A few thoughtful changes this year included widening of the promenade and moving around of stages to better accommodate the traffic flow. Brand booths offering games and prizes gathered fans in clusters, while others were stocking up on their FEQ merch before heading to the designated stages. Lilly Queen Mojitos and Coors Lights in hand, they patiently waited for the shows to start, some holding up posters made for their favourite acts.

As usual, a few of the acts were rained out. The festival team tried their best to move things around, but unpredictable storms flooding the streets are a fair cause for cancellation, safety first.

The festival is a 10-day marathon with dozens of artists performing each day across multiple stages. Seeing them all is simply impossible, but for three days our team tries their best to find the most memorable acts. Our festival began with an energetic performance by Mimi Webb. BRIT Award–nominated pop singer-songwriter Webb had a deep frontline of fans who clung on to her every word. “I came all the way from Australia to see you!” a handmade poster stated. That’s a long journey, and we’re here to see it eclipse. The stadium slowly filled as she worked through her repertoire of songs, chatting with the fans. “We’re in Québec!” she shouted, “Guys, I’m actually really loving this show, I haven’t felt like myself for a while, and I’m really feeling it now, thank you!” she shared.

Jessie Reyez came next, and her performance stole the show for the night, if not the entire week. Toronto-local Reyez is well known to this publication; we’ve seen her breakout tour in 2017 and the theatrical performance at RBMF, and are familiar with her oversized t-shirt uniform, but today was different. Today, Reyez stepped out on stage in strappy stilettoes, microshorts, and a croptop, curls in full volume moving with the wind. Today, Reyez was feeling herself, effortlessly dancing around the stage, inspiring all the little girls and let’s be honest, grown women, to embrace their authentic selves. “If you believe in strong women, can you say yaaaa?” she demanded participation from the crowd. A wave of loudly pronounced yaaa’s filled the stadium.

For nearly an hour, Jessie Reyez shared stories between songs, reflecting on her past “bulshit” dating experiences, chatting with the fans, and making an effort to say a few things in French here and there, addressing people all the way at the back of the stadium directly. She wanted the fans to leave the show better than they came in, and this was not a hard ask, the energy in the “room” was electric.

Meanwhile, a lineup of spectacular international acts performed at the free Hydro-Québec Stage. July 17th lineup brought out the biggest crowd we’ve seen on this stage in years with Afro-Futuristic-Punk group Fulu Miziki Kolektiv and African reggae artist Tiken Jah Fakoly headlining.

Loto-Québec and SiriusXM stages, located side-by-side, gathered band and guitar-forward music fans. Colombia’s BALTHVS took the stage for a nearly full hour of psychedelic guitar alt-rock, fueled by Middle Eastern melodies and Latin-tinged rhythms. Royel Otis filled the space with their retro-sounding indie beach rock, with fans singing along to “moody” and “Kool Aid“. Groovy Aardvark took things up a notch, nearly causing a moshpit. The band has been around since 1986, so their fanbase runs deep, and the fans turned up today!

Those looking to dance gathered at the Extras FEQ Stage at The Armoury nightly. With record lines stretching towards the Plains of Abraham, everyone seemed to fit in this intimate venue. Much like previous years, the DJ is centre stage, but this year the room had the addition of a mezzanine level offering fans an elevated view of the busy space.

While Brazilian-born and Toronto-based, DJ BIA started a prolonged conversation on what makes a good DJ on July 16th, the July 18th set by The Rocketman had everyone dancing with no complaints. The big-ticket Extras performance, however, was LP Giobbi, who also performed on the main stage the day after, offering multiple opportunities to see her play. DJ, producer, jazz-trained pianist, and activist, LP Giobbi played two individual pieno-infused house sets, tailored to the crowd and environment.

Dutch DJ and producer Martin Garrix filled the stadium to the brim on July 18th. Even from a distance, it was obvious he was having a great time, sweat drops shining in the stagelights. The fans were here for every beat, taking Garrix’s direction at one moment, the entire stadium had their flashlights on, “This is crazy,” Garrix smiled. During this closing set, we heard all the hit tracks, from “In the Name of Love” to “Carry You” and “Animals“. Nearly every song was accompanied by pyrotechnics – fire, smoke, lasers, confetti, fireworks, you name it, the stage crew did it.

This is the side of Québec City most people don’t get to experience on their faux European vacation, but one you can definitely build a vacation around.

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The two-day event wasn’t without its hurdles, however. Due to thunderstorms throughout the weekend, event organizers had to evacuate everyone and hold off performances for safety reasons. It wasn’t until later in the evening that fans were allowed to enter the grounds in a slightly chaotic manner. While most of the DJ sets were cut completely, fans were still able to witness an hour or so from Zomboy, Bear Grillz, and ended the night on the high note with Excision‘s “Feel Something”.

Sunday things went a little smoother. Yes, for the first two hours it was constant heavy rain but there was no thunder so crowds huddled under sparse trees taking shelter while others just literally, soaked it all in. I was fortunate enough to be under the beer tent enjoying drinks with new friends while listening to Said The Sky in the distance playing Panic at the Disco’s “I Write Sins Not Tragedies,” taking us back to yesteryear. Once their set was over and the rain stopped pouring it was time to finally walk around and explore the stages.

The grass hadn’t recovered from the downfall so mud was everywhere yet everyone was looking fly and no mud would ruin a good time. At the Solstice stage, electronic duo Sofi Tukker (Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern) were going hard with Daft Punk’s “Technologic” accompanied with screeching alarm noise while their slogan flashed rapidly above. What fans appreciated most it seemed is the duo playing house music inspiring Sophie Hawley-Weld to sing “House Arrest” while Halpern commented: “we got a little wet, but that’s how we like it Chicago!”

One of the best sets of the evening was Atliens. Wearing a silver mask with beaming red eyes that pierced the soul, the duo put on one hell of a performance that got me and nearly everyone in the crowd moving to their perfectly blended modern wubbing bass with classic hip-hop tunes. The duo mixed Rich Boy’s “Throw Some D’s”, Ludacris “When I Move”, and songs off Kanye West & Jay-Z’s Watch the Throne before moving on to some heavy robotic bass drops.

Dillon Francis is a regular at Spring Awakening and a set that must not be missed. Francis played through a mix of genres, mixing Kanye West’s “Runaway” into My Chemical Romance The Black Parade then taking it back to the disco era with ABBA’s “Dancing Queen,” for example. He then continued with Madonna’s “Hung Up” switching to Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” before getting people into all the feels with Blink 182’s “I Miss U”. Typing that it sounds like a jumbled mess but that just shows Dillon Francis’ admirable ability to pull off such a mix.

The evening began to slowly come to an end with Adventure Club at the Equinox stage. The tunes they provided were much more chill compared to other sets which was a nice change of pace to mellow out after going hard for most of the day. All the respect to the duo for even dropping the Mortal Kombat theme song within their set. The end-of-the-night spectacle performance, however, was of course Martin Garrix.

This highly anticipated set came with all the bells and whistles: intergalactic alien visuals, blaring lights that you could see from space, bass that shakes the ground you dance on, and of course, brilliant tunes bringing all the visuals to life. The VIP area was set further in the back, elevated above the ground giving the audience a wide-angle view of this beautiful scene and the crowd dancing in unison as pyrotechnics fired from the stage. Seeing Martin Garrix signal alien character visual moving along with some of the biggest dance tunes shows why the DJ has acclaimed his iconic status.

Spring Awakening: Autumn Equinox was a damn good time. It was unfortunate that the first day was cut short, but the second day more than made up for it. Even with the rain and mud people still had an awesome time leaving the festival grounds buzzing. Can’t wait for the festival to return back in spring so we can do it over again sooner than later.

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