Big, can’t-miss Montréal concerts in 2024

Summer concerts

Trippin’ with the Kid 

Atmospheric melodic rap, alternative hip-hop, neo-psychedelia or, as Kid Cudi himself has called it, “space punk rock,” Cudi’s winning formula is that there really isn’t any formula at all. The multi-platinum rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor and fashion designer draws from a big bag of influences including R&B, synthpop, indie rock, grunge and more. He brings his new and ninth studio album Insano to the Bell Centre with special guests Pusha T and Jaden on July 20.

Heavy rock heavyweights 

There won’t be lightning but there will be thunder when two of the biggest monsters of metal tag-team Montréal this summer. Titans of tuneage Mastodon and Lamb of God are joining forces to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of their best-selling albums Leviathan and Ashes of the Wake, respectively. (Both albums were released on August 31, 2004.) Their aptly titled Ashes of Leviathan co-headlining tour will rattle the rafters of the Bell Centre on August 1.

You will not be dancing with yourself 

The Bell Centre will be bumpin’ when awesomely inimitable British rocker Billy Idol brings his Rebel Yell Tour to Montréal on the occasion of the landmark Rebel Yell album’s 40^th anniversary. Joining Idol is his longtime backing band, including his lead guitarist and collaborator for over four decades, Steve Stevens. Canadian new wave stars and Walk of Fame inductees Platinum Blonde will open the show on August 16.

A first among firsts 

As hard as it is to believe, global hip-hop/R&B mega-star Missy Elliott, a 30-year pioneer in the genre, is only now announcing her very first headlining tour: OUT OF THIS WORLD — The Missy Elliott Experience. And true to form, the first woman hip-hop artist to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is not going halfway. Elliott will be joined by rap legend Busta Rhymes, multi-platinum artist Ciara and special guest Timbaland when her tour pulls into the Bell Centre on August 17.

Roll out the “Linoleum” 

The bad news is that SoCal punk superstars NOFX are calling it a day. The good news is they’re going out in their own epic style: they’re celebrating 40 years with a 40-city final tour that features the legends playing 40 songs each concert (full albums, rarities and a set list that changes every night). Their last-ever (sniff, sniff) Montréal shows take place outdoors at Olympic Park on August 24 and 25, and they’re promising a stacked lineup of support bands each day.

Out of the eye of the storm

Following a tumultuous few years marked by the deaths of friends and family, Kentucky-bred alt/indie rock six-piece Cage The Elephant have channeled grief and catharsis into their new record, Neon Pill. The architects of instantly recognizable college radio classics like Shake Me Down, Come a Little Closer and Cigarette Daydreams will, as is their custom, leave it all on the Bell Centre stage with openers Young the Giant and Bakar on August 26.

August is on fire with hot concerts 

You’re going to need to take a vacation from your vacation to catch even a fraction of all the truly incredible music festivals and concerts taking place in Montréal this August. And if you smell smoke on the water, it’s because British hard rock institution Deep Purple — who’ve influenced everyone from Iron Maiden to Metallica since their 1968 (!) formation — will be performing at the Bell Centre with equally historic prog rockers Yes on August 27.

Inhale painful breakup, exhale smoky pop 

Masters of the slow-burning, heartstring-plucking pop song, Cigarettes After Sex are back with another melancholic slow-dance album in the form of X’s. Described as “akin to disco ball-refracted tears on the dance floor” (make of that what you will), X’s mines the bottomless pit of relationship angst that is perpetual songwriting gold for the Cigarettes. The X’s World Tour stops at the Bell Centre on August 31.

Da Bronx in da house 

With over 21B (that’s 21 with a B, dang) career music streams and having amassed more than 50 RIAA Platinum and Gold certifications, chart-topping hip-hop superstar A Boogie Wit da Hoodie has consolidated himself as one of the music industry’s biggest names. Proof positive of that is the New York native’s Better Off Alone arena tour across New Zealand, Australia, Europe, the U.K. and North America, which lands in the Bell Centre, September 12.

Worship at the altar of the Priest

Heavy rock greats Judas Priest formed in 1969. Let that sink in for a second. The Birmingham, U.K. rockers were instrumental in turning heavy metal into the worldwide religion it has become in the intervening decades. Their 1980 blockbuster release British Steel is considered definitive in the emergence and evolution of metal as a genre. Now, nearly 55 years on, Judas Priest are still playing arenas, including the Bell Centre, where heads will be banging to tunes from their upcoming Invincible Shield album on September 13. 

He scores, big time 

You may not know the name, but unless you live in a complete cultural vacuum (it’s possible), you’ll be very familiar with the work of Hans Zimmer. The prolific, Academy-Award-winning composer has scored some of the most memorable soundtracks to many of Hollywood’s biggest movies, including Pirates of the Caribbean, The Lion King, The Dark Knight trilogy, Top Gun: Maverick and Dune: Part Two, to name a very few. Zimmer’s smash-hit tour — featuring an 18-piece live band and a full orchestra — pours pure entertainment into the Bell Centre, September 17.

Fall concerts

Here comes, and there goes, Clancy 

Masterful songwriting machine Twenty One Pilots are back with latest LP, Clancy, the final chapter in their nearly decade-long concept album endeavour, and named for the central character in the series. Rap, rock, pop, punk, you name it, are all staple components of the highly creative and eclectic Twenty One Pilots toolbox. The Grammy-Award-winning duo —whose mega-hits include Stressed Out, Chlorine and Ride — will wow fans at the Bell Centre, September 25.

Bringing SexyBack to MTL 

He collects awards and accolades like other people collect baseball cards (10 Grammys, four Emmys, nine Billboard awards and so on and so forth…). Now, for the first time in five years, former ’N Sync singer and reigning Prince of Pop, Justin Timberlake, is taking the show on the road once again. Timberlake’s Forget Tomorrow World Tour, in support of his sixth studio album, Everything I Thought It Was, will rock your body on October 4 at the Bell Centre.

Montrealers just wanna have fun

She's So Unusual, indeed. Cyndi Lauper became the first woman in history to have four top-five singles from a debut album, including her anthem Girls Just Want to Have Fun. A staple on ’80s radio and video TV, the outspoken, Brooklyn-born performer with her unmistakeable, eccentric style has gone on to sell over 50 million albums worldwide. Alas, all good things must come to an end. Show your true colours one last time by joining Lauper on her Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour at the Bell Centre, October 18.

They couldn’t be less evanescent 

“Adjective: soon passing out of sight, memory, or existence; quickly fading or disappearing.” Grammy-Award winners Evanescence, led by the extraordinarily talented vocalist/pianist Amy Lee, have been blazing trails through alt-rock for 20 years and are showing no signs of losing momentum. Quite the opposite, actually — the Little Rock, Arkansas goth metal outfit return to Montréal for their first Canadian headline tour in 15 years this fall when they play the Bell Centre on October 25 with openers Halestorm.

Run to the hills!

Or rather, to the Bell Centre. Metal mayhem continues to reign in MTL this year when British legends Iron Maiden return with their 17^th studio album, Senjutsu. Under the steady helmsmanship of vocalist Bruce “Air-Raid Siren” Dickinson, and shadowed by omnipresent ghoulish mascot Eddie, the Maiden’s by-all-accounts-epic The Future Past World Tour will decamp in the Bell Centre for an effects-laden, sensory-overloading blowout on October 30.

The past is blasting 

After an 11-year hiatus, and on the 30^th anniversary of their formation, post-grunge hit-makers Creed have reunited and picked up where they left off with their Are You Ready? Tour. The ninth best-selling musical act of the 2000s, Creed will join fellow rockers Mammoth WVH (fun fact: WVH stands for frontman Wolfgang Van Halen, the son of Eddie Van Halen) and Finger Eleven (fun fact: they were originally known as the Rainbow Butt Monkeys) at the Bell Centre on November 25.

Winter concerts

A (bitter)sweet emotion

The best-selling American rock band of all time is ready to hang up its spurs. Boston phenom Aerosmith — 150 million records sold worldwide, including 25 gold, 18 platinum and 12 multi-platinum albums — have paid their dues and then some, and are calling it a day with their Peace Out tour. The authors of unforgettable anthems like Sweet Emotion, Walk This Way, Dream On, Janie’s Got a Gun — the list goes on and on — will bid thee farewell with special guests The Black Crowes at the Bell Centre, January 10, 2025.