Groupe Habs buys (two festivals by) Olivier Primeau

When you think of Geoff Molson, you think of beer and the Canadiens. But in reality, with Groupe Habs, the Habs owner is involved in a number of different areas.

Let’s not forget evenko, a subsidiary of Groupe Habs. And at evenko, the musical side is quite well developed.

After all, Osheaga, ÎleSoniq, Lasso, the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal and the Francos are all festivals owned by evenko. That’s quite a range.

And now Geoff Molson has added two more festivals to his offering… and we’re not talking about the 2024 Stanley Cup festival featuring the Montreal Canadiens.

We’re talking here, as reported in this morning’s Journal de Montréal by journalist Julien McEvoy, about Olivier Primeau’s two festivals: Metro Metro and Fuego Fuego.

Here’s the line-up for #fuegofuego2024

2-day tickets on sale Friday at 10am

–

Here’s the lineup for #fuegofuego2024

2-day tickets on sale Friday at 10 a.m. pic.twitter.com/UkxVvzbV5b

– evenko (@evenko) January 17, 2024

We don’t know at what price Olivier Primeau sold his two festivals, but it’s safe to assume that he made good money with the sale of Fuego Fuego and Metro Metro.

As reported in Le Journal, Primeau wanted to move on after four years of doing festivals. And according to Primeau, evenko was the only group that could buy his festivals.

But is it all positive? Not in everyone’s eyes, no.

In fact, because Groupe Habs has even more of a stranglehold on festivals here, there’s bound to be a certain amount of independence lost in the process.

It’s worth noting that the evenko ecosystem already receives $35 million a year in government subsidies. Since Olivier Primeau didn’t have a subsidy, smaller festivals will have to fight even harder.

What’s more, the fact that Groupe Habs is 49% owned by Live Nation, a California-based company, makes it all the more clear that Quebec culture is slipping through everyone’s fingers.

It’s a pity, because the sector is losing a little more independence. – Dominique Malo, Regroupement des festivals régionaux artistiques indépendants (REFRAIN)

Selling his festivals to Groupe Habs isn’t Primeau’s only link to the sport. He also participates in the football podcast “Le Playbook” with Greg Lanctot and Jean-Charles Lajoie.

He is also a Bet99 personality.

In bursts

– Well done.

Because that’s the beauty of radio. Gracie will be able to bring her family to the Habs skills competition, as well as spoil them, thanks to the generosity of BPM listeners.

You’re the best pic.twitter.com/KLsv5ADLkw

– BPM Sports (@BPMSportsRadio) January 17, 2024

– A tradition, at this point.

Babe wake up, it’s the yearly bromantic photo of Jake Evans & Tyler Toffoli https://t.co/E4GG2c1MZg

– /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) January 17, 2024

– Now for your questions.

We invite you to ask our colleague @Mitch_Giguere your questions in preparation for his article this week

Write your question in response to the tweet and Mitch will answer you in his article

– DansLesCoulisses (@DLCoulisses) January 17, 2024

– Interesting.

#Habs Juraj Slafkovsky (1st Overall 2022) played his 82nd career game on Monday. #Devils Jack Hughes (1st Overall 2019) had fairly similar numbers in his first 82gp. His goals per game jumped to 0.46 in the 194gp since.

A fun comparison of first 82gp(@SNstats) pic.twitter.com/HeMHmpK3lh

– John Bartlett (@BartsBytes) January 17, 2024