OSHEAGA 2026: DAY 3 MUSIC REVIEW

By Kasen Korstanje

Every year, countless festivals light up Parc Jean-Drapeau during the summertime in Montreal, but the city’s crown jewel festival is Osheaga, three days of diverse musical lineups aiming to please each and every Montreal musical niche. This past Sunday was no exception, and here are my thoughts about drizzly Day Three’s performers.

A clear highlight for me was Tia Wood, who kicked off the day at 2:00 on the festival’s Scène de la Vallée. Hailing from Saddle Lake Cree Nation, Wood’s rich voice and contemporary poppy-R&B takes, comparable to Mahalia and Pip Millett, cut through the post-rainstorm gloom, and her last song, Dirt Roads, felt like a one way ticket to her Central Alberta home which inspired her musical journey. Tia Wood is one of those singers with a voice that sounds like someone who you could’ve known for your whole life already, ready to recount a tale from her history that turned her into who she is today.

After Tia Wood on the neighbouring stage, Scène de la Fôret, sibling musical duo Between Friends popped up. Between Friends was one of those musical groups that crossed my radar back in 2021 after all of my 2020 lockdown musical obsessioning, but after not hearing any of their tunes since their funky bedroom-y 2021 record i like it when you shine!, there’s nothing that could’ve prepared me for their performance. Between Friends absolutely rocked, sister Savannah roaring around on stage in a flowy knotted top and sparkly fringed shorts and brother Brandon matching her energy on the decks. In my head, they were still the left-field alt-pop sensations from five years ago, just souped up and monster sized, their sound and performance presence large enough to match the giant inflatable monster truck that adorned the stage and served as a clear indicator that their show was going to be seriously turnt.

After some technical difficulty (I presume) on the Scène de la Fôret, leaving me all the more intrigued by the next performer, Sofia Isella took the stage, a singer I knew nothing about and to whom I was interested to lend a curious ear. Upon some digging, I learned that Isella served as an opening act at a show during Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, but I almost wish I’d never learned that since I’m still scratching my head as to how that came to be. Isella’s set was almost hard to watch, from the moment she appeared on stage covered in mud and dirt to her final goodbye. Her wannabe grimy-goth aesthetic and mediocre and menial use of banjo, guitar, and violin on stage had me questioning how this 21-year old performer even got invited to play, but after learning that she was the only child of Oscar-winning Cinematographer Claudio Miranda, all that was left in my mouth was “that tracks”.

Nestled among food trucks in between the front and back of the festival was the SiriusXM stage, which welcomed its first performer Aviv at 4:00. A McGill Student and Toronto native, Aviv tore it up with her guitar-led, breezy tunes for an audience of festival-going strangers and best friends alike. Back on the Scène de la Vallée, Oklou was welcomed warmly back to Montreal after her last appearance here on October’s choke enough tour. Conjuring up different instruments, a backdrop of woozy imagery (partially captured live on stage), and a more playful, confident, and sly persona than her show 9 months ago, Okou was enchanting. Formerly a believer that Oklou’s music was only meant for indoors, bedrooms, and nighttime, this show with its bubbling, sweeping synths proved that Oklou is a one of a kind song seamstress whose music strikes a full-bodied and delicate balance to captivate whoever’s lucky enough to be watching.

One thing Osheaga always does right curatorially is that it knows how to turn up. As the afternoon turned into evening, DJ Trixie Mattel commanded an audience with gay hits that the gays actually want to hear (not what your neighbourhood techno DJ throws down for pride nights #Montreal), Gunna’s animated delivery and pyrotechnics lit up the crowd, and Zara Larsson reminded us how summer isn’t over yet with her splashy Midnight Sun show. Zara shone bright, her smile and sharp conceptual eye cut through the on-and-off rainfall sharper than the wings of her eyeliner. From her opening track, Midnight Sun, to the closer, a Midnight sun acoustic remix into hype finale, and every inbetween, Zara’s sugary and sunkissed set roared with in insatiable craving of summer, not sparing a single moment to let her energy calm down.

Headlining Day 3 was the one and only Lorde. Armed with tracks from her killer 4th record Virgin, and the rest of her top-tier catalogue, Lorde turned the stage simply adorned with a water fountain and her band into a palace of performance. Flashing visual displays, giant cubes hoisting her into the air, and an LED light suit which she donned during “Man of the Year”, Lorde captivated the crowd with the power of hot light, to me, aligning with Virgin’s sentiments of freedom and self-liberty after Melodrama’s moody darkness and Solar Power’s embrace of mellow blues and yellows. The ending of the festival with “Ribs” echoing through Parc Jean-Drapeau during the Osheaga-goer exodus to the metro was nothing shy of magical.