Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day show returns after COVID-19 hiatus with theme 'I love my language'

A young boy smiles as he waves Quebec flags during the annual Saint-Jean-Baptiste day parade in Montreal, Saturday, June 24, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

More than 30 artists will take the stage on the Place des Festivals on June 23 for the big Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day show, which will return to Montreal after a two-year absence due to the pandemic.

Veterans such as Patrice Michaud and Michel Pagliaro, as well as younger artists such as Alicia Moffet, Jay Scott, Sarahmée, Les Louanges and Fouki, will take part in the show, which will then be broadcast on ICI Radio-Canada Télé, TVA and Cogeco's music radios the following day at 8:00 p.m., the evening of Quebec's Fête Nationale.

The Montreal National Holiday Committee has also confirmed the presence of Kathia Rock, Ariane Roy, and Roxane Bruneau, while Pierre-Yves Lord will be the host.

The show will be entitled "I love my language" and the organizers promise that the artists "will use the French language to unite, move and thrill the whole of Quebec."

The last two editions of the big National Holiday show were presented without an audience due to the risks associated with the spread of COVID-19.

They took place at the Cogeco Amphitheatre in Trois-Rivières in 2020, and at the Manoir Richelieu in Charlevoix in 2021.

Festivities will be held from June 23 to 25 in the Quartier des spectacles to celebrate the 188th edition of the Fête Nationale in Montreal.

The National Holiday Stationary Parade, another key event in the program, will also use the theme of the French language as a common thread.

De Maisonneuve Boulevard, between Sanguinet and Saint-Dominique streets, will be transformed into a route that will mix literature, songs, poems, tales and legends, nursery rhymes and theater.

Ths report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on May 17, 2022.