Show picks of the week (July 24 – 30, 2015)

Montreal festival mania is in full swing this week, with Just for Laughs entering its final week, and the Fantasia film festival still rolling strong with a great slate of wonderfully strange films from around the world. On a completely different page, the annual Rrroooaaarrr festival kicks off on Thursday, with four days of boundary-pushing hardcore/punk/noise bands hitting the city through Sunday.

Check out our picks for the week below, including no less than four stellar shows to catch on Thursday night. You can always sleep in August!

Friday, July 24  – Sunday, July 26
Go see something at Just for Laughs. This year’s lineup is incredible, with the small OFF-JFL club shows being the best bang for your buck. You can’t go wrong catching sets by Rhys Darby, Neal Brennan, Jen Kirkman, among tons of others. For more info, visit hahaha.com.

Monday, July 27

Laura Marling at Cafe Campus
UK singer-songwriter Laura Marling returns to Montreal with some fine support, including Johnny Flynn and Marika Hackman. Start your week off with Marling’s soothing voice, before Rrroooaaarrr‘s aural onslaught begins on Thursday. 8:00 pm, $23.50/$26, 57 Prince-Arthur East.

Tuesday, July 28

Radioactivity at Casa del Popolo
Texas’ Radioactivity feature 2/3 of the late and great Marked Men, playing the same style of hook-gilled garage rock, coupled with an added post-punk edge. Locals Laureate, Dead Beat Poet Society and Beat Awfuls open. 8:00 pm, $8/$10, 4873 St. Laurent.

Thursday, July 30

Run the Jewels at Club Soda
Run the Jewels finally make their Montreal debut tonight, making up for their postponed show way back in November. If you don’t have a ticket to this long sold-out gig, you can always catch El-P and Killer Mike on a much larger stage this weekend at Osheaga. Blis N Esso and The Narcicyst open. 8:00 pm, sold out, 1225 St-Laurent. 

Windhand at Sala Rossa
Richmond’s Windhand traffic in earth-shattering doom metal, with thunderous riffs set against Dorthia Cottrell’s powerhouse vocals. They headline an incredibly stacked bill, including Louisiana’s Thou, Minneapolis’ False, and locals Show of Bedlam and Nightwitches. 8:00 pm, $20/$23, 4848 St-Laurent.

Thurston Moore at ARTV Studio
Former Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore plays a free show at the tiny ARTV Studio ahead of his Osheaga appearance this weekend, which should be fun trying to get into. It’s definitely worth a shot to try and catch Moore and his band in such an intimate space, without being surrounded by crowd of tweens wearing flower-crowns. 8:30 pm, free, 1600 St. Urbain.

SNFU at Petit Campus
Vancouver punks SNFU are celebrating the 30th anniversary of their And No One Else Wated To Play LP by playing the entire classic album in full, alongside Bearmace, La Gachette and Road Runner. 7:00 pm, $15/$20, 57 Prince-Arthur East.