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Is Montreal really ready for a country-music festival?

For the longest time, our city has been considered one of the worst markets for country music. When I met country superstar Keith Urban in 2017, he said he had never set foot in Montreal until then, despite being one of the music world’s bestselling artists. His show at the Bell Centre that summer was his first show ici.

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The main problem is that Montreal does not have a major commercial country radio station, and Montrealers have often been frosty toward a style of music associated with more rural, rootsy settings.

But that’s starting to change. Urban’s show did well. Luke Bryan sold out the Bell Centre in early 2016, and the folks at Evenko, the city’s top concert promoter, note that Montreal consistently rates second in terms of streaming of country music in Canada.

That’s why Evenko — the company behind the music festivals Osheaga, Heavy Montréal and ÎleSoniq — has decided to create a country music festival, Lasso. It will make its debut Aug. 15 and 16, 2020 at Parc Jean-Drapeau, on the same site as those other festivals.