Firstly, Osheaga is located on Parc Jean-Drapeau which is an island on the St. Lawrence River in Montreal. To get to the island you either drive or take the subway. Osheaga offers a metro pass for the three days with unlimited trips so you can also use it to see Montreal as well. We chose to take the Metro and although is was sometimes very crowded as 40,000 people attend Osheaga every year, it was a quick and effective mode of transportation that was inexpensive. You also then don't have to worry about designated drivers, parking and the traffic to the island.
The main station that goes to the island is called Berri-UQAM and is right in the heart of Montreal so to minimize travel time you will want to book a hotel near this station. Unfortunately, to book one of these hotels you must do so 6+ months in advance. My friends and I were unaware of how quickly things booked up so we ended up having to get a hotel further away by the Montreal Airport. As the metro didn't extend all the way to our hotel we decided to drive to a closer station in Montreal, park the car and take the metro the rest of the way. All traveling time added to about 20-30 min which was not unreasonable considering the money we saved on the hotel. It would have been nice to completely eliminate driving though so next time I would try to book more ahead of time to get a room right in Montreal.
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| Band poster vendor tent |
As for the festival itself it was very well done considering the size. There were six stages located at different areas around the island so you do a lot of walking. We brought a blanket so we could take a seat in any of the grassy areas which turned out to be quite helpful and relieving after all the walking and standing at stages. There were also lots of fun decorations as well as vendor and sponsor tents where you can win prizes, play games and get freebies! There were a ton of options for food that catered to all cultures and lifestyles such as vegetarian and vegan. It was also readily available and I never had to look long to find a food truck.
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| Grass mats to sit on (always crowded, bring a blanket!) |
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| Decor |
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| Decor |
The majority of the Osheaga staff was useless as well and could not begin to answer any of my questions including where the closest washrooms were, where the water stations were or where any of the vendor tents were. It was extremely frustrating as they had info shirts on and were clearly just standing there to answer questions. Lastly, I want to warn you the festival is 40,000 people and although there are six stages, everyone goes to the major shows which this year included Imagine Dragons, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis and Mumford and Sons, so you are literally standing in a crowd of 40,000 which can make you feel very claustrophobic at times so just be aware of that if you have never been to a large music festival before.
Here are some pictures from my trip!
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| They had 3 huge screens setup at the two main stages to ensure everyone was able to see, came in very helpful as I am 5'4"!) |
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| Lumineers came out into the audience to play |
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| Macklemore |
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| Mumford |
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| Mumford played an intimate cover of I'm on Fire by Bruce Springsteen around one microphone |
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| Marcus Mumford! (He was so humble, he was smiling because he couldn't believe he was headlining such a large festival) |
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| Confetti after Mumford! |
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| We met some characters! ("Cow-boy") |
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| Peace Osheaga... until next year! |
