In Montreal, when the temperature drops, winter does not signal retreat. Instead, the fun never stops, the city stays awake, and artists from every corner of the world arrive to send their beats rippling through Montreal’s Old Port at Igloofest.
Text by Mia Colaner, Photos by Louis Alson
Although Montreal’s winters are notoriously unforgiving, it is a city defined precisely by what persists under these conditions – a city defined by its cultural density and a music culture that refuses hibernation. As temperatures dropped, excitement rose for Igloofest tickets, with the city’s annual outdoor electronic music festival selling out at a rapid pace. Since 2007, Igloofest, a festival co-produced by Piknic Electronik and the Quays of the Old Port, has transformed Jacques-Cartier Pier in the Old Port of Montreal into a frostbitten playground. The festival stages electronic music events from January 15th to February 7th, 2026, Thursday through Saturday of each week. Igloofest invites attendees to revel in the Canadian winter against a backdrop of swirling snow and frozen breath.
On January 15, Igloofest kicked off its 2026 season, where Montrealers met the subzero air with rhythm and resolve at one of the world’s coldest music festivals. They welcomed headliner Disco Lines to the Sapporo Stage, joined by GUDFELLA, while Liv K and Cult Member took over the Videotron Stage. The festival opened under a snowstorm that swept across the city, shaping both the pace of the night and the way the crowd gathered.
Camaraderie moved like a current through the crowd, bouncing between performers and audience, intensified by the vast scale of Igloofest, which could hold thousands at once. There was a beauty in the collective sway of the audience. Braving the biting “feels-like minus sixteen” temperature, the crowd gathered together to listen, to move, to float, and to feel alive in the same moment.
GUDFELLA opened the night by laying the groundwork, coaxing the audience into motion with a contagious energy. Every beat encouraged bodies to sway and bounce. His dynamic instrumental backdrops, groovy-inspired rhythms and upbeat hooks pulled the audience further into the experience that effortlessly set the stage for Disco Lines to take over. By the time the next act began, the crowd was fully primed, alive, and riding the momentum he had built. GUDFELLA was the perfect prelude to Disco Lines, the acts complementing the other seamlessly, as close friends and partners in the music world.
Disco Lines delivered everything the crowd had anticipated and more – his positive energy on stage was contagious through his enthusiasm as a performer and the radiant smile on his face throughout the show. Tracks like “Wide Open”, “TECHNO + TEQUILA”, “Sunny”, “I Don’t Trust a Soul”, and “No Broke Boys” set Montreal alight. He flowed seamlessly through his repertoire, prompting roars from every corner of the festival. His set evolved from relentless, bass-driven tracks into catchy pop-like rhythms, interspersed with moments of restraint where the beat was allowed to linger and thicken before bursting into an electrifying, floor-shaking drop. Some tried to crowd-surf, others climbed onto shoulders, all swept up in the energy he generated. Not only was it the music that captivated, but the feeling it provoked: a rush of optimism and a surge of energy that carried people beyond the cold.
Disco Lines’ visuals were equally mesmerizing. The set opened with undulating turquoise waves, perhaps a nod to his life in California, his love for surfing, and his connection to the ocean as a space of self-reflection. His visuals incorporated playful and psychedelic elements, such as Takashi Murakami-inspired flowers, clips of a dog bounding joyfully across the screen, coupled with masterful light design that shifted seamlessly to match the energy of each track.
With the opening night of Igloofest lingering behind them, festivalgoers left buzzing with energy – eager for the next set of performers who were to take the stage over the next few weeks. A layer of warmth had enveloped the Old Port of Montreal, and with it, the city’s winter was set ablaze with the anticipation of an entire month of music poised to unfold.
