You’ve been considering it for a while. You’ve said: It would be cool, a road trip to Montreal… the Piknic really does have an incredible atmosphere, and I’d love to be there. Imagine yourself taking us up on the sweet combo deals we have for accommodations and access to Piknic, for you and a friend. Ranging from $89 to $229, all depending on what kind of trip you’d like to take, these packages are available from three the Hi-Montreal youth hostel, Hotel Zero 1, and OPUS Hotel. Make your choice and come see us! All details here.

For this official video, we’re taking a little peak into the poetic universe of Piknic, where everything is a little beautiful. The ladies, the guys, the greenery, the sky, the music, the vibe. In reality, Piknic isn’t too far off from this vision of perfection… In fact, it’s so perfect that our feet no longer touch the ground. But of course we say this in all modesty.

On September 8^th, we’re having the last event in our PIKNIC 10 series. We’ve been waiting for it for a long time. Why? Because Sebastien Leger, who’s always a hit (two times already, once at Piknic 2011 and again at Igloofest 2012), is back under the Calder for a performance that’s expected to be every bit as memorable (no pressure!). Is there more? Yes!

Riva Starr, who’s also touching down at the Piknic for a second time, I showing up transformed by her collaboration with Fatboy Slim, who made her an international star. Topping it all off, young Montreal group Forrest. is on hand for their first live set ever to get us started. As far as evenings not to miss, this is no doubt in out Top 5.

Make note: tickets will be on sale for $20 at the door only, the night of the event. No pre-sale. Piknic season pass holders can get in for the discounted price of $18. So… are you setting aside September 8^th just for us? That’s what we thought.

We hate to be the ones to tell you, but we have some bad news: summer’s almost over. Next Tuesday you have to vote, and after that you’ll have to put some pants on for the first time since last May. Your tan is going to begin fading away, and those sunglasses are going to make everything look a little too dark instead of just right.

The only thing left to do is enter our annual Labour Day Weekend recovery program. Do You know how people say, “Last night, a DJ saved my life”? Well, the truth is it actually takes a long weekend for a DJ’s magic cure to take hold. We know how devastating it is to lose a hot summer like this one, and that’s why we’ve devised the following three-day DJ recovery plan to get you through the hard times. Come with us, and we’ll take care of you.

DAY 1: Saturday, September 1^st
If you’re like most students, you’re already broke after starting CEGEP last week or from getting ready to start university next week. That’s why this first day is extra-special for you. With a valid student ID, we’ll waive your Saturday Piknic tuition fee is you show up before 4pm!

The day gets underway at the MOOG stage at 2pm sharp with the adventurous sonic palette of the En Espagñol collective’s Esteban de Haro, whom you probably know from his regular sets at Salon Daomé’s Safari and Futuristicfunk nights. Hot up-and-coming local tagteam duo Prince Club takes over at 4pm, ready to jack up the house music. At 7pm, Piknic and Igloofest legend Thomas Schumacher returns once again to showcase why he’s still king of the big room after two decades in the game.

The GURU stage gets going at 3pm with Alfred Borden. Who proposes “inertial grooves, balanced beats, as well as a range of soothing sounds.” At 5pm, local DJ Matteo Grondini gets a little funkier with his mix of discofied house music.

DAY 2: Sunday, September 2^nd
For Sunday, we’re bringing Quebec’s queen of the decks for our annual love-in with Montreal’s favourite daughter, Misstress Barbara! She’s our region’s Labour Day tradition, like going to the cabane à sucre in the spring or moving on July 1^st! (...)

At Piknic, we think green. In an effort to educate our public to the many ways and alternatives for protecting our environment, we called in the Echo’Scouade team to come inform us in all matters of sustainable development. Echo’Scouade has taken part in Piknic every summer since 2010, and they were also on hand for last year’s Igloofest. This weekend, the dynamic green team will be on hand for the first time this summer on September 2^nd and 3^rd!

A little background
Created in 2010 by the Echo-Logique Consortium and supported by their partners Boissons Gazeuses Environnement and Recyc-Quebec, Echo’Scouade is a dynamic promotion team for eco-citizenry that travels all over Quebec to bring awareness to eco-responsible development at major events. Their approach? Educate festivalgoers, promoters, and businesses about the hierarchical value of the three R’s (reduce, reuse, and recycle), in a fun and involved way. (...)

Hey there, it’s Iannick from Piknic. This “line” of mine is famous, I’ve been hearing since I started working here. Since April 7^th precisely. When I answer the phone, I pull out the quote, I make Maud La Rue (our social networker) laugh. And I get some gratification from this. It means La Rue is a good audience for my brand of... answering the phone.

I’ve been at this job for 6 months and this is the first time that they’ve let me write a post. It’s about time, no? This is what happens when the content manager CONTROLS her content.

So many things happened last Sunday, and here’s a brief overview:

- I got started an hour late. The result: I was up to my eyeballs in work from 3pm to 8pm non-stop. No rest for the wicked.
- The GURU stage was “IN THE VIBE”.
- It was a “crew” themed weekend, and so we had two fun gangs for the price of one: Bad Pony Records and Boomclap Soundcrew.
- Spotted: Jonas in the yellow pants, who climbs on the MOOG stage to shout out CKOI. We thought he was related to Fuzzy (a bit).
- Pas d’cochon’s chicken stole the show

I was shocked to see that the bucket was a rare item under the Calder this past Sunday. (...)

Ok, the STM has gone a little nuts. Start gathering 20 of your closest friends for the September 1^st Piknic. Yes, you and 20 friends. A field-trip party. An STM bus will pick you all up from your door and take you all to Piknic. The deal includes: free entry to Piknic fro everyone, but also two STM UNLIMITED EVENING PASSES for everyone onboard. So you can come back the next evening.

Attention! To participate, you have to answer this question: How much does an UNLIMITED EVENING PASS cost? Go to Piknic’s Facebook to post the answer as a comment to the ticket posted there on August 23^rd, at 12:30pm. A winner will be determined by 1:30pm.

The STM will go get the whole group at a chosen time and at the address of your choice on the island of Montreal!

Good luck, and thank you STM!

This weekend, expect a showdown by two of Montreal’s most exciting club collectives! On one stage, we have those two-year-old toddlers of tech-house at Bad Pony Records, while on the other we have the bass-jockeying hype machines of the Boomclap Soundcrew.

On the MOOG stage, the day gets off to a quick start at 2pm with Gregorio Clandestino, who warms us up for an hour until emerging techno producer Ohm Hourani takes over at 3pm. Come 5pm Mr. Bad Pony himself, Tone Depth, arrives to pump up The Calder. At 7pm the space-age funkbots known as Disco Bum get live for us. Finally at 8pm, Tone Depth returns to the decks with Cherry and Salon Daomé resident Greg Pidcock and Ohm Hourani to tagteam us through to the finish line.

Over at the GURU stage, it’s Boomclap Soundcrew going back to back all day long, with an eclectic bag of bass-heavy tunage starting off at 3pm. South France’s Azamat B. blends house and techno with R&B and hip-hop, while LOL Boy Markus G. showcases just why he’s so hotly tipped by everyone from Mary Anne Hobbs to Salva. Skunch adds some oomph! to the decks, while Nick “Brutus” Grass hypes up the crowd like no one else.

See you there!

Hey, young person! Coming to Montreal? Hi-Montreal youth hostel is offering a nice package just for you. So you can join us inexpensively and conveniently. And affordably.

DOUBLE occupancy:

- 1 night at the hostel for two people in a private room
- 2 breakfasts at the hostel
- 2 tickets to Piknic Electronik

Member rate: $89
Non-member rate: $99

For $30 more, we’ll throw in two tickets to the September 8^th installment of the Piknic 10 series.

SINGLE occupancy:

- 1 night at the hostel for one person in the dormitory
- 1 breakfast at the hostel
- 1 ticket to Piknic Electronik

Member rate: $40
Non-member rate: $45

For $15 more, we’ll throw in two tickets to the September 8^th installment of the Piknic 10 series.

To reserve your package, click here and mention the Piknic package in the comments box. By telephone, call 514-843-3317 or 1-866-843-3317 (no charge in North America).

Right. Sunday night, upon arriving home AFTER the Piknic, I realized that it was my turn to write the event review. It caught me completely off guard. The results? After that fact, I’ve got no inspiration. I’m a white page. I’m silence. I’m eeempty. I’m a small ball on my couch as time passes and I don’t know what to write.

All of which is to say, I arrived at the Piknic at around 4:30pm, the time I usually begin my shift at the bar. I didn’t move a toe before Blond:ish dropped the last beat. So, if I had any impressions to register, it would read like this: the bees were out in such full force that we wondered if there was a hive between the pineapple juice and the Jäger machine / Le Ricard (patis) was very popular / A polite but forward client (hello, Dave) asked for my hand in marriage. But still... something tells me that if I don’t balance out these last few lines, I would be falling short of my honour as content manager this week. So in the spirit of the full picture, I’ve gathered three colleagues who had different vantage points than lines of Piknicers and strong booze. (...)

Feelin’ fancy? Do you wish Piknic was more of a luxury experience? We do too, sometimes. So here’s a package for you.

• 1 night at the OPUS hotel for 2 people
• 2 hotel breakfasts
• 2 welcome cocktails at KOKO
• 2 tickets for Piknic Electronik

Price: $229 + taxes

For an extra $30, we’ll also throw in two tickets to the final show in the Piknic 10 series on September 8^th. Click here for all details!

To reserve your package, click here and enter PIKNIC as your promotional code!

You already know it. Matonvu is offering up the chance to fly you to Barcelona so you can attend the Catalan version of Piknic Electronik next September 23^rd. But are you aware that there’s only two weeks left to participate, and that the contest’s closing date is September 4^th? Mm-Hmm. Here’s a recap of how to get involved, after you’ve had your picture taken at Piknic using the MATONVU photomaton: go to Matonvu.ca’s Facebook page, like it with all your heart, find your photo there and tag yourself. Don’t forget to hold onto the printed photo that you got from the machine onsite: it’s your proof of participation! All details on the contest can be found here.

As part of our 10^th anniversary, the MATONVU team is preparing a mini-documentary about Piknic, in 4 episodes. Here’s the second one, on “the success of Piknic”. Thank you, MATONVU crew!

I don’t like to bring up winter in the middle of August, but this is worth the exception. Why? Because I know you’re dying of impatience to know that dates for Igloofest 2013. So here you are; we’re not going to make you wait any longer. Go get your calendar and circle these dates!

Weekend 1: January 17-18-19, 2013
Weekend 2: January 24-25-26, 2013
Weekend 3: January 31 & February 1-2, 2013
Weekend 4: February 7-8-9, 2013

You saw that correctly: Igloofest is growing to 4 weekends. Betcha never saw that coming! One more than the usual, because we’d like the coldest season to move along a little quicker, because we’d like to dance a little more, because we want to extend your pleasure.

In conclusion, we’ll give you a little advice. If you go out looking for a perfect “one piece” five months in advance, you just might score that rare pearl of fluorescent kitsch bound to steal the show next winter.

Photo : Miguel Legault

We trust you’re well rested after last week’s cancellation of the Piknic @ Lachine Canal, so this week we’re ramping up Parc Jean-Drapeau’s BPM-fuelled Calder once again, this time with our friends at CISM 89.3FM, for an all-Montreal blowout that should guarantee good times!

The MOOG stage gets going with a spoonful of soulful house music at 2pm, when UK native (and current Montreal resident) Paul Rowland, whose long history in dance music has resulted in three Top 40 hits as well as some top-drawer DJ residencies in England and Toronto. Melodic, funk-inflected bass lines are behind local DJ Julian Prince, who takes the stage at 4:30pm. Come 7pm, we flip the script started with Paul Rowland by spotlighting Blond:ish, the Montreal house tagteam duo of blondes Anstascia and Vivie-Ann who got their start here but have since gone on to brighter club lights in the UK on the backs of strong singles for Kompakt, Get Physical, and Noir.

The GURU stage goes deep this Sunday, kicking off at 3pm with local producer Le Menuisier, who recently came out of self-imposed exile to nurture his love of house once again. At 5pm, rising leftfield electronic producer Groj delivers an anticipated live set.

See you there!