Ariane Moffatt was the headliner at the Montreal Pride Festival opening ceremony last night. Over a thousand of her fans braved the rain for this beloved hometown artist. At only 40, she has a long-standing career spanning close to 20 years. Since her debut album Aquanaute in 2002, Moffatt has risen to become one of Quebec’s top artists. Her music is a combined style of pop, electronica, jazz, and folk.
The set started with an intro of some footage from the “sex garage” protests during the ’90s in Montreal. Moffatt was only 11 years old at the time those protests took place, Moffatt, who made her “coming out” public in 2012, always remained fairly low key in her music regarding sexuality and/or preference. However, tonight, she expressed how it was a long journey for her to arrive at the stage, where she has become who she always wanted to be. Her performance tonight was very meaningful to her. She feels strongly about voicing out on issues regarding minorities.
Moffatt greeted her fans with a wave and a smile and started her set with enthusiasm. She sang a few of her hits, such as “Point de mire” and “Je veux tous”. Her set varied with songs from earlier albums and her most recent album, Petites mains pr cieuses, released in 2018. She was wearing a sleek black lycra tracksuit with the symbol of the tree of life. She had a full band (guitarist, bassist, drummer) and two fabulous backup singers.
She performed a wonderful cover of Sade’s “Smooth Operator” and closed her set with an entourage of beautiful drag queens lined up in front of the stage. Moffatt is genuinely pure and is a natural-born talent. As a performer, she effortlessly puts out and gives all of herself to her fans. What a great show it was!
