Six concertgoers who attended Angine de Poitrine’s full-capacity show at the Montreal International Jazz Festival’s outdoor site Saturday evening were taken to hospital in serious condition.
Angine de Poitrine, a Chicoutimi indie duo known for their masks and polka-dotted attire, played a free concert to a packed-in Place des Festivals crowd.
Organizers said Sunday they didn’t yet know how many people attended, but confirmed that access to the site was cut off around 30 minutes ahead of the 9:30 p.m. show.
Paramedics treated a total of 10 patients at the scene, Urgences-santé spokesperson Benjamin Dansereau-Leclerc said.
Of those, he said, six were taken to hospital in serious condition, but no lives were in danger.
The injuries didn’t stem from a single incident, but took place between 10 p.m. and 12:30 a.m., Dansereau-Leclerc said. Urgences-santé didn’t disclose the types of injuries for privacy reasons, he said.
“It’s not out of the ordinary” for large events to result in injuries, Dansereau-Leclerc noted.
This jazz festival concert resulted in “a few more (incidents) than normal,” he said, but large-scale shows often result in more injuries.
Editor’s Picks
“Given the size of the crowd … things went extremely well,” said Maurin Auxéméry, the festival’s programming director.
“We probably haven’t seen a crowd as big as this since Stevie Wonder,” he said, referencing a 2009 jazz fest performance for a 200,000-strong crowd. “It was really an incredible event.”
“We had a plan to welcome a bigger crowd than usual,” Auxéméry said, with organizers closing off certain access points and planning with Montreal police.
People arrive early to see Angine de Poitrine perform on the Montreal International Jazz Festival’s main outdoor stage on Saturday, June 27, 2026. Allen McInnis / Montreal Gazette