Heavy Montréal (stylized as Heavy MONTRÉAL, formerly known as Heavy MTL) is a two-day, summer heavy metal and hard rock music festival held annually at

Parc Jean-Drapeau Jean Drapeau Park (officially in French: ''Parc Jean-Drapeau'') (formerly called ''Parc des Îles'') is the third-largest park in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It comprises two islands, Saint Helen's Island and the artificial island Notre Dame Isla ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

, Quebec, Canada. It also includes various other events at different venues across the city. The "MTL" in the former name, ''Heavy MTL'', served as both an abbreviation for "Montreal" and "Metal". In 2014, the festival was officially renamed as "Heavy Montréal".. In 2023, the festival revived the "Heavy MTL" moniker once again through it's logo.

History

Since the festival's first edition in 2008, Heavy Montréal, known until 2014 as "Heavy MTL", has seen some of the world's most successful heavy metal acts, such as

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

, Mötley Crüe,

Disturbed Disturbed may refer to: Books * ''Disturbed'', a 2011 novel by Kevin O'Brien (author) Film and TV * ''Disturbed'' (film), a 1990 film starring Malcolm McDowell * "Disturbed" (''Numb3rs''), a 2009 episode of ''Numb3rs'' * "The Disturbed", a 2 ...

Dethklok Dethklok is a fictional melodic death metal band featured in the Adult Swim animated television series ''Metalocalypse''. The first official Dethklok album was released on September 25, 2007, entitled '' The Dethalbum''. The album debuted at n ...

, Rob Zombie, Korn,

Avenged Sevenfold Avenged Sevenfold (abbreviated as A7X) is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California, formed in 1999. The band's current lineup consists of lead vocalist M. Shadows, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Zacky Vengeance ...

, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth,

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guillot ...

Kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a precu ...

Godsmack Godsmack is an American rock band from Lawrence, Massachusetts, formed in 1995. The band is composed of lead singer and rhythm guitarist Sully Erna, bassist Robbie Merrill, lead guitarist Tony Rombola and drummer Shannon Larkin. Since its form ...

, In Flames, Slipknot, Marilyn Manson,

Deftones Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by Chino Moreno (vocals, guitar), Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Abe Cunningham (drums), and Dominic Garcia (bass). During their first f ...

System of a Down System of a Down (also known as SoaD or simply System) is an Armenian-American heavy metal band formed in Glendale, California, in 1994. Since 1997, the band has consisted of Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards); Daron Malakian (guitar, voc ...

Five Finger Death Punch Five Finger Death Punch, also abbreviated as 5FDP or FFDP, is an American heavy metal band from Las Vegas, Nevada, formed in 2005. The band originally consisted of vocalist and keyboardist Ivan Moody, rhythm guitarist Zoltan Bathory, lead g ...

Children of Bodom Children of Bodom was a Finnish melodic death metal band from Espoo. Formed in 1993 as Inearthed, the final line-up of the group upon their split in 2019 consisted of Alexi Laiho (lead guitar, lead vocals), Jaska Raatikainen (drums), Henkka Sepp ...

and

Babymetal (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese kawaii metal band consisting of Suzuka Nakamoto as "Su-metal" and Moa Kikuchi as "Moametal". The band is produced by Kobametal from the Amuse talent agency. Their vocals are backed by heavy metal instrume ...

. In 2011, a sister event, Heavy T.O., was created for

Downsview Park Downsview Park is a large urban park located in the Downsview neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The park's name is officially bilingual due to it being federally owned and managed, and was first home to de Havilland Canada, an aircraf ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, Ontario, Canada. Both events were held during the same weekends, with most bands playing one day in Montreal and the other in Toronto. Despite the Toronto event's popularity, however, promoters ceased operations there after the festival's 2012 incarnation. For the 2014 festival, Heavy MTL was officially rebranded as "Heavy Montréal". This was done as an "evolution" of the festival, with efforts made to include a wide array of styles in its programming. The festival took a one-year hiatus in 2017, citing the renovations taking place that year in Parc Jean-Drapeau and the increase in other cultural events due to Montreal celebrating its . In November 2019, event promotions company

Evenko Evenko is a Montreal-based event promoter. The company is owned by the Montreal Canadiens' ownership group Groupe CH, which is controlled by the Molson family. It handles event booking for venues such as Bell Centre, the Corona Theatre, and Plac ...

announced that Heavy Montreal would not occur in 2020, in part due to "the number of non-festival metal/rock concerts that will be announced over the next few months", said Evenko chief operating officer Jacques Aubé.

Past editions

2019

The lineup included:

2018

Heavy Montreal returned in 2018 after a one-year hiatus. The lineup included: # Replaced

2016

The 2016 edition of Heavy Montréal took place on 6–7 August 2016. For 2016 the festival was held on a new site in Parc Jean-Drapeau, la Plaine des Jeux. The lineup included:

2015

The 2015 edition of Heavy Montréal took place over three days from 7 to 9 August 2015. The lineup included:

2014

The lineup included: # Replaced

Dirty Rotten Imbeciles Dirty Rotten Imbeciles (often abbreviated and referred to as D.R.I.) is an American crossover thrash band that formed in Houston, Texas in 1982. The band is currently composed of two of its founding members, vocalist Kurt Brecht and guitarist S ...

2013

For the 2013 edition, Heavy MTL also featured a live pro wrestling event showcasing men and women of the Montreal independent wrestling scene.

2012

# Replaced

# Replaced Lamb of God # Replaced

High on Fire High on Fire is an American heavy metal band from Oakland, California, that was formed in 1999. Matt Pike, the band's frontman and founder, also plays guitar for doom metal band Sleep. High on Fire won the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Metal Perfo ...

2011

# Replaced

The Sword The Sword was an American heavy metal band from Austin, Texas. Formed in 2003, the band was composed of vocalist and guitarist John D. Cronise, guitarist Kyle Shutt, bassist Bryan Richie and drummer Santiago "Jimmy" Vela III for most of its t ...

2010

2009

Due to the high number of metal live shows performed in Montreal during the year ( Metallica, AC/DC,

, Dream Theater, Marilyn Manson,

and many more) it was announced that the festival would not take place in 2009 and return in 2010.

2008

References

External links

*
Heavy Montréal
on Myspace
2012 Heavy MTL Line-up and preview
{{Authority control Music festivals in Montreal Heavy metal festivals in Canada Rock festivals in Canada Music festivals established in 2008