Arcade Fire have been announced as the replacement for Foo Fighters at the Osheaga Music And Arts Festival.
The three-day event is due to take place in Montréal, Canada between July 29 and August 1, with A$AP Rocky and Dua Lipa headlining the Saturday and Sunday nights respectively. It’ll mark the festival’s 15th anniversary.
Foo Fighters had been scheduled to top the bill on the Friday evening, but last month cancelled all of their upcoming gigs in the wake of the tragic death of their drummer Taylor Hawkins.
Today (April 14) Osheaga organisers took to social media to confirm that Arcade Fire will now headline instead. The group, which was founded in Montréal, previously headlined the festival back in 2010.
“A milestone deserves to be celebrated as a family, so for our 15th anniversary, it only made sense for us to invite the group that has had the most profound impact in the heart of our city over the past decades,” the announcement read.
ANNONCE
@ArcadeFire sera des nôtres cet été !
Une étape importante mérite d'être célébrée en famille, alors pour notre 15e anniversaire, il nous était logique d’inviter le groupe qui a eu le plus profond impact au coeur de notre ville au cours des dernières décennies. pic.twitter.com/5fN7pZSJwq— OSHEAGA (@osheaga) April 14, 2022
Taking to their official Instagram account, Arcade Fire shared the news while telling fans that they’ll be dedicating their forthcoming Osheaga set to Taylor Hawkins.
“I considered Taylor from the Foo Fighters a friend,” said frontman Win Butler. “He was always so sweet and so musical, and we’re gonna be dedicating our performance at Osheaga to him. And we can’t wait to see all of you, take care of each other.”
You can see that post below.
Foo Fighters have previously covered Arcade Fire’s 2007 track ‘Keep The Car Running’, which appears on the latter’s second album ‘Neon Bible’. The live rendition of the song was released as part of the Foos’ 2019 rarities EP EP ‘01070725’.
Machine Gun Kelly, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Royal Blood, Glass Animals, Idles, Mitksi and many more will also appear at Osheaga 2022. You can find more information and ticket details here.
Taylor Hawkins was found in his hotel room in Bogotá, Colombia on March 25, hours before Foo Fighters were due to headline a festival in the city as part of a South American tour. He was 50 years old. A cause of death is yet to be determined.
An initial toxicology report was carried out by health officials late last month. It found that multiple drugs including opiates, antidepressants and marijuana were found in Hawkins’ system at the time of his death.
Arcade Fire will release their sixth studio album, ‘WE’, on May 6 via Columbia Records. It’s been previewed by the double lead single ‘The Lightning I, II’, with its follow-up ‘Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)’ expected to land soon.
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