Montreal Jazz Festival
Day 10: July 9th, 2022
with The Roots, TOBi, and a surprise Questlove DJ set
After 10 days of incredible live shows, the Montreal Jazz Festival has come to an end last night, and what an epic closing day it was! We started our final evening at the Rio Tinto stage with Nigerian-Canadian rapper TOBi, who rocked the stage in front of a packed audience.
Up next, we were off to the closing show at the TD Stage, with American jazz hip-hop powerhouse The Roots! In front of an absolutely packed Place des Arts (we don’t have official numbers, but we would have to guess around 60,000 people), lead singer Black Thought led the pack while iconic drummer Questlove was elevated on the back of the stage, always present and never missing a beat. The whole band gave an incredible performance, but a special shoutout must go to Damon “Tuba Gooding Jr.” Bryson, who spent the whole set dancing and jumping with a huge sousaphone, a musical wonder but also a fitness feat! The concert was packed with non-stop hits, keeping the huge crowd dancing and on their toes for the next hour and a half. The Roots delivered a true masterclass in hip hop, funk, soul and jazz, a cluster of genres perfect to close the Jazz Festival!
And just as we thought the party was over, we heard rumors of a 1am surprise show! We stuck around to find out, and headed to Studio TD to find a DJ set by none other than Questlove! Switching from tens of thousands of people to a small intimate setting of 600, we danced the night away to a classic hip hop mix. This surprise was the cherry on top to close out 10 incredible days of the 2022 edition, which felt like we finally got our glorious pre-pandemic festivals back.
The Roots
TOBi
Questlove DJ set
For all photos of Montreal Jazz Festival, check out our Facebook album!
We’ll excitedly be waiting for the 2023 edition, and for the next Montreal summer festival: OSHEAGA on July 29!