For the second year in a row, Piknic is being swallowed up by the giant beast that is Osheaga. But this time out, we’re staying right where we belong: under the Calder! Let’s shed a little light on the exceptional line-up :::

Friday, July 29: Because a good diet requires a little more sustenance than Eminem!

Mister Slim Jim has the honour of getting this 3-day marathon underway. And after having captivated the public at Francofolies, Festival d'été de Québec and the Fringe, the guys from Alaclair Ensemble (KenLo, Eman, Maybe Watson, Ogden, Mash, and Claude Bégin) bring the boom-bap to Osheaga. Moi chu down ! (...)

Here is a FAQ for a perfect Osheagan.

CAN I PAY ONLY $12 AND ACCESS THE PIKNIC ZONE?
No, you can access the Piknic Zone only if you have tickets or passes for the Osheaga festival.

CAN I BRING MY DOG AND MY OWN ALCOHOL?
No. To see the complete list of things allowed and prohibited, click here.

(...)

This coming Labour Day weekend (September 3-5), Piknic Électronik is proud to inaugurate the very first PikniCubik! A three-day festival designed to cube the Piknic experience and multiply its pleasures!

Six sides to explore over three days

This brand-new festival is created in the image of its name. Like a cube, it has six faces. During the three days of PikniCubik, piknicers will be given an assortment of riches to choose from, as they’ll be free to explore one of the six following elements:

(...)

This Sunday, July 24th, Piknic is on HOLIDAY!!! Relaxation! Vacation!

The weekend after that, we've got Piknic @ Osheaga. To find out more about who's performing at the Piknic Electronik stage, click on one of the dates below.

°°°FRI 29 JULY

°°°SAT 30 JULY

°°°SUN 31 JULY

Don't forget that to attend, you have to have in hand an Osheaga ticket or pass. Since these dates are not part our regular programming, Piknic passes won't get you in.

We'll be back under the Calder on August 7th for a regular Piknic!

Oh dude. I don’t know about you, but when I arrived onsite last Sunday, the only thing I had on my mind was diving into a magical pool of popsicles. Since we’re the only ones to blame for not thinking ahead and filling any of the island’s pools with popsicle slush, all I could do was languish by one of ponds and hope that body temperature would find its own way back down to normal before my anti-perspirant gave way. The big shame in all of this was that the music sounded really good beyond the trees, but I was paralyzed on my back, immobile, as the beats washed over me from dozens of meters away. Next time, we’re building the popsicle pool, or at least a popsicle mist tent. For now we’ll settle on the usually pool of insanity that has become our Sundays.

The challenge was sizeable, but the DJ’s had the upper hand: to make piknicers dance during a 35°C day. It gave me enough inspiration to write a poem filled with tenderness, sincerity, and rhymes.

Dude, weren’t we baking in that heat?
To dance, we had to wear our hearts like shoes on our feet.
We all basked in the lovely
Jardins des Floralies

(...)

So, did you like digging your toes into the grass dancefloor at Jardins des Floralies? We’re guessing yes. All the better, because we’re going to be there for the second consecutive week! It’s beautiful out there, and the change is nice, and what’s more, the DJs get to play in a gazebo, which is every DJ’s dream.

Reminder: The Jardins des Floralies is Piknic Électronik’s alternate site. It’s situated on Notre-Dame Island, a 15-minute walk from Jean-Drapeau metro.

Oops, those shuttles...

Lat week, we promised shuttle buses commandeered by Amarula to go back and forth between the metro and the Jardin des Floralies. Well, we’re forced to admit that despite our good will to help you avoid a 15-minute walk in high temperatures, our plans weren’t the success we envisioned. Actually, the Week-ends du monde attracted so many people to Ste-Hélène Island that the Parc Jean-Drapeau took the decision to detour those first shuttle buses, which elongated the trip by several minutes.

(...)

Well, with the fantastically hot and sunny summer we’ve been experiencing these past few weeks, it’s been bound to happen: proceedings are about to get a wee bit funky this Sunday. For this final Piknic before we take our annual mid-season break, we’re taking a journey through all the permutations of house music, with some of its most original new innovators on hand!

Local DJ Baya rings the opening bell at 2pm sharp, and at 4pm the duo known as B.A.G.S. break out a bagful of micro-house and other eclectic sounds for a burnin’ 150-minute session at the Jardin des Floralies. Come 6:30pm, BC-native and one-time Montreal producer Frivolous returns for a visit from his new home in Berlin to give us a taste of just how far he’s grown over his decade in electronic music. Currently part of Luciano’s Cadenza family, Daniel Gardner has been turning in intelligent house music that blurs the lines between dub, jazz, and sampledelic strains into one soup of bubbling, minimal groove.

(...)

Vous vous en êtes sûrement déjà rendus compte (on l’espère!) ; l'organisation du Piknic est très sensible à l’opinion de ses fidèles adeptes. Arrivant aux portes de la mi-saison (oui, déjà!), on s’est dit que c’était le bon moment pour vous consulter. Alors on va vous téléphoner un par un pour vous poser des questions. Ben non, voyons. On est bien plus 2.0 que ça! L'outil? Un sondage web qui nous permettra de connaître vos impressions sur plusieurs facettes de l’événement. L’objectif? Apporter des améliorations basées sur vos commentaires et propositions.

Et ce n'est pas tout. Si nous faisons appel à vous, c'est également en lien avec le choix final de notre projet vert. En effet, vous avez été nombreux (93 personnes!) à participer à notre initiative en faisant un don lors de l'achat de votre passe Piknic. Le montant de 575$ recueilli servira à la réalisation d'un projet éco-responsable en lien avec l'organisation du Piknic Électronik. En répondant au sondage, vous aurez l'occasion de choisir l'activité qui vous semble la plus pertinente. Parmi les répondants, nous ferons tirer 45 Passeports Éco, d'une valeur de 25$ chacun! Pour plus d'infos sur le Passeport Éco, visitez leur site web ici.

Allez-y, lancez-vous! Les réponses que vous fournirez pendant ce dix minutes bien investi nous seront d’une grande utilité. Après tout, le Piknic Électronik, on le fait pour vous... malgré qu'on a pas mal de fun à y travailler! ;-)

Cliquez ici pour répondre au sondage!

It’s official, Michel Quintal (director of programming at Piknic and Igloofest) is on point to accomplishing an important mission he’s mandated to complete before he die: to co-produce a concert by legendary trio Portishead!

So it’s with a bagful of butterflies in out tummies that we announce that Igloofest is co-producing this very show with evenko and Greenland!

WHEN: Friday, October 7, 2011, 7:30 PM

WHERE: Jacques-Cartier Quay in Old Montreal. Yes, that’s where we do Igloofest!

HOLY MOLY, I WANT A TICKET. WHAT DO I DO?! : Patience, my eager beaver. Tickets will go sale this July 16^th at 10am, here.

(...)

Those of you who were there will agree, the party at Jardins des Floralies was off the hook! How can we explain this phenomenon? A quick analysis:

1. Jardins des Floralies’ Abundant Greenery

So many of you took advantage of the opportunity to roll your toes into the natural dance floor! What a soft sensation it is to dance with naked feet in lush green grass. Our social networks were aflutter with piknicers in love with the Floralies. A smaller and more intimate site that hearkens back to the Guru stage, surrounded by all of nature’s grandness! Away from the Calder, it was the closest thing we had to a summer vacation!

2. The talents of our local artists

A day completely composed of locals to shine the spotlight on the hard work of our homegrown DJs. The guys from AKARIEN had crowds dancing up to the last second. Our usual batch of boogey fanatics was on fire! Dear piknicers, our performers had wide smiles sketched out from ear to ear across their faces to see you out in such large numbers!

(...)

This Sunday we debut the very first Piknic Electronik Gatineau! Come to Parc de la Rivière, behind the Canadian Museum of Civilization, each and every Sunday from 2pm to 9pm for afternoons of electronic music in the great outdoors, from now until September 11.

We start the season with: If Then Do DJ Set (Gat/Ott), Olivier Saint-Germain DJ Set (Mtl), Kressel LIVE Set (Mtl) and Likewise DJ Set (Mtl).

$10*, free for kids 12 and under. Spread the word!

A unique chance to relive the original version of Piknic Electronik, as it was during its Montreal beginnings!

Official website: www.piknicelectronikgatineau.com

*Please note the Piknic Électronik Montreal pass does not grant access to these events.

For the next two weeks, Piknic is moving over to its alternative site at les jardins des Floralies! Situated on Ile Notre-Dame and about a 15-minute walk from the metro, you’ll no doubt be charmed by the flora and fauna in full bloom, not to mention its dance floor made of real grass!

Because of the move, and to save your energy, shuttle buses offered by our friends at AMARULA will be taking Piknicers back and forth all day, until 10pm. They’ll be taking off from the corner of the Cosmos Bridge and MacDonald Road. (...)

I’ll remind you of the words my colleague Julie G. wrote in last week’s newsletter, in previewing the weekend: “Sunday, we’re going to have a big Piknic. And if it’s nice out, I have a feeling it will be… epic. Yes, it’s all looking good. So we’ll see you Sunday, do a Piknic Epik!"

Yes, Julie, you were right. You’d be good at predicting the weather or horoscopes; you have a talent for it! Because a picture is worth a thousand words, here’s my flip-camera response. I’ll skip quick quick quick past the part where it’s hot (I don’t deal well with heat) and instead take my time with the parts that were the magic, epic, ecstatic set by Sébastien Léger!

You can’t hear it in the video, but the rain that came down on Piknicers made a “Pssshhht!” sound as it steamed away like water hitting a hot stovetop. (...)

This weekend, Montrealers take their rightful place at the helm of the Piknic Electronik, with a bountiful showcase of several of the most memorable names from the city’s clubs and afterhours braving the daylight under the Calder to shake your Sunday best! From layered tech-house to the psychedelic sounds of electro-infused techno, the guys from AKARIEN are taking you on a trip through the hottest hands on the local scene. (...)