On the fourth and final day of Pop Montreal 2025, I packed in as much music and community as possible.
I started the afternoon at Bar WILLS for A Pop Record Fair!, where alongside browsing vinyl I caught performances by sineila, Renon, and Nectar Palace.
From there, I headed to the Pop Symposium for an engaging talk with Tamer Nafar, founding member of the pioneering Palestinian hip-hop group DAM.
One of my festival traditions is attending at least one rooftop show, and this year I wasn’t going to miss Billianne.
Against a glowing sunset backdrop, the singer-songwriter delivered a beautiful set of pop and folk songs from her debut album Modes of Transportation.
It was one of those quietly magical festival moments.
The rest of the evening was spent at Rialto Theatre for three standout performances.
Shunk, a band I’d been curious to see, blew me away with their post-punk-meets-medieval Joy Division energy.
Elle Barbara, who I hadn’t seen in years, lit up the stage with a spectacular electro-synth set full of spacey, danceable grooves.
But the highlight for me was finally seeing U.S. Girls again—the first time since 2019 at Ottawa Bluesfest.
The setlist pulled from Scratch, It’s The Clearing, Like James Said, Dear Patti, and the sprawling 12-minute epic Bookends, along with classics like Jack, The Island Song, Rosebud, 4 American Dollars, 28 Day, Overtime (performed in its original Free Advice Column version), and Sororal Feelings. It felt so good to experience U.S. Girls live again.
Afterward, I wandered over to Piccolo Rialto for a late-night show featuring Narcy and Palestinian hip-hop trio DAM for a powerful, charged performance to close the festival’s main programming.
Before calling it a night, I made a final stop at Espace Pop to check out Velour Velour’s ambitious 24-hour performance, catching him with a strings quartet during La Fin.
And with that, my Pop Montreal 2025 came to a close. Four days packed with music, conversations, and discoveries. I can’t wait to return next year for the festival’s 25th anniversary.
Check out the gallery below.
