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Bars and Nightlife

Bars andn Nightlife

Montréal’s nightlife keeps going into the small hours of the morning, and its bars and clubs cater for everyone - from the students of the Quartier Latin and the punks who hang out on the corner of Ste-Catherine and St-Denis, to the anglophone yuppies of rue Crescent. The places listed here are the best of the bunch and are open until 3am unless stated otherwise. Always tip the bar staff - the perks constitute the main whack of their wages. Many bars have regular music nights, with jazz being especially popular. Other than the bars, there are numerous venues in the city, with top-name touring bands playing at the new Centre Molson and the Olympic Stadium.

For up-to-date information , the Mirror ( www.montrealmirror.com ) and Hour ( www.afterhour.com ) are free English weekly newspapers with excellent listings sections. The English-language daily The Montreal Gazette also carries comprehensive listings - the Friday weekend guide is particularly good. Montréal Scope , available in tourist information offices and the better hotels, is primarily for mainstream tourists.

The Performing Arts and Cinema

Montréal’s most prestigious centre for the performing arts is the Place des Arts, 175 rue Ste-Catherine ouest (information tel 285-4200, tickets tel 842-2112, www.pdarts.com ), a five-hall complex with a comprehensive year-round programme of dance, music and theatre. The Théâtre de Verdure in Parc Lafontaine is an outdoor theatre with a summer-long programme of free plays, ballets and concerts. Another eclectic venue is the Théâtre St-Denis, 1594 St-Denis (tel 849-4211), which presents blockbuster musicals and other shows. The Saidye Bronfman Centre, 5170 chemin de la Côte Ste-Catherine (tel 739-2301), contains an exhibition centre and a three-hundred-seater venue for English (or Yiddish) music, dance, film and theatre.

The city’s foremost French-language theatre is the Théâtre du Rideau Vert, 4664 St-Denis (tel 845-0267), which gives prominence to Québec playwrights, while the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, 84 Ste-Catherine est (tel 866-8667), presents a mix of contemporary and classic plays in French. Montréal’s main English-language theatre is the Centaur Theatre, housed in the former stock exchange at 453 St-François-Xavier (tel 288-3161).

Montréal has more than ten excellent dance troupes from the internationally acclaimed Les Grandes Ballets Canadiens (tel 849-8681) and Ballets Classiques de Montréal to the avant-garde LaLaLa Human Steps and Tangente, who perform at various times at the Place des Arts, Théâtre de Verdue and during the festivals. The continent’s premier contemporary dance festival is the Festival International de Nouvelle Danse , held at various city locations on odd-numbered years from late September to early October.

There are two well-known orchestras based in the city, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (tel 842-9951) and the Orchestre Métropolitain (tel 598-0870), each of whom holds regular concerts at Place des Arts and the Basilique Notre-Dame. The city also has a programme of free summer concerts in various city parks (information tel 842-3402). L’Opéra de Montréal (tel 985-2258) produces five bilingually subtitled productions a year at Place des Arts.

Films in English, usually the latest releases from the US, can be caught at most cinemas. Central ones include Centre Eaton, 705 rue Ste-Catherine ouest; the ornate Egyptian, 1455 rue Peel; the subterranean Faubourg, 1616 rue Ste-Catherine ouest; and the wide-screened and armchaired Paramount, 977 rue Ste-Catherine ouest. The city’s only English rep cinema is the Cinema du Parc, 3575 ave du Parc (tel 281-1900 for listings). For Québécois film-makers, check out the Cinémathèque Québécoise, 335 boul de Maisonneuve est (Tues-Sun 11am-9pm), which has screening and exhibition programmes that bring together the history, events and future of cinema, TV and new media; Ex-Centris, 3536 boul St-Laurent has a penchant for alternative French film. Call 849-FILM for films and times or check the weeklies - make sure to verify that the English film you want to see is playing in v.o. (version originale), not v.f. (version français); the latter means it’s dubbed.

Festivals and other Events

Montréal has a different festival every week throughout the summer months (check www.festivals.qc.ca for a comprehensive list). Of these, the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal ( www.montrealjazzfest.com ) is North America’s largest, with more than 400 shows, most of them free. From late June to early July, more than 2000 internationally-renowned musicians descend on the city; past years have drawn the likes of B.B. King, Etta James, Al Jarreau, Dave Brubeck, Ben E. King and Branford Marsalis. Continuing the superlatives, there’s the mid-July Juste pour Rire (“Just For Laughs”), which is the world’s largest comedy festival, with past headliners including Tim Allen, Rowan Atkinson, Jim Carrey, John Candy, Lily Tomlin and David Hyde Pierce. Theatres host 650 comedians from 14 countries performing in more than 1000 shows ( www.hahaha.com ). Hot on the heels of the Comedy Fest, the Francofolies ( www.francofolies.com ) brings French musicians from around the world to various downtown stages.

The most visually spectacular of the city’s shindigs is the International Fireworks Competition , whose participants are competing to get contracts for the July 4 celebrations in the US. Held from June to July, the music-coordinated pyrotechnics are a breathtaking sight. The action takes place at La Ronde and tickets are around $20, but across the water and on the Jacques-Cartier Bridge the spectacle is free, and the music for the displays is broadcast live on local radio.

There are also a number of food-tasting events and, in some cases, boozy ones, like the June Beer Mundial event in the Vieux-Port, which offers the opportunity to get legless on more than 250 brands of beer from around the world. In August, the Fêtes Gourmandes Internationales takes over Île Notre-Dame for mouthwatering taste-tests. Come late-January, the islands host ice-sculpting and general carousing with the Fête des Neiges de Montréal ( www.pdi-montreal.com ).

Montréal has film festivals practically every month, some thematic, some devoted to individuals. The most notable is the Montréal World Film Festival in late August, the city’s answer to Cannes, Berlin, Venice and Toronto ( www.ffm-montreal.org ), but the Vues d’Afrique ( www.vuesdafrique.org ) is gaining prominence for bringing African and Caribbean films to Montréal.

Finally, the Cirque du Soleil (tel 522-2324, www.cirquedusoleil.com ) is a fantastic circus company that travels all over the world; every other year it has a big-top season in its home city. Refusing to exploit animals, the circus’s acrobats, trapeze artists, clowns, jugglers and contortionists present an incredible show, with original music scores, extravagant costumes and mind-blowing stunts.

Most event tickets can be purchased through Admission (tel 790-1245 or 1-800/678-5440, www.admission.com ).