El Diver performing at Festivent. 3 August, 2016. Photo credit: Andrew Greenfield.
Coming up to St-Jean-Chrysostome with hot air balloons showing the way, you knew the whole city would be in fest mode.
El Diver was the first band to perform to open the Festivent for this year to a thrilled crowd.
The Quebec City-based band comprises Jean-Christophe Boies (Vocals), Simon Laplante (Bass), Steve Nadeau (Guitar) and Francis Fugère (Drums).
El Diver started out in 2014 when Jean-Christophe and Simon from Quebec City hooked up with Steve Nadeau from Montreal.
Nadeau is “an old time musical partner of JC, and dirties up the project with his guitar textures, both lyrical and corrosive.” This time Boies, former member of Projet Orange, lead the way with a heavier project which made for a perfect opener for Three Days Grace who were up next.
They started off with two energetic songs, Get down on the floor and Who we are. The band introduced themselves by the third song, Wake up me love, and also inquired of the crowd if they were in the mood for some more music.
The quartet definitely warmed up the crowd for Three Days Grace with their hard rock, sometimes with ambient tones, loud guitar solos, fast drum lines and catchy melodies.
It was quite an interesting contrast to see people still enjoying their merry-go-round fairground rides while the band played close by.
At the same time, hot air balloons were being inflated behind the crowd just before the sunset. You might not think this is relevant, but wait for the song Riot in the last paragraph.
Boies did not interact much with the crowd during the first half of the 10-track set but the lighting and loud rock music more than made up for that as they entertained the crowd.
Laplante’s stunning bass playing shone throughout the song Disconnected. For Nadeau, it was definitely during their sixth song entitled Chewing Gum that he stole the show with his guitar skills. Boies even cracked a joke about a fake failed urine test before the show, as a way to introduce their seventh song, Soon be flying.
Riot got the second to last spot in the setlist. With police sirens in the background, Boies stated that he knew we were not part of the United States but he wanted to let the audience know he didn’t quite like Donald Trump.
He also said he’d rather see one of the hot air balloon characters at the back of the crowd elected in November.
He did not mention which one, but the choice was either Tweety the Bird, Sylvester the Cat or Pepé Le Pew.
El Diver ended their performance with No not me and they thanked the crowd and Festivent for being invited.
If you want to get a feel for El Diver’s sound, 5 songs are available on their Soundcloud account (Now, Soon be flying, Disconnected, Wake up me love, Who we are).
Definitely a band to watch in the Quebec City rock scene.
Setlist :
1. Get down on the floor, 2. Who we are, 3. Wake up me love, 4. Disconnected, 5. Mission possible, 6. Chewing Gum, 7. Soon be flying, 8. Now, 9. Riot, 10. No not me
Festivent – 5 nights of great music on the south shore.
3 – 7 August, 2016 – for more information visit Festivent.net
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Une foule IMMENSE pour cette 1e soirée du Festivent! #Festivent #Festivent2016 pic.twitter.com/RTZ0kDaiqj
— Festivent (@festivent) August 4, 2016
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