone is looking at this act and this city, and i'm glad to take a part of it," carmichael added.another angine fan, linkin lavergne, gravitates toward them because they're different and new."i really like them because they're unique. they have their own kind of style," he said after the show, calling the band "influential.""it's cool seeing canadian musicians making it, having sold-out shows."