Front Row Pics: Day 1 of Metal CornFest in St-Jean-Baptiste, QC
[Editor’s note: Check out our coverage of Day 2 here!]
If the endless corn fields of the Monteregie region (just east of Montreal) seem to you like an unlikely venue for a heavy metal music festival, you’re certainly not alone; we here at FlashWounds initially thought the same. All the more reason to make the trip up north and see for ourselves — and boy are we glad we did!
Dreamed up and orchestrated by Bruce Francoeur, the Metal CornFest concept (now in its second year) is a bold one: gather two days’ worth of top-notch metal bands to play on a gorgeous stage in the middle of a corn field, invite metal fans, and donate all the profits to Leucan, a charity organization devoted to helping children with cancer and their families. And, as it often happens when men of vision dream up and orchestrate bold concepts, the result was an inspired success.
Day 1 featured some of the best tribute bands Quebec has to offer, playing the likes of Metallica, Pantera, Slayer and Iron Maiden in front of an enthusiastic crowd head-banging under the full moon. Meanwhile, half a mile away tractors were hard at work in the the neighboring farm’s fields deep into the night… somehow, that made it all perfect.
Fantera
AlcoholicA
Nailed It
Maiden Quebec
Metal CornFest on Facebook
Leucan