Music, Food and Dancing in the Streets at OUMF Festival

September may mean back to school but it doesn’t mean summer festival season is over yet in Montréal: The OUMF festival of live music (this year starring Grandmaster Flash!), breakdancing, art and performance throws a free, three-day street party for students and everyone else who knows that sunshine and warm nights don’t end in August.

With two stages and more music and activities than ever, the 5th edition of the OUMF Festival takes over St-Denis Street in the Latin Quarter from September 10 to 12, turning the street into a pedestrian-only zone between Sherbrooke and Sainte-Catherine in the Quartier des Spectacles. Along with live music, expect to see acrobatic circus antics presented by MONTRÉAL COMPLÈTEMENT CiRQUE, performers on roller blades in show Roulettes et Violoncelles (Roller Skates and Cellos) and the pavement transformed into a canvas for street artists of all ages.

On stage, more than 20 bands play programmed by the M FOR MONTREAL festival (held annually in November) make every night one to remember. Hear hip hop legend and one of the original scratch DJs Grandmaster Flash, party-starting local hip hop experimenters Dead Obies, jazz influenced hip hop remixers BadBadNotGood (who play tunes from their latest album collab with Ghostface Killah), folk-cajun and blues music blenders Canailles, eclectic hip hop and klezmer artist Socalled, Juno-nominated Congolese-Canadian artist Pierre Kwenders, charismatic garage rockers Chocolat, and many other excellent Québecois artists.

Watch or even take part yourself in breakdance battles held by the H.O.R.U/Danse ton âge teams featuring veterans of the Québecois breakdance scene and talented newbies alike, on Thursday and Friday, 6 to 9 pm. Play a round urban golf on the artist-constructed course on Emery Street, with icy beverages to match the afternoon sun, or hone your illustration skills in art workshops. Film school grads screen brand new mockumentaries on a variety of subjects at the Cinémathèque québécoise Bar Salon on September 12. And keep your ear to the ground as bars in the Latin Quartier host surprise musical performances throughout the festival.

Not only is the festival’s location lined with popular restaurants, bars and shops but it’s partly on the bustling UQAM university campus, just steps away from the impressive and visit-worthy Grande Bibliothèque (Quebec National Library and Archives), a few blocks from Montréal’s Gay Village, the centre of August’s Montréal Pride, and next door to Quartier des Spectacles outdoor entertainment hub and bar Jardins Gamelin, where high-energy shows and other events continue into October.

OUMF, on St-Denis Street in the Latin Quarter, September 10-12, 2015