Kygo, Ty Dolla $ign, and Farruko are among many performing at Festival d’été de Québec

Canada’s largest outdoor music Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ) has been bringing music to Québec City for 57 years. Spread over 11 consecutive nights and across multiple stages on an average year, the festival brings together over 150 acts across multiple genres from around the world. For the fourth year in a row, Quip joined the city’s biggest music event for three FEQ evenings.

Between a wide range of big-name headliners and up-and-coming artists, each night has a bit of a theme, and this year’s electro night closed with no one other than Kygo. The legendary electronic music producers sold out the stadium at Plains of Abraham and turned up with a lineup of guest performers.

Kygo remix of La Roux’s “Bulletproof” is how the fans started this show. Kygo’s selection of tracks included many other audience favourites, from “Stay” feat Maty Noyes, to Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” “It Ain’t Me” performed by Victoria Nadine, and “Chasing Paradise”.  Justin Jesso was the first guest on stage. Stepping closer to the crowd, he performed a handful of songs including “Stargazing”. Among the many remixes the crowd went wild for were Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing” and Abba’s “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” which admittedly is having yet another moment in the pop culture world. “And this one is for Avicii,” Kygo added before heading into “Forever Yours”. Confetti, pyrotechnics, and vibrant visuals made great accompaniment to this high-energy evening set.

Paris-based, Cape Verdean-born artist Mo’Kalamity brought her flavour of reggae to the free public stage on Saturday evening. Accompanied by a full band, she shared Caribbean and Afro-American rhythms with her excited Québec fanbase.

Meanwhile, down the street, Armani White (aka Armani Blanco) began his set with a DJ warmup before taking the stage. Soon enough, the crowd began the “Olé, Olé, Olé” chant and much like Freddie Gibbs a few years back, Blanco was visibly confused. “I’m not gonna lie, I have no idea what the fuck that was. We need a cultural translator up in here,” he laughed. The attendees of Loto-Québec stage were determined to get their chants in even during Ty Dolla $ign’s set, who naturally had an equally perplexed reaction, especially because this chant started after he offered the attendees shots on stage. The annual “Olé” confusion always gets a good chuckle from visiting journalists, myself included. In time, Ty Dolla $ign’s biggest fan did get to share tequila with him on stage. Best day ever, I am sure.

Ty Dolla $ign (Tyrone William Griffin Jr.) spent the majority of the evening promoting his upcoming record, TYCOON, set to release on September 12th. Between the new tracks, older tracks and covers were sprinkled in. “Paid,” “All In” (“for the ladies,” he commented), “The Business, Pt. II,” and a cover of 2 Chainz’ “It’s a Vibe” all got a wave of cheer through the stage. The latter was naturally accompanied by a blunt. Meanwhile, in the crowd, one by one, people are being tossed in the air like hats, quickly disappearing back into the collective mass. Soon enough, Ty Dolla $ign asked the fans to open uptime a mosh pit, “Just don’t push the ladies, never push the ladies,” he added, observing the fans gleefully obey.

At the same time, a few blocks away on the public stage, Blaiz Fayah gathered the dancehall fans in support of his latest record Shatta Ting. On stage with Fayah two dancers dressed in robotic suits with electric lights came and went, adding literal colour to the music.

FEQ closing Sunday was met with unfortunate weather events. Heavy rain and lightning resulted in prompt evacuations, and most of the stages did not even open until the conditions were safe. As the skies settled, Def Mama Def duo from Senegal shared their unique blend of Afrobeats, hip-hop, and electronic sound with a small but engaged audience.

The majority of the attendees this Sunday, however, were here for the Latin performers lineup, singing Farruko’s “Calma” while hiding from the storm.

“Vamos pa’ la playa, Pa’ curarte el alma” echoed through the stadium as it opened, crowds slowly trickling in. Joined on stage by a group of dancers, Farruko had a bit of a cool start to his set, but as the crowd warmed up and packed in tightly to see their favourite Puerto Rican artist, so did Farruko. “Mucho latinos en la Casa,” Farruko noted, looking over the flags and signs in the crowd, listing them out one by one to audience’s cheers. When “Pepas” came on, the crowd went absolutely wild, synchronising with the dancers and the pyrotechnics, singing along in unison.

Halfway through his 90-minute set, Farruko signalled the camera crew to follow him down into the photo pit where he generously shook hands with the frontline fans, end to end, undoubtedly making it “best day ever” for many more in attendance.

On this high community note, 2025 FEQ came to an end with fireworks opening up the gloomy sky.