Montreal Jazz Fest

We’re in town for the fireworks tonight, an event nobody has ever heard of. But, since they have to cram a year’s worth of fun into three months of summer, there’s plenty else going on.

For instance, an event everyone has heard of… The 35th Montreal International Jazz Festival. Last night, we wandered past one outdoor stage before dinner and stood around for a bit listening to a piano trio play exactly the kind of jazz we don’t like: an endless high-speed ramble up and down a whole bunch of notes. Ok, you’re clever, I’m sure, but too clever for me, and to my ear utterly indistinguishable from the zillion other acts that have done what you do over the past 70 years.

After dinner we came to another big open stage and hung out for half an hour while Lake Street Dive finished their set. They were great! Apparently we’re not the first people to hear of them, as shown by the crowd and their large online presence and large body of work. Nonetheless, there’s something intimate and thrilling about “discovering” a new band, and they will be ours forever. We will take credit for their successes, nodding knowingly as we think back to the day their career finally took off, the day we first heard them.