francos de montreal is leaning hard into Quebec talent and a major Jean Leloup tribute, with the 37th edition set for June 12 to June 20 in the Quartier des spectacles in Montreal. The festival’s outdoor stages will also be filled with rap, as francos de montreal places homegrown acts and French-language hip-hop at the center of its programming. One of the biggest free events will mark the 30th anniversary of Le dôme, with a large concert on the main outdoor stage.
A tribute built around Jean Leloup’s Le dôme
The most striking addition to the outdoor program is Pour la suite du Dôme, a concert set for June 14 at 9 p. m. on the main stage at the Place des Festivals. It will revisit songs from Le dôme, the 1996 album that includes Edgar, Johnny Go, Le monde est à pleurer and I Lost My Baby.
Lou-Adriane Cassidy, Klô Pelgag, Safia Nolin, Les Louanges, Thierry Larose, Rau_Ze, We Are Wolves and Zach Zoya are among the artists named for the tribute. Maurin Auxéméry, programming director for the festival, said he would have liked to see Jean Leloup on stage himself, but said he is happy with the lineup assembled to celebrate an album that has “not aged a day” and continues to move from one generation to the next. The concert will be broadcast live at 9 p. m. ET.
Rap and Quebec headliners dominate the main stages
Five of the seven major concerts scheduled for 9 p. m. feature headliners from here, including the Leloup tribute. Ariane Roy will take the main outdoor stage on June 13, while Gab Bouchard is set for June 17 and Klô Pelgag for June 19. Marie-Mai and Ariane Moffatt will appear on the main secondary stage, on June 12 and June 20.
Koriass and Loud will share the main stage on June 18 for the Soirée anniversaire rap queb, 10 ans après, a show that echoes the festival’s earlier hip-hop opening night in 2016. Kassav and the French rapper Disiz will also appear as headliners on the biggest stage. In the middle of the lineup, the rap focus is clear: francos de montreal is giving that genre a visible place indoors and outdoors across the entire run.
What the schedule says about the festival’s direction
Auxéméry said the long-term aim is to put major talent on the Loto-Québec stage so it can eventually function as the second main stage, with programming decisions driven by audience preference for earlier or later start times rather than status alone. That approach helps explain why several established names are being placed alongside rising performers.
On the outside stages, about a dozen invited artists are from France, including Luiza, Myra, Malaka, Wamen, Requin Chagrin, Zélie and St Graal. The festival’s balance this year points to a deliberate mix of local weight and francophone discovery, with francos de montreal using its biggest platforms for both memory and momentum. What comes next is the full June 12 to June 20 run, when those lineups will turn from announcement to live performance across Montreal.
