Now in its 20th year, ShazamFest (July 10–13 in Barnston-Ouest, QC) remains a glorious collision of circus, music, mud, and mayhem in the Eastern Townships. It’s part music festival, part underground sideshow, part spiritual retreat for the absurd. And the 2025 lineup delivers big on its trademark strangeness. Here are five acts you’ll regret missing—assuming you remember them the next morning.
Bob Log III
Imagine a rockabilly robot from a post-apocalyptic swamp, armed with a slide guitar and a motorcycle helmet wired to a telephone receiver. That’s Bob Log III—a one-man blues-punk demolition crew with a flair for the unhinged. Expect stories, sweat, and solos played while crowd-surfing in an inflatable raft. You may not know what just happened, but you’ll cheer like you did.
Taxi Girls
Montreal’s own garage-punk priestesses, Taxi Girls sound like a bar fight between The Runaways and a vintage synth machine. Their sound is feral, their energy surgical, and their mission loud: rip it all down and rebuild it in heels and leather. If the world ends mid-set, it will end dancing.
Salin
Part trance ritual, part cosmic rave, Salin fuses Thai melodies, African percussion, and deep electronic grooves into something that feels both ancient and futuristic. Her set isn’t just music—it’s a portal. If you find yourself barefoot in the forest afterward, eyes wide, covered in glitter, blame her.
The Friendly Frogs Freak Show
Funkadelic amphibians from another dimension? Maybe. A band of virtuosos in frog suits channeling P-Funk through a vaudeville lens? Absolutely. This crew slaps, quacks, and grooves their way into your soul with basslines so tight they might cure seasonal depression. Catch them Thursday to set the weirdness bar appropriately high.
D’Jef Trio
A French flamenco-blues outfit with cabaret swagger and the stage presence of three caffeinated pirates. They sing, strum, and stomp their way through a set that feels like Django Reinhardt crashed a clown college. Equal parts skill and spectacle, they’ll have you laughing, weeping, and snapping your fingers at imaginary ghosts.
