FEQ 2025

Fewer American headliners on giant Plains stage

Fewer American headliners on giant FEQ Plains stage

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

With President Donald Trump ratcheting up tensions between Canada and the United States, fewer big-name American acts are headliners at this year’s Festival d’été de Québec. That’s partly intentional and partly a coincidence, according to festival organizers.

Of the 11 nights of shows on the giant Bell stage on the Plains of Abraham from July 3 to 13, only two bill-toppers are from south of the border – pop sensation Benson Boone on July 5 and heavy metal leg- ends Slayer on July 11. Latin star Farruko (July 13) is from Puerto Rico, so also American.

All other headliners are either Canadian – Shania Twain and Avril Lavigne, for example – or from elsewhere: Def Leppard from England, Hosier from Ireland and Kygo from Norway.

FEQ programming director Louis Bellavance said the fact fewer American headliners were booked was due in part to how the schedule started to come together with the avail- ability of international acts. It was also “great timing” to bag big Canadian names like Twain and Lavigne.

He said there was a sentiment to sign as few Americans as possible, “but we’re not going to say no to Benson Boone and Slayer.”

Bellavance said, “Hopefully we’ll be friends again sooner rather than later.”

Less American content or not, the FEQ lineup was strong enough to sell out quickly, with the predictable grumbling from those who were unable to secure passes, priced this year at $165.

Bellavance said the online sale “went perfectly from our end. We controlled everything we could. We can guarantee the proper amount of tickets are sold. No robots bought a pass.”

Including discounted passes for Desjardins credit union members, a total of 125,000 general admission passes found takers within three hours of going on sale Feb. 26 at noon.

Bellavance said there are no laws against individuals reselling their passes. “People are allowed to do what they want.”

For most people, Bellavance said, even if festival-goers see just one show they really enjoy, “it’s value for their money.” He said the system is designed on the expectation that not all pass-holders will want to see every show and people will be interested in sharing or renting out passes for other shows.

Bellavance said he is thrilled with yet another resounding response to the festival offerings. “I think we are surfing on something spectacular and amazing,” he said, adding that organizers “never take it [fans’ support] for granted.”