As Montreal nightlife begins to return, promoters hope to reverse pre-COVID decline
Downtown Montreal bar and music venue Turbo Haus has begun to reopen after one of Canada's longest COVID-19 lockdowns, but remaining restrictions mean last call is at midnight, patrons must remain seated and dancing is forbidden. Like many other small music venues in the city, Turbo Haus isn't putting on concerts.
Things are "still a long way from being back to normal," co-owner Michelle Ayoub says.
People like to think nightlife is part of what defines Montreal, but there are questions about how it will bounce back from the pandemic.
Daniel Seligman, the creative director of POP Montreal, an annual music festival, said putting on a show at a small venue wasn't particularly lucrative before the pandemic, and health restrictions have only added costs and lowered capacity, reducing potential ticket revenue.
"It makes putting on shows in smaller venues financially much more difficult," he said.
He's planning a few concerts over the summer, including some performances outdoors. This year's festival is scheduled to go ahead, as usual, in September, but it will be in a more limited form, he said in a phone interview Thursday. Most artists will be from the Montreal area due to uncertainty around border restrictions.
"One thing I've learned this past year and a half is instead of planning to do things four months from now, five months from now, you can only really look a month, six weeks in the future to have any kind of real idea of what is possible," he said.
Ayoub is also getting ready to start presenting live music but is moving slowly due changing restrictions. "We're not rushing to book the shows, but we are very eager and we're already starting to slowly but surely look at dates and take holds, but we're going very cautiously," she said in a phone interview Thursday.
Nightlife is in Montreal's DNA, said Mathieu Grondin, the co-founder of MTL 24/24, a non-profit organization that works to promote the city's nightlife. That reputation began during the Prohibition era in the in United States, Grondin said, when Montreal one of the only places where white and Black Jazz musicians shared the stage. That reputation continued through the disco era and into the rave scene of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
"Montreal has always seen itself, portrayed itself and sold itself as a nightlife city," Grondin said. "A good part of the tourism that comes here are night tourists, they come for the nightlife ... there won't be an economic recovery of downtown Montreal without the recovery of nightlife."
But he said that despite the city's reputation, other cities have become more open to nightlife than Montreal.
Toronto, for example, has since 2019 had a "night mayor," a member of city council who is responsible for promoting the nighttime economy, and Grondin said Toronto has also become more open to extending closing time for large events.
Grondin said he hopes a recent conference he helped organize with the City of Montreal will help change the city's approach. Among the ideas discussed at the conference were the adoption of the "agent of change principle" in noise bylaws.
That principle -- which London and several large Australian cities have adopted after the closure of a large number live music venues -- sees new arrivals in a neighbourhood responsible for mitigating the noise impact.
"If I open a bar next to your house, I have to make sure that my bar is not causing you any problems," Grondin said. But at the same time, developers converting commercial buildings into condos in a neighbourhood of nightclubs and bars are responsible for soundproofing their buildings.
Another suggestion was moving some elements of Montreal's nightlife out of increasingly residential areas in the city centre, he said.
Heidy Pinet, a Montreal DJ, said she thinks that's a good idea, as the city becomes more gentrified and smaller venues close. Pinet played her first gig since September on June 11, and while she said it felt good to be back performing, something was missing with a maximum of two people per table and no dancing allowed.
"If we look at New York, right now they are fully reopening and they're letting clubs and concert venues run at full capacity with no masks, but they do ask for proof of vaccination, which I think is a solution that we should consider," she said.
Ayoub said she's lucky, most of the staff she had before the pandemic have come back, except for a few people who got what she calls "grown-up jobs."
But there are still frustrations. While many COVID-19 mitigation measures make sense to her, evolving rules about closing time -- some of which appear to be motivated by the Montreal Canadiens performance in the NHL playoffs -- have been frustrating and led to fears that if the Canadiens are eliminated, the rules could change again.
And while Ayoub thinks that even before the pandemic, Montreal's nightlife was on the decline, there are elements of the old normal she wants to see again.
"I want to be allowed to put on shows, I want to be allowed to pack rooms, I want to be allowed to bring in artists from around the world," she said.
Grondin said he's also looking forward to a more normal fall. "I'm hoping we will have a Halloween party without masks, but with masks," he said. "With Halloween masks, but without a COVID mask."
-- this report by The Canadian Press was first published June 19, 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Foreign meddling 'did not affect' overall federal election results: inquiry report
Foreign interference by China did not affect the overall results of the 2019 and 2021 general elections won by Justin Trudeau's Liberals, a federal commission of inquiry has found.
BREAKING Police make arrests in killing of B.C. Sikh activist, source confirms
Police have made arrests in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a senior government source has confirmed to CTV News.
WATCH LIVE Funeral today for broadcasting legend and voice of 'Hockey Night in Canada' Bob Cole
A funeral is being held today for hockey broadcasting legend Bob Cole in his hometown of St. John's, N.L.
Magnitude 4.8 earthquake recorded west of Vancouver Island
A 4.8-magnitude earthquake was reported west of Vancouver Island Thursday evening.
TD worst-case scenario more likely after drug money laundering allegations: analyst
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
How falling for a stranger she met on a beach led this woman to ditch the U.S. for the French Riviera
Niki Benjamin, from the U.S., had travelled to a paradise island to do some soul searching, and her life ended up going in a very different direction when her dog ran up to a stranger.
Biscuits with possible plastic pieces, metal found in ground pork: Here are the recalls for this week
Here are the latest recalls Canadians should watch out for, according to Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Britney Spears 'home and safe' after paramedics responded to an incident at the Chateau Marmont, source tells CNN
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
Supreme Court orders new trial for B.C. francophone who was not given French option
The Supreme Court is ordering a new trial for a francophone man in British Columbia who says he was not informed of his right to have a trial in the official language of his choice.