Things to do in Montréal April 16 to 22

Who can get enough of this sun?! The pendulum has swung in this beautifully bipolar city, utterly bypassing spring and basically settling on straight-up summer. We’ll take it! The streets are teeming with life, bike paths are back in action, coffee shops are spilling out and Montréal’s famous terrasses are just waiting for you to come tipple between cultural happenings and live music shows.

Lounging like lizards

Sometimes the best way to spend time is to waste it. Nothing will make you appreciate the simple beauty of life like a day spent strolling around Montréal in your short sleeves. Mount Royal and the city’s other dozens of parks are bursting with green shoots and wild crocuses pushing their brave way through the snow, Montréal’s best terrasses are open again with promises of refreshing cocktails or caffeinated concoctions, and, best of all this year in terms of putting a spring in our step, the Habs are in the playoffs. Life is good! Take in the games at one of these great sporty spots.

Taking in art

The Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal has a great roster of spring exhibitions, including Sophie Calle and Simon Starling, the latter of whom examines metamorphosis and the passage of time in 15 striking works. There’s also director John Zeppetelli’s baby, New Discoveries and Other Obsessions, which surveys the museum’s permanent collection in a fresh, beautifully curated way. This is your last weekend to catch the impressive exhibition of photography by acclaimed Montréal artist Alain Paiement at Galerie Hugues Charbonneau, on until April 18. If you also head to the Belgo Building on that day, you’ll be in time for the vernissage of Jon Knowles’s exhibition Rubbing the Kaki at Galerie Donald Browne. Montréal painter Sophie Jodoin just launched a moody new solo exhibition titled Une certaine instabilité émotionnelle at Battat Art Contemporain up in Mile Ex last week, while nearby in Rosemont, Art Mûr presents both the moving-yet-funny solo show called Crybabies by photographer Jonathan Hobin, and Still Moving, a well conceived group exhibition uniting cool contemporary artists including Jonathan Schipper, Capucine Vandebrouck and Chris McCaw. If you find yourself inspired to add a little more art into your home, after all this inspiration, follow our guide to buying affordable art in Montréal.

Getting digital

There are 150 happenings by 90 organizations within the context of Digital Spring until June 21, a festival that celebrates the digital arts capital of North America, Montréal. Among the goodies ahead are interactive spaces, visual and audio performances, immersive experiences, 3D productions, cutting-edge electronic music, vernissages and world-class events in activities and places all around the city, including the ELEKTRA 16 Digital Arts Festival, the return of the city’s hot-weather jewel, Piknic Électronik, on May 17, and the International Symposium on Immersion and Experience at SAT, starting on May 20. Mark your calendars.

Staging it

You’ve got until Sunday to catch choreographer Boris Eifman’s take on the undying tale of passion, Anna Karenina, presented by the Grands Ballets de Montréal at Place des Arts. But it’s also the last weekend to catch the intense and mysterious Ravages, a choreography by Québécois dance artists Alan Lake, presented by Danse Danse, also at Place des Arts until April 18. Over at the Segal Centre, in Côte-des-Neiges, Montréal filmmaker Jacob Tierney (The Trotsky) directs Tom Stoppard’s Tony Award-winning comedy Travesties, onstage until May 3. At Centaur Theatre, in Old Montréal, catch the last of the run of The Envelope, a comedy written and directed by Vittorio Rossi about making it in the film industry, on until April 19; and then as of April 21, catch Triplex Nervosa, about a woman’s trials and tribulations as she tries to buy property in trendy Mile End. In its own designated tent on the corner of René-Lévesque and Bleury, the Spielgelworld theatrical spectacle Empire continues to wow with its blend of circus, comedy and vaudeville until May 24.

Loving live music

Catch the tail end of the Vue Sur La Relève festival for this weekend – yes, your agenda will be ready to burst! There’s music by Geneviève Racette and Jazzamboka (among others) to see before it ends on April 18. Otherwise, on April 17, Omarion brings sultry RB to Viva Lounge, or, for and old school kick, see Gino Vanelli rock out the Rialto Theatre with Patrick Lamb (they also play on Saturday). Saturday brings Kodaline and Gavin James at Métropolis, Secret Sun and Most People at Bar le Ritz PDB, and the electrifying gospel notes of Tye Tribbett at Théâtre St-Denis. Josh Wink keeps the party going at Stereo on Sunday, and on Monday, shorties they be a-screamin’ for One Republic at Bell Centre, with opener The Musician. Chris Brokaw plays at La Vitrola, for a more low-key experience, with opener Brokeback. Sin and Swoon light up your midweek night on April 22, at Bar le Ritz PDB, and on Thursday, the epic metal of Ancient VVisdom plays Alizé with Sólstafir opening.