Ah, Pouzza Fest, the punk rock Mecca of the Great White North. The family reunion for people who hate actual family reunions. Every May, seemingly every punk-adjacent music scene friend conglomerates into Montreal for three action-packed days of live music in our downtown. The tradition of slamming a dep beer en route to one of the many venues hosting a show was alive and well, as the streets were filled with that unique energy that only comes around once a year. Coupled with the fact that we were gifted the most gorgeous weather of the year so far, we were in for a great weekend.
My Friday was absolutely packed. So many must-see bands rolling through town on Day 1 forced me to a new venue nearly every half hour. Conflicts aside, I popped into a pleasantly packed Turbo Haus first to see some gritty pop-punk from out of the province, courtesy of Gainesville, Florida’s You Vandal and Winnipeg’s Screaming At Traffic. A quick hustle to Cabaret Foufs later found Devon Kay & The Solutions playing their high-energy set, filled with guest vocalists and some over-the-top covers of 90s classics thrown into the mix. I’m still not convinced that Devon Kay is real, honestly.
Back at Turbo, new Stomp Records signees Cross Dog were cursed with sound problems, as is tradition for them in this city. Regardless, their unparalleled frustration expressed through socially aware lyrics further fuels their heavy live shows like nothing else and makes for an incredibly engaged crowd every time. Meanwhile, just next door at Cafe Big Trouble, Black Guy Fawkes was serenading a more intimate audience with his strong voice and poetic lyrics overtop some familiar acoustic pop-punk chord progressions. In every venue around the city, love was in the air. The first hours of Pouzza Fest were especially magical, full of camaraderie and old friends reuniting for the first time in too long.
In a Pouzza first since I started attending in 2019, new ska bands seem to have finally graduated from exclusively playing Cafe Cleopatra this year. The rest of my Friday was spent entirely at Foufs to support the likes of new-tone poster children JER and Catbite, as well as Rollerstarter and Against All Authority. JER absolutely slayed their unique blend of high-energy, indie-tinged ska punk, bookended by long-winded social and political rants between songs, even calling out specific problematic bands and individuals in the scene to varying degrees of reception from the crowd. At least they’re fighting the good fight. Catbite’s rock and roll approach to the genre kept the energy going through its infectious positivity. I was exposed to Rollerstarter for the first time, and they tore it up, throwing in a healthy dose of skacore into their sound, no doubt prepping the audience for Against All Authority’s explosive energy, which they were more than receptive to. The Anti-Queens closed out my night with a celebratory kickoff for their brand-new record, released that day.
Saturday offered some breathing room for attendees for the first time that weekend. Still with a packed evening, but with a couple of small, non-musical events to check out during the day. With such gorgeous weather, the streets were flooded with everyday people pleasantly going about their lives. Rock and metal concerts were in full swing on Saturday night too, as lines at TD Studio and MTelus interrupted the fold and truly reinforced how good of a concert scene we’re blessed with. It’s days like this when I miss Pouzza’s free outdoor stage. To witness passersby stop in awe at whatever the hell a Strung Out was, helped the festival bubble up above the current niche it’s now comfortably nestled in.
Still, whether you were at Foufs that day to see the likes of Sun Junkies sweat through their matching jumpsuits, at Theatre Sainte-Catherine to witness AVEM’s bird-themed punk rock music interrupted by an inflatable pterodactyl costume, or even seeing Direct Hit fill MEM to capacity, capping off the last of the shows at the festival’s newest venue, it was so easy to have an incredible time.
Daytime activities came in full swing for the final day. Sunday boasted a barbecue, more standup comedy, yoga, and amateur wrestling. I wanted to spend my Sunday checking out bands at venues I hadn’t yet spent enough time at. Much to my surprise, two venues simultaneously had no bands waiting on deck. Some unrelated improv show was well underway at Sainte-Catherine, while the manager at the completely empty Cafe Cleopatra told me the next band would play in an hour. Of course, with so many bands, venues, changeovers, cancellations, and additions, the schedule can’t always be perfectly executed, and the festival has been a tightly run ship up until that point, but it was still disappointing. I hope the artists listed on the schedule for those time slots got to play elsewhere and still left with positive experiences.
It was back to Foufs for me then, in that case. Another solid string of fun, must-see acts were booked in both rooms to close out the rest of the festival. Having travelled the farthest to play here, Adelaide, Australia’s Alex Lahey and her band’s upbeat indie rock stylings warmed the crowd for what felt like the peak moment of this year’s edition: Laura Jane Grace. A punk rock icon and trailblazer who, along with building Against Me!’s lasting legacy, has really come into her own with her solo material in the last few years. Laura and her band, The Mississippi Medicals, commanded the crowd. They played a few tunes from her newest solo record, with a lot of Against Me! favourites, hits, and deep cuts in the back half.
The city was buzzing from her secret solo set at Turbo Haus just hours earlier, and she felt like the star of the festival, as Foufs was packed to the fullest I’ve seen it all weekend. Though over at Cabaret Foufs, Buffalo’s The Abruptors were still delivering a two-tone-inspired sound to a small but enthusiastic group of people, with Montreal’s K-Man and the 45s waiting in the wings to play next. I thought I was going to end my night at the iconic two-stage bar that’s hosted so many of my strongest concert memories this year until I got wind of one last secret show over at Turbo Haus. I hurried over to see none other than Direct Hit be the ones to wrap up another year of Pouzza. In the chaos of that tightly packed room, surrounded by so many friends, new and old, I couldn’t think of a more perfect ending.
Though Monday wasn’t an official festival day, it still felt like one. As our aging bodies were recovering from three days of late nights and fast music, the perfect weather somehow brought me and my core group out of our beds to enjoy some drinks and relaxed hangouts at a nearby park before the out-of-towners went home. In retrospect, the days were long, thanks to all the stories that were experienced in those three days. This was my third Pouzza, my first as a Montrealer, and quite honestly, my favourite edition so far. As we get back to the realities of our day-to-day, I’m holding on to hope that I’ll bump into some of the dozens of strangers I shared beautiful moments with throughout the weekend at another show sometime soon, as the spirit of the festival is still very much alive year-round.
Review – Mathieu Perrier
Photos – Mia Snow
