<\/p>\n
Friday on My Mind is a highly subjective, curated rundown of five of the cooler things happening in Montreal during the weekend.<\/p>\n
Friday at Place Bell<\/p>\n
When asked for the highlight of his current tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of his breakthrough debut album Get Lifted, John Legend doesn\u2019t hesitate a second.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor sure, Lauryn Hill was the most full circle (moment) for me,\u201d Legend said in a recent phone interview. \u201cI tell the story in the show about playing on her album and that being my first big break in the industry. And it\u2019s rare that you get her to come out and guest on any stage. So it was extremely special to have her.\u201d<\/p>\n
While he was still a student at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, he met Hill and she asked him to play piano on her song Everything Is Everything, from her classic album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. That\u2019s the song they played together at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn last week.<\/p>\n
Legend, 46, plays the entirety of Get Lifted in the new show. He admits it\u2019s an unusual experience to be reinterpreting all these songs that he wrote when he was in his 20s.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so fun, honestly. I love going back to it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe music still feels really good, even though I\u2019m in a different place now mentally and just in life. The music still sounds so good. The time has kind of flown by, 20 years, and I still feel really connected to the music.\u201d<\/p>\n
But is it strange singing those lyrics he wrote more than two decades back?<\/p>\n
\u201cI know I\u2019m not in the same place as I was then in life, but I still feel connected to the songs,\u201d said Legend. \u201cI still wrote them. They still came from my authentic self.\u201d<\/p>\n
In recent years, Legend has been as well known for his work as a coach on the hit music competition show The Voice as for anything else he does. He said he loves the gig.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such a fun show and I work with a lot of wonderful artists and they really inspire me,\u201d said Legend. \u201cI feel that I learn a lot from doing it. So much of my job as a coach is to put on great performances with the artists and help them to find out how to be their best selves as performers. So it really is about the music for me. That\u2019s what makes it so fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tickets: evenko.ca<\/a><\/p>\n In various cinemas all weekend<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to imagine any other Quebec artist not named C\u00e9line Dion releasing a concert film in theatres. But Les Cowboys Fringants are, of course, like no other artists de chez nous \u2014 they are one of the most influential bands ever ici.<\/p>\n The film was shot at Quebec City\u2019s Centre Vid\u00e9otron in January 2023 during their Les Antipodes tour, which broke box-office records across the province. It features all their major hits. It\u2019s a chance to once more relive the intensity of this folk-flavoured rock group live and savour the charismatic stage presence of the late great Karl Tremblay, the band\u2019s frontman, who died from prostate cancer in November 2023.<\/p>\n Tickets: cineplex.com<\/a><\/p>\n Friday at the Beanfield Theatre<\/p>\n Quebec pop singer Alicia Moffet returned this year with a new album, No, I\u2019m Not Crying, her first collaboration with the label\/production company Cult Nation, the same outfit behind Charlotte Cardin. It\u2019s a more ambitious, more sophisticated record and it\u2019ll be interesting to hear how it translates on stage.<\/p>\n Tickets: evenko.ca<\/a><\/p>\n Friday at Club Soda<\/p>\n Wednesday is one of the hottest indie-rock bands around, mixing crunching sledgehammer guitar with singer Karly Hartzman\u2019s melodic vocals and pop sensibility. How hot? The promoter says the show is \u201csuper sold out,\u201d so I\u2019m just including it here to give fans without tickets a big dose of FOMO.<\/p>\n Friday at the Royal Montreal Regiment in Westmount, 4625 Ste-Catherine St. W.<\/p>\n This comedy show is a benefit for the Montreal Fluency Centre, a non-profit organization helping children with communication and learning differences. The show features Gino Durante, Ted Bird, Heidi Foss and Neil Janna.<\/p>\n Tickets: zeffy.com\/ticketing\/comedy-night-14<\/a><\/p>\nLes Cowboys Fringants<\/h3>\n
Alicia Moffet<\/h3>\n
Wednesday<\/h3>\n
Comedy Night<\/h3>\n