DUBAI — Canadian indie rockers the Foo Fighters and English rapper A$AP Rocky will headline the 2018 edition of the Osheaga music festival, held for the past seven years at Montreal’s Parc Jean Drapeau.
However, Osheaga will also feature a field of Canadian talent on Friday and Saturday of July, including pop and soul star Dua Lipa and rapper-producer The Weeknd, formerly of the Canadian pop-tropical act the Weeknd.
Other first-time Canadian attractions at the largest Canadian music festival include electronic acts Duck Sauce and Zeds Dead, as well as rockers A Tribe Called Red.
Tanya Tagaq, the remote Inuit throat-singing artist, will also return to the shores of the St. Lawrence river.
Roots and roots rock band the Lumineers have not appeared on the Osheaga bill since their 2014 appearance. It is likely their time on Osheaga came before the band split up that same year.
Other international performers at Osheaga include Spanish DJ-producer Prima Donna; Swedish musician Robyn, and Los Angeles rapper Tame Impala, alongside other Canadian performances from Quebec punks Die Toten Hosen and Toronto mainstays Stars.
The festival features homegrown acts from the region including Barenaked Ladies, Alter Bridge, Dan Mangan, Il Divo, and Aly and Fila.
R&B superstar Toni Braxton, who played Osheaga in 2005, will be in Montreal this year, but not in full regalia: She announced that she will be a coach and mentor on the hit American TV series “Star” from 2019 to 2020.
“I cannot wait to guide these kids,” Braxton said. “It’s like going from adolescence to adulthood.”
The five-day festival began in 2006 and has been held every year since. Last year’s Osheaga lineup included Kanye West, Arcade Fire, Drake, DJ Khaled, and Pharrell Williams.