Emerging Music Festival in Abitibi-Témiscamingue (FME) Preview
Emerging Music Festival 2018 in Abitibi-Témiscamingue (FME) is just around the corner. We’ve been looking for a new festival to round out our summer coverage, and we’ve found a great one. We’re heading to Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec August 30th to September 2nd for a mix of alternative, classical, electronic, folk, funk, garage, hip-hop, metal, pop, psychedelic, punk, rap and rock.
You may be wondering, where is Rouyn-Noranda? It’s an 8-hour drive from Montreal, in the middle of nowhere. It’s serviced by a tiny airport and home to about 41,000 people. Labour Day Weekend brings 24,000 attendees, and they’ll be embraced by the locals, the boreal forest and the Canadian shield. FME is an eco-conscious festival employing multiple initiatives including:
Green Initiatives
- Presence of a green team GÉCO ensuring sorting of materials, clean up and public awareness of the ecological impact
- Sale of FME branded reusable cups
- Presence of water fountains to fill reusable bottles
- Presence of echo-duo (recycling bin and waste bin) for proper material management
- Use of mostly recycled or reused materials in the design of the 7th street hub
- Composting
Newly added to the list for 2018:
- Removal of plastic water bottles and availability of reusable water bottles for purchase
- An Ecoparticipation fee of $ 1.50 applied to of each FME 2018 show ticket
- Biodegradable or reusable tableware.
There are multiple venues and an outdoor stage with gorgeous Osisko Lake as it’s backdrop.
FME is marking its 16th year, and we’re excited to be a part of this long-standing successful festival. Nestled among the beauty of nature, the town of Rouyn-Noranda welcomes festival-goers. The music starts on Thursday, August 30th and the music continues through the long weekend.
We’re thrilled to be travelling as part of a group (festivals are more fun with friends) and some noteworthy acts that we’ll be keeping our eyes on are:
Bands
• Basia Bulat – Ontario – Pop – Rock
• Johnny Mafia – France – Garage – Punk
• Obia the Chef // Yes McCann // Rymz – Quebec – Rap
• Karkwatson – Quebec – Rock
• Jittery Jack and Miss Amy – Massachusetts – Rock
• Dexter Romweber – North Carolina – Rock
• Yonatan Gat and the Eastern Medicine Singers – New York – Rock – Psychedelic
• FRIGS – Ontario – Rock / Punk
• TEKE::TEKE – Quebec – Rock / Garage
• Yamantaka // Sonic Titan – Quebec – Rock / Psychedelic
• Holy Two – France – Pop
• Milk & Bone – Quebec – Pop
You can find the full artist listing here and ticket info here.
In addition to the music, there are video mapping installations presented in collaboration with UQAT, and a Pop-Up VR Garden filled with interactive musical elements in augmented and virtual reality. A new initiative, this portion is a co-production with Montreal’s Phi Centre. They’re a multidisciplinary artistic hub who cultivate all aspects of creativity, production, and distribution. We can hardly wait to see what they’ve cooked up for us.
We’re looking forward to a long weekend filled with music, art, great food, beer, other fun drinks, and nature. The weather looks pretty much perfect. Wanna beat the Toronto heatwave? Northern Quebec is the place to be!
Keep your eyes on our socials for coverage!
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Toronto Music Blogger
