In Canada: Post Malone and Latin Music Feel the Love at Quebec City Festival; CCMA Awards Nods

Post Malone played what may have been the biggest concert in North America this summer last Friday, July 12. At Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ) in Quebec City, he performed a show for over 100,000 people on the historic Plains of Abraham. That’s par for the course for FEQ, which gets major stars in a variety of genres for 10 days every year, yet, outside of Quebec, remains somewhat under the radar.

Malone played after opening sets by Canadian band Valley and rising pop/country artist Jessie Murph. His set was teed up with a crowd singalong to “Sweet Caroline,” before a string section heralded Post’s entrance onto the stage. He started with his 2018 hit “Better Now,” with huge fireworks erupting at every chorus. Throughout the next two hours, he played songs from the Ozzy Osbourne-sampling “Take What You Want” to “Sunflower,” “Congratulations” and the recent No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit “I Had Some Help.”

He broke out some adorably silly dance moves and basked in the applause after every song, which seemed to take him aback. At one point, he even brought up a Quebecer from the audience named Felix, who joined him on stage to chug from a red Solo cup and then strum an acoustic guitar while Post Malone crooned “Stay.” 

This year’s FEQ took place from July 4-14 and boasted headliners from 50 Cent to the Jonas Brothers; Nickelback to the Zac Brown Band.

While FEQ gets major artists for those main stage performances, artistic director Louis Bellavance says it’s not only about getting the biggest acts. “All of them have a function, a role to play in what we’re building,” he says.

It’s about finding the right types of genres and acts that resonate with the Quebec audience, which can sometimes differ from the rest of Canada and the United States, he says. R&B doesn’t play as well as in other markets, nor do many English Canada rock bands. That’s not to say rock doesn’t go over well, though — Mötley Crue packed the stage on the final night, Sunday, July 14, with a crowd much more multi-generational than you might think for a band whose sound and antics peaked in the ’80s.

One new addition this year was Saturday night’s all-Spanish mainstage night of J Balvin, Ivan Cornejo and GALE. FEQ has booked Latin artists before, but never as big as this year’s showcase. It was clear people travelled for the event, with Colombian superstar Balvin spotlighting all the flags in the front row and fans from Spanish-speaking countries around the world. Mexico, Spain, Peru, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Honduras and Colombia were all “in la casa,” he said.

Read more from FEQ here. -Richard Trapunski

Canadian Country Music Association Awards 2024 Nominations: Jade Eagleson, MacKenzie Porter Lead The Pack

The Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) has announced the official nominees for the 2024 CCMA Awards. Topping the list of contenders with six nods apiece are Jade Eagleson and MacKenzie Porter, the latter of whom will co-host the awards show alongside American country star Thomas Rhett.

Hot on their heels with five nominations apiece are The Reklaws and Josh Ross, while High Valley, Owen Riegling and Dallas Smith are each cited in four categories. Other notable Canadian artists making the list include Dean Brody, Steven Lee Olsen, James Barker Band, Brett Kissel, Tenille Townes and Lindsay Ell.

The awards show takes place in Edmonton, at Rogers Place in the heart of downtown, on Saturday Sept. 14 at 8 pm ET, and is broadcast by CTV.

Performers include Dasha, Jade Eagleson, Brett Kissel, The Reklaws, MacKenzie Porter, Thomas Rhett and Dallas Smith, with more to be named.

Two major CCMA Award categories are open for public voting by country music fans across Canada. This year’s Breakthrough Artist or Group of the Year nominees are Hailey Benedict, Dax, Teigen Gayse, Matt Lang and Owen Riegling, and fans can vote for their favourite at ccmafanvote.com.

The 2024 Fans’ Choice nominees are Dean Brody, Jade Eagleson, High Valley, James Barker Band, Tyler Joe Miller, Steven Lee Olsen, MacKenzie Porter, The Reklaws, Josh Ross and Dallas Smith. 

Find the full list of nominees here. –Kerry Doole

ScHoolboy Q’s Toronto Concert Cancelled, Blames Drake’s Beef with Kendrick Lamar

A cancelled show is seemingly connected to the year’s biggest story in rap music: the heated beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar.

ScHoolboy Q was supposed to perform a sold-out show at Toronto venue History on Thursday (July 18). But Q took to X Wednesday to announce that the show had been cancelled, supposedly due to the feud: “CANADIAN POLICE DONT WANT NOBODY FROM TDE [Lamar’s label] PERFORMING..” he wrote.

ScHoolboy Q used to be in the group Black Hippy with Kendrick Lamar and is a former labelmate on Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE). Lamar left the label last year. The venue History is a partnership between Live Nation and Drake.

Q went on to post several times about the show, referencing PartyNextDoor’s recent performance at the Hollywood Palladium in Lamar and ScHoolboy’s hometown of L.A.: “if we wanted to get yall we would’ve just did it.. now wHen sumbody get Hurt don’t cry…”

Q later clarified that he found the cancellation funny and didn’t mean his post as a threat, but as advice: “I neva said “ ima kill sumbody” im saying if we wanted to crack it off we could’ve smH,” he wrote, “ima soccer dad.”

ScHoolboy Q, who performed at Lamar’s June 14 Pop Out Concert, is also briefly featured in Lamar’s video for the Drake diss track “Not Like Us,” which has added some fire back to a fight that was on the verge of dying down. Q and Lamar go back a long way, as former collaborators in Black Hippy alongside Jay Rock and Ab-Soul.

Drake posted an Instagram story following Q’s posts on X, leading some to speculate that he was trolling the rapper. In the shared story, Drake is seemingly sporting blue slides, possibly referencing ScHoolboy’s single of the same name.

He’s also wearing a shirt that reads “Free Yayo,” a reference to hip hop artist Tony Yayo who in a recent interview spoke about not wanting to get caught up in the Drake/Kendrick beef.

“You don’t wanna say something about Drake and f–ckin can’t go to Canada,” he told VladTV.

Though no official explanation for the cancellation has been revealed, the event page for the concert on Ticketmaster states that it was cancelled by the event organizer.

“The decision to cancel this event was made by the venue, not by the Toronto Police Service,” says a spokesperson from the Toronto Police Service.

Billboard Canada has reached out to Live Nation for comment.

The cancellation follows a recent attack on Rick Ross — who previously released Drake diss track “Champagne Moments” — in Vancouver, while “Not Like Us” played at the concert. Drake liked a post about the incident at the time. – Rosie Long Decter