Strewn across three days, the 13th edition of Montebello Rockfest took place June 14-16, saw the quaint little town of Montebello Quebec, with a population of 1,000, overrun by dozens of thousands of shrieking metal heads. Sure the festival this year showed as much diversity as ever, with plenty of rock, punk, ska bands and even DJ Yella of NWA fame, in tow with their fans, but make no doubt about it, the headbangers pretty much took over the festival, loud and wrecked and moshing, as it should be.
In favor of the massive firepower shown last year, with the pyrotechnic apocalypse that bands like Rammstein have to offer, this year was more of a broader affair with cool bands stacked throughout the entire three days. Depth. And while day one may have been a bit of a mud party after a solid downpour the night before the festival opened, it was otherwise a nice weekend that soon enough saw mud turned into pounded dust swirling around circle pits.
Of the heavier variety the festival boasted the likes of Unearth, Lamb of God, Cannibal Corpse, an incredible, unearthly performance by Dimmu Borgir as well as area bands Insurrection and Beyond Creation.
Plenty of bands flexed their collective disdain for the U.S. President, with Tom Morello of Prophets of Rage sporting a “FUCK TRUMP” sign on the back of his guitar, and Municipal Waste with their cool stage backdrop with a caricature of the Oompa Loompan braining himself with a pistol.
Tenacious D and Steel Panther brought some levity to the lineup, both were hilarious and offered tight performances, with Steel Panther spending approximately 90 percent of the time asking women in the massive crowd to show their boobs, and with approximately 90 percent of the women reciprocating.
Otherwise the lineup was peppered by many genres of metal, careening from stage to stage for acts like A Day to Remember, Atreyu, Suicide Silence, Every Time I Die, Godsmack and Motionless in White, while talented, smaller bands like Fractures & Outlines tore it up at makeshift venues street side outside the festival.
A great weekend that saw much poutine, beers, weed, ambulances, dust clouds and circle pits go down, surely has an ass load of sore and bruised fans limping around today thinking ahead to next year’s festival.
View the photo gallery here.
