Ile Soniq is one of the largest festivals that Montreal hosts in the summer. In 2024 they are bringing one of their more groovy line-ups, so as someone who has attended this event every year since 2019, I’d like to provide my best tips and share everything you need to know to make the most of this weekend.
If you’d like to buy your tickets for the festival, you can do so throughout this article.
The Who, Where and When of the Festival
Ile Soniq is always held within the first two weeks of August. This year the event will happen from August 10-11, with a special “in the city” event on the 9th. The in the city event is an additional date that they add to the weekend that is held – you guessed it – in the city.
I have not attended the In the City event, and have also never met anyone who has gone, but given this is a Montreal event, I am sure it will be a fun way to warm-up for the weekend.
The festival is held on the iconic Parc Jean Drapeau island. If you’ve been to any major festival in Montreal, you have likely spent time on this island. Accessible by car, bike, walking, metro and bus, it is my favourite place to hang out in the summer time. The views of the city are amazing, and the main festival grounds are large enough to fit a large stage with great sound and visual production.
Who will be there? I do find that this festival skews towards a younger crowd (I will be 30 at this year’s edition). The mainstage will be hosting DJs like Zedd and DJ Snake, who typically draw a younger crowd looking for a sing-along, loud party.
However, the second stage that is tucked away on the same grounds as where you’ll find Piknic all summer is a great place to find a more mature festival crowd. Last year they had a melodic techno and techno stage with some great acts like Cassian, Stephan Bodzin, Agents of Time and an epic B2B with Anna and Sama’ Adbulhadi.
In any case, it’s a great line-up and if you don’t love all of the artists, just know that the after parties throughout the city will be even better than the festival (insider secret ;)). Speaking of the line-up…
The Schedule
Ile Soniq is one of those great festivals that actually offers single day tickets, alongside their 2-day tickets, so if there’s a day in the schedule that you like better than the next, you have the choice to just go to one day.
Here’s the schedule and the line-up:
My Saturday Schedule
From this, I’d be looking to arrive early enough to see Odd Mob. He’s had a good couple of years since Dom Dolla played one of his songs at a Red Rocks set in Denver. I have a feeling the Dom Dolla fans will show up early for him as well, so whatever his set start time is, plan to get there at least 30 minutes before as the lines can build quickly.
With that said, Montreal is known for some excellent line management, so you hopefully won’t have to wait too long to get in.
From Odd Mob, I’d stay at the mainstage for Cloonee, then head over to Mirage for Green Velvet B2B Patrick Topping and will camp out there until the end of the day.
My Sunday Schedule
Sunday isn’t as stacked for me as Saturday, but I would likely arrive early enough for Enamour and camp out at that stage at least through Lilly Palmer. Depending on how I am feeling and if I take the Monday off (which I recommend), I may stay for Paul Kalkbrenner.
Tiesto is amazing, and truthfully he rarely puts on a bad set. I also love how he has a custom intro with Lil Jon calling him a living legend. Basically saying this dude is old, but he still knows how to put on a show.
In this situation, I don’t think I’d go to the mainstage for his set. He’s fun, but at a major EDM festival like this, he will likely play a faster set with more drum and bass and potentially some dubstep, which I do not like.
So if Paul Kalkbrenner isn’t keeping me at the festival, I’ll probably head out early and enjoy a slightly less busy metro ride home.
Tips to Make the Most of the Festival
As I mentioned, Ile Soniq is a really great festival held in one of the greatest cities for dance music. So if you are looking for a fun, weekend event in an affordable and vibrant city, definitely secure your tickets now before the prices go up again.
As someone who has been going to festivals for a long time and have been to this festival 4 times, I have some helpful tips to make the weekend fun, safe and memorable.
- Get a weekend metro pass: the weekend metro pass in less than $30 and gets you unlimited access to the metro from 7PM on Friday to midnight on Sunday. So you’ll be covered for all of your metro rides to and from Parc Jean Drapeau that weekend.
- You get to PJD on the yellow line, which leaves from Berri UQAM. The green and orange line also connect here, so it is very easy to get there.
- If booking an Airbnb or Hotel, try to book something close to a metro station on the Green or Orange Line: You can take ubers anywhere in the city, but it is so busy in the summer time that you risk spending a ton of money to wait in traffic. The metro drops you off directly at the gates of the festival and the weekend pass costs less than 1 uber ride to the island from downtown.
- Popular stop on the Green Line that aren’t too far from downtown:
- Atwater
- Peel
- Berri UQAM
- McGill
- Place Des Arts
- Saint Laurent
- Popular stops on the Orange Line that aren’t too far from downtown:
- Lionel Groulx
- Lucien L’allier
- Bonaventure
- Square Victoria
- Places D’armes
- Champs de Mars
- Popular stop on the Green Line that aren’t too far from downtown:
- By ponchos beforehand: Sometimes it rains. Last year it felt like it rained all summer, and although it is fun to dance in the rain, it is also nice to have a poncho on hand. Just hit up the dollar store before you leave. It shouldn’t be more than $2.
- Bring a water bottle: Ile Soniq is really great for offering a ton of water stations. The water is clean and cold and is crucial when the days are hot and you are out dancing all day.
- If you have an AMEX card or are a Bell customer, you get to skip the line: As sponsors of the event, showing proof that you are a customer of either of these companies will get you and 3 friends faster access to the festival. Last year I went to the festival alone and met up with friends later, but I found 2-3 happy festival goers on the metro and offered to bring them in with my AMEX “fast pass”. It was a nice way to start the festival and the AMEX line was always empty.
- Stock up on sunscreen: the mainstage is in an open field with little to no shade. If you plan on parking yourself at that stage, be sure to bring sunscreen. Heat stroke is a thing and nothing is worse than having to leave the festival early because you weren’t careful.
- Stock up on vitamins, electrolytes and hearty breakfast items: This is something that has come with experience. I used to go to festivals and barely eat anything from Friday – Sunday. Now, in my late 20’s, I have learned that if you take the right vitamins, drink lots of water and electrolytes and (at the very least) start your day with a hearty breakfast, you’ll be in better shape the day after the festival. You’ll also have more energy for day 2 of the festival.
- Vitamins: I take a B vitamin, my omegas, a Magnesium, Zinc and Iron vitamin, and melatonin at night to at least try and get some sleep.
- Supplements/Medication: One of our friends is a nurse and she put all of us onto night-time gravol, Tums/Antacid, and Aleve. Take one of each before you go to bed and your hangover shouldn’t be too bad. I have also had friends take charcoal pills and they’ve had great results from that.
- Electrolytes: Pedialyte and gatorade are great, but I find going for the higher quality options like Biosteel or the Amino IV powder from PE Science actually make me feel like my electrolytes are being replenished, and I am not just chugging sugar water.
- Hearty Breakfast Example: If we have access to our own kitchen, we always make bagels, fried eggs, turkey bacon and a protein shake. We will usually have a coffee as well as this can help with the hangover too. Do not skimp on breakfast. Having something with carbs, fats, and proteins to start your day will make you feel better and will give you the energy you need to dance all day!
- Find a meeting spot at the beginning of the festival: before the party starts, make sure you outline a clear meeting spot so that if everyone gets separated by the end of the day and phones get lost or their battery runs out, you all know where you will meet up at the end of the night. I have lost many friends during the day and always see people looking lost at the end of the night, so avoid being that person and lock in your meeting spot.
- Get a power bank, solar phone charging case, or a regular phone charging case: As I mentioned in the tip above, sometimes phones die and then you have no way of finding your friends, using maps, or calling an uber. Get yourself a power bank or a phone charging case and know that you’ll have enough battery to takes plenty of pictures and videos, while also having enough battery to get home at the end of the night.
- Take the day off after the festival: I have powered through the monday after a festival too many times. Last year I took the Monday and Tuesday off afterwards and it was the best decision. I could sleep in, give myself time to get back into my usual routine, and transition from festival life back into work life with very minimal stress.
So there you have it! Ile Soniq 2024 is set to be another great event in the festival season calendar. So grab your festie besties and get your tickets here. I look forward to seeing you on the dance floor this summer!
Riley Pearce 