The Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ), a multi-genre music festival that runs 11 days in July each summer in Quebec since 1968, is one of the last underrated music festivals in North America. Hundreds of thousands of tourists and locals gather in the historic heart of Quebec City on the Plains of Abraham each night for huge headliners, with more than 150 different bands and artists throughout the run. This year, over one million attendees enjoyed nightly concerts from artists like Hozier, Maren Morris, Slayer, and Shania Twain.
2025 marks my 9th year covering the festival, and I have to say that it remains the most friendly and accommodating for press in all of North America. This is no small praise, they really do a fantastic job. The festival is known for its incredible production, treatment of artists, and incredible lineup for an amazing ticket price.
Quebec city itself is stunning architecturally, very safe, and the festival walkable to all the stages on beautiful cobblestone streets. I spent a jampacked long weekend (Thurs-Sun) in Quebec City, enjoying every different genre of music and documenting each moment.
Thursday- The Skies Clear for Hozier to Headline
From one great Canadian festival to another, I arrived in Quebec from Calgary on Thursday, July 10, directly from the Calgary Stampede. I landed at 5:45 p.m. and was in the photo pit by 8 to cover Lauren Spencer Smith, a UK born Canadian pop singer/songwriter whose viral hit “Fingers Crossed” made her a star in 2022. Her Bell Stage performance was sincere and raw as she sang through a light summer rain in her Yankees flat brim.
At 9:15 p.m., the Pixies took the Loto Quebec stage in the pouring rain to an excited but increasingly wet crowd. Despite the weather, the band played a packed 26-song set with iconic cover songs sprinkled throughout and closing the set with “Wintering” by Neil Young. Fan-favorite “Where Is My Mind” came eight-songs into the concert.
By 9:30, the skies cleared for Hozier on the main Bell Stage. During his fifth song, “Eat Your Young”, famously inspired by the 1729 Johnathon Swift pamphlet, “A Modest Proposal”, Hozier played a rotation of political messages on the big screen, calling attention to homelessness, and other social issues.
He moved from the main stage to the “B stage” in the middle of the crowd for and acoustic rendition of “Cherry Wine” and “Unknown/Nth”. He moved back to the main stage for the rest of the show and played a soulful show, mixing in his popular radio hits with some newer songs like, “Like Real People Do”, which was released this past May. He closed the set out with an encore of “Take Me to Church” right before some powerful thunderstorms rolled in.
Friday- Heavy Metal Reigns Supreme with Slayer
Heavy metal reigned supreme on Friday night at FEQ. Mastodon, a genre defying but still definitely metal band hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, opened for Slayer at the main stage. They were having a great time with the energy of the crowd and the festival as a whole, praising FEQ as being the best run festival of any they have ever attended. They kept repeating, “Mastodon loves you” in between their songs. They closed the night out with their hardcore and nautical “Blood and Thunder” from the “Leviathan” album.
Slayer performed as the headliner on the Bell Stage to close out Friday. It was one of the band’s very few live performances over the past two years, and their first Canadian show since 2019, and the fans were wild for it. Intense mosh pits full of die hard Slayer fans of all ages broke out in the pit during every song. “Dead Skin Mask” was touchingly dedicated to Tom’s wife as a love song. They also covered “Wicked World” by Black Sabbath and closed out the show with the iconic “Angel of Death”. Throughout the show, they deployed massive amounts of fire, adding to the huge spectacle and production of the marathon 20-song set.
Saturday- Country Queens Take The Stage
An annual tradition, we spent the day Saturday, relaxing and recovering from our summer travels at Strom Spa, one of the loveliest thermal spas in the world. At night, I went back out to the stages for a night of amazing performances from female (mostly) country artists.
Nova Scotia’s Goldie Boutilier opened for Malen Morris and Shania Twain on the Bell Stage at 7 p.m., the largest stage she’s ever been on. With a gorgeous voice that recalls Stevie Nicks and dark undertones in her unique song lyrics, we loved her look, her music and her vibe.
Maren Morris took the stage at 8 p.m. and played a mixture of her hits like “80s Mercedes” and “The Bones”, mixing in fresh songs from her new album like “bed no breakfast” that was inspired by a one night stand after her divorce. She always speaks about women’s empowerment and absolutely brought the house down with her vocals. Very excited to be sharing the stage with the legendary Shania Twain, she praised Shania for breaking boundaries and writing “iconic songs”. She closed the set with a powerful and rousing rendition of “My Church”.
After Maren Morris finished, the Canadian Queen of Country, Shania Twain, took the Bell Stage by storm at 9:30 p.m. to one of the largest crowds of the week on the Plains of Abraham. Lights went up all throughout the crowd for fan favorite “You’re Still the One” as everyone sang along. In between songs, the Ontario born singer spoke French to the adoring crowd.
Mixing it up with her stadium bangers like “I’m Gonna Getcha Good!” and “Any Man of Mine”, the singer sat on a stool strumming the guitar for an acoustic rendition of “No One Needs to Know”. She sang “Party for Two” with her lead guitarist and singer/songwriter in her own right, Lindsay Ell. Everyone sang along to all the greatest hits that she performed, revving it up extra loud for her final song, “”Man! I Feel Like a Woman”.
After the show, she thanked fans for “being patient with my French” and “an epic night” on her Instagram.
Sunday- Farruko Closes Out FEQ 2025
Sadly, on Sunday all shows were canceled due to severe weather except the headliners. We did get lucky enough to catch Puerto Rican superstar Farruko at 9 p.m. on the Bell Stage. Fans waved flags from across Latin America including Mexico and Canada as they sang along with phones in hand recording every minute.
It was sad to close out the festival missing out on some of the bands, but as always FEQ was a wonderful experience. It will be back in 2026 from July 9-19.