Slideshow: Noé Performs at Osheaga Festival in Montreal
Noé, a four-piece electro-pop band from Berklee, kicked off Day Two of the 2016 Osheaga Music and Arts Festival in Montreal, Canada with a pulse-pounding set of catchy, thoughtful tunes.
Reed Silverstein
The members of Noé at a rest stop on their way up to Canada. From left: Noémie Legrand '16, vocals and bandleader; Adrian Forbes, keys and key bass; Mateo Gold '15, guitar; Corbin Johnson '16, drums and laptop.
Reed Silverstein
Singer-songwriter Noémie Legrand '16 warms up backstage at Osheaga prior to the band's set. Legrand has been writing songs since childhood, but only formed Noé in late 2015 when she found out about the Berklee Popular Music Institute (BPMI).
Reed Silverstein
Alumnus Mateo Gold '15 tears through a solo during the arresting set-closer "In the Dark." His commanding signature sound comes from his artful use of a delay effects pedal and an octave splitter pedal.
Reed Silverstein
The crowd gathers (and grows) throughout Noé's set on the Scène des Arbres (Tree Stage)—a stage they shared throughout the festival with established acts such as Hiatus Kaiyote, Låpsley, and Allie X.
Reed Silverstein
Corbin Johnson's dynamic and impassioned drumming commanded attention from all around. "Osheaga was for sure one of the best experiences of my life so far," said Johnson, a Washington, D.C. native who completed his performance major in May 2016.
Reed Silverstein
Adrian Forbes, a sixth semester professional music major from Atlanta, Georgia, shook the audience to its core with his key bass grooves. "Being able to do something I love alongside some of my closest friends made the entire experience at Osheaga unforgettable," he said.
Reed Silverstein
After three days of catching some of their favorite acts onstage and playing the largest show of their career, the band catches some much needed rest on the long but triumphant ride back to Boston.
Reed Silverstein
Keeping in trend with North American summer festival tropes, the 2016 Osheaga Festival provided plenty in the way of sweaty concertgoers bedecked with flat-brimmed hats, cutoff shorts, and wristbands that allowed attendees to consume as much live music as they possibly could in three days. By the end of the first day, however, right as the Red Hot Chili Peppers were closing out the evening, a growing number of wrists received a different bracelet, this one advertising the band Noé's performance, which was scheduled for Day Two at 2:45 p.m. In addition to the Chili Peppers, the festival featured established acts such as Radiohead, Lana Del Ray, Leon Bridges, Kurt Vile, and Best Coast, among many others.
The members of the four-piece Berklee outfit—singer and band namesake Noémie Legrand '16 , drummer Corbin Johnson '16, guitarist Mateo Gold '15, and keyboardist Adrian Forbes—had traveled up from Boston for their slot in the Berklee Popular Music Institute's (BPMI) summer festival circuit, and were eager to spread the word about the performance, which promised to be the largest of their career to date since forming in late 2015. The bracelets are a BPMI tradition, as it allows the members of the band to make personal connections with new fans and give them a wearable reminder of when to catch the band.
Fast-forward to their Saturday performance, and many of those wrists were raised high in the air, pumping along with the dancey electronic pop/rock tracks, whether it was a cover of Kanye West's "American Boy," or the band's debut single, "Lady." To introduce the last song of the set, the soulful banger "In the Dark," the Paris-born Legrand dedicated the song to the victims of the recent Bastille Day tragedy in France, saying, "However much hate there is in the world, we're never going to give into it—never going to give in to fear."
Listen to a podcast with Legrand on her journey to music and Berklee.
The Value of the Festival Circuit
Reflecting on the experience, Legrand, a recent graduate who studied in Berklee's Songwriting Department, said, "I feel like I've been a part of something so much bigger than me. I'm really proud of what we've accomplished and what BPMI helped us accomplish."
BPMI's festival reach extends well beyond Osheaga, as the institute has previously sent artists to Electric Daisy Carnival and Lollapalooza and will finish out the season by sending Berklee artist Symone to the Made in America Festival in Philadelphia this September. “Everyone wants to perform at these festivals now,” said Jeff Dorenfeld, BPMI's founding managing director and music business professor. “These are the places where artists break and get seen.” This fall, BPMI will officially kick off its year-long curriculum that pairs music business students with Berklee artists in an opportunity that takes real-world experience far beyond the classroom. The pairs will work together on everything from contracts and digital media to recording and performance, with the program culminating in festival slots next summer.
Check out the photo slideshow above to catch a glimpse of the band's Osheaga experience, as seen through the lens of Berklee student photographer Reed Silverstein.
Related: BPMI Band Cordelia and the Buffalo at the 2015 Osheaga Festival