Photos by Marie Demeire / @mariegoestoshows

OSHEAGA 2023 – DAY 3 – IN PHOTOS

Marie Demeire·August 7, 2023

OSHEAGA 2023
Day 3: August 6th, 2023
with Kendrick Lamar, Fred Again, Kim Petras, Central Cee, Tom Odell, Beabadoobee, Hollow Coves, The Driver Era, Jonathan Roy and Aysanabee

After a mind-blowing headlining set by Billie Eilish on Day 2, we headed back to Parc Jean-Drapeau for the final day of OSHEAGA!

We spent our day between the two main stages, starting with Oji-Cree singer Aysanabee, who is on the Polaris prize shortlist with album Watin. He was followed by Quebec singer Jonathan Roy, who brought all the good vibes as he hopped around the stage bare feet!

Up next, the crowd was ready for The Driver Era‘s first Montreal show! Frontman (and actor) Ross Lynch stole the show and the hearts of the fans in the first few rows. Hollow Coves then slowed it down with their upbeat folk vibes! We got to witness some strong female lead singer representation with the contagiously smiling Beabadoobee, and some piano mastery with Brit singer Tom Odell, who had the entire crowd belt along to his megahit Another Love.

It then felt like the whole festival attendance gathered at the Mountain Stage, as a sea of people squeezed to watch UK rapper Central Cee‘s set – complete with a great amount of CO2 and fire onstage! German singer Kim Petras then brought a super sleek and energetic set with her backup dancers.

Finally, the sun started setting down during Fred Again‘s highly-anticipated set. The Brit’s performance was a highly-anticipated one, as his only Canadian date this summer and one of few in North America before he heads on a sold-out European tour. Fred and his brother Tony put on an incredible show, with every single track mixed live as the crowd danced their hearts out!

Last but not least, 9pm rolled around in time for the most anticipated set of the evening. Kendrick Lamar was set to headline Osheaga in 2020, which got cancelled because of COVID, and his The Big Steppers Tour skipped Montreal last summer. We hadn’t seen K.Dot since 2017 at the Bell Center, and it goes without saying that the crowd was extremely hyped for his return!! Kendrick arrived onstage to a thunder of applause to the sounds of The Heart Part 5, before jumping straight into it with banger N95, complete with pyro and a falling backdrop. For the following 20-track set, the Pulitzer Prize winner went through all of his biggest hits, from the 2012 album Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, 2015’s To Pimp a Butterfly, and of course classic DAMN and the most recent Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. The stage production was simple, with moving backdrop curtains and a handful of backup dancers coming for a few songs, but the overall result was effective. Kendrick spits bars like no other and manages to connect with the crowd, even when hidden by sunglasses and a baseball cap.

The evening ended with everyone jumping along to tracks Alright and Savior, concluding what might’ve been OSHEAGA‘s biggest edition to date! With two sold-out day, a total attendance of 155,000 music lovers and perfect weather weekend-long, 2023 was an edition for the books! The festival has already announced that they’ll be back in 2024, and fans can now get GA weekend tickets for the lowest price it’ll ever be! For more info, visit OSHEAGA’s website.