Friday on My Mind: It's a circus out there with jazz, Comiccon and Montréal Complètement Cirque

Montreal Gazette

04-07-2025

Friday on My Mind is a highly subjective, curated rundown of five of the cooler things happening in Montreal during the weekend.
Violent Femmes
Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Place des Arts.
Brian Ritchie, bassist for the fabulous folk-punk band Violent Femmes, goes way back with the Montreal International Jazz Festival.
The band, which formed in Milwaukee in 1981, headlines Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier as part of fest. Their first set will be devoted to 1984 album Hallowed Ground, considered to be one of the first Americana records. Then they'll perform the self-titled 1983 debut LP from start to finish. That's the disc they're best known for; it features Gone Daddy Gone and Blister in the Sun.
On the phone this week with Ritchie, who was in Prince Edward Island mentoring local artists, I told him I'd seen them at an epic 1985 show at the Spectrum and he began talking about his history with Montreal and the jazz fest. Violent Femmes played the fest at Metropolis in 2014.
'The first time I flew on a plane in my life was to go to Montreal and I went to the jazz festival,' said Ritchie. 'I think it was '79 or '80. Carla Bley and Archie Shepp were playing that year. So it's meaningful to me to play the festival. That was my first adult festival experience. They played at the Théâtre St. Denis. So I'm a little bit tender about the Montreal jazz festival. It's kind of like a full-circle thing.'
Their first album it remains far and away the most influential thing they've ever done. The trio was then made up of Ritchie on bass, singer-guitarist Gordon Gano and drummer Victor DeLorenzo. Today the group consists of Ritchie, Gano, multi-instrumentalist Blaise Garza and drummer John Sparrow.
Though they don't have a big catalogue of hits, their music resonates more than 40 years later.
'We still have kids getting into us,' Ritchie said. 'A lot of music (from back then) isn't still valid. It's just nostalgia. Whereas with The Cure or the Femmes, it's not just nostalgia. It's also excellent music.'
He thinks Violent Femmes have endured 'because the lyrical perspective, at least in the songs we're most known for, is universal, yet it was a kind of vulnerability that Gordon was relating at a time when rock was very macho and very artificial. I think he was ahead of the times. Then also the music itself, with the way that we played with acoustic instruments and we didn't use any production trickery of the time, which would've dated it by now. Our recordings could've been made in the '50s or they could've been made now.'
Comiccon
Friday to Sunday at the Palais des Congrès.
Comiccon spokesperson Jason Rockman reeled off names of some of the celebs attending the pop culture festival — and it was kind of dizzying.
The guest list includes Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd and Andy Serkis from The Lord of the Ring movies; Famke Janssen from X-Men; former Montrealer William Shatner of Star Trek fame; Peter Weller from RoboCop ... and the list goes on. That's why 65,000 people show up every year.
'This is their pop-culture event of the year,' Rockman said. 'This is like their Super Bowl, this is their Game 7, it's a big big deal and it's fun to be part of something that makes people happy. This is an event that brings smiles to people's faces.'
There are autograph sessions and photo ops, but Rockman underlines that most of the participants also take part in panels, talking about their lives and careers.
Tickets: montrealcomiccon.com
Montréal Complètement Cirque
All weekend at various venues.
With the jazz festival and Comiccon in full swing, it goes without saying that our city — festival hub that it is — just has to have another major fest on the go. Montréal Complètement Cirque kicked off Thursday and continues until July 13, another reminder that Montreal is the most notable circus-arts centre in the world.
There are two shows at La Tohu: The Genesis from the Copenhagen Collective and La Noce d'Alfonse from Cirque Alfonse. But if paying indoor shows is not your cup of acrobatics, head down to St-Denis St. every night for al fresco circus action between Sherbrooke and Ste-Catherine Sts. from 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. You can check out the Castellers de la Vila de Gràcia, Catalonian artists who construct giant human towers on the street. There's also the Cirqu'Easy bar at the corner of de Maisonneuve Blvd. and St-Denis. It's possible your bartender might be a circus performer.
Tickets and information: montrealcompletementcirque.com
Demons and Wonders
All weekend at Cinémathèque Québécoise.
Cinémathèque has kicked off a two-month series, Demons and Wonders, devoted to the big screen world populated by giants, fairies, ghosts, dragons and monsters of all kinds. Films this weekend include the Tim Burton classic Edward Scissorhands (Friday at 7:45 p.m.) and the 1982 fantasy cult hit The Dark Crystal (Sunday at 6 p.m.).
Rolling Stone Presents Amplified
All weekend at Oasis Immersion at Palais des Congrès.
This is an immersive exhibition presented by Rolling Stone magazine and featuring The Who, Radiohead, Janis Joplin, Tame Impala, The Ramones and many more. You're in, right? Me, all it took was mention of The Ramones.