Big, can’t-miss Montréal concerts in 2025

Winter concerts

Free your plaid and fun will follow

In case you haven’t noticed, ’90s alt-rock is not only alive and well, it’s thriving for quite a few of the stalwarts of the genre, in this case the Toronto-formed Our Lady Peace (fronted by the inimitable Raine Maida) and Georgia hitmakers Collective Soul. Catch both bands on the Our Lady Peace 30^th anniversary Tour when they rock out at Place Bell on March 10, 2025.

A legendary gesamtkunstwerk 

Pioneering German electronic icons Kraftwerk, who have been a primary influence for generations of electro artists, will make an extremely rare appearance in Montréal to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of their breakthrough album Autobahn. Bringing together music, spectacular visuals and performance art, the Multimedia Tour 2025 is a true “gesamtkunstwerk” (a total work of art). Immerse yourself in Kraftwerk at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Place des Arts, March 10.

Monsters of prog

Montrealers loooove their progressive rock, and prog-metal pioneers Dream Theater have, for the better part of the last four decades, enjoyed enormous support here. It’s only fitting then that the band — featuring the iconic lineup of James LaBrie, John Myung, John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy
and Jordan Rudess — should bring their 40^th anniversary tour, An Evening with Dream Theater, to la belle ville. The Boston rockers promise a full night of fan favourites at the Bell Centre on March 12, 2025.

A two-for-one that’s disturbingly amazing

New millennium alt-metallists Disturbed broke huge with their 2000 debut, The Sickness, and haven’t looked back since. Now, 25 years on, the Chicago rockers are embarking on The Sickness anniversary tour, which will see the band slaying two sets of tunes, opening with the five-times-platinum The Sickness album in full, followed by a set of greatest hits. Three Days Grace, featuring the return of original singer Adam Gontier, and Sevendust will open at the Bell Centre on March 19, 2025.

The return of Aussie pop royalty 

It will have been nearly 14 years (April 29, 2011, to be exact) since dance-pop phenomenon Kylie Minogue graced the Bell Centre stage in Montréal. At over 80 million records sold worldwide, the so-called “Princess of Pop” is the highest-selling female artist from Australia ever. Long-awaiting fans will have to wait just a wee bit longer to see her again when she brings her Tension Tour 2025, with an as yet unnamed special guest, back to the Bell Centre on March 30, 2025.

Spring concerts

Sweet ascendance

The rocket-like career trajectory of country music phenomenon Jelly Roll has been nothing short of extraordinary. Not just an artist but a humanitarian, the multiple Grammy-Award-nominated Jelly Roll continues to rack up numerous milestones, from donating a recording studio to the juvenile detention centre he served in as a teen, to the release of the record-breaking documentary Save Me, to the launch of his latest album, Beautifully Broken, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200. Catch him in action at Place Bell, Laval on March 25, 2025.

Raging arena rock redux 

Rock’n’roll in the ’70s never felt so good as when the giants of riffing and harmony — like, say, Heart — were doing it. Well, lo and behold, what once was old is brand spankin’ new again as Canadian/American rockers Heart, still led by the Wilson sisters, come out of a five-year hiatus for their rescheduled (due to health reasons) Royal Flush Tour. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers will fill the Bell Centre with memories and legendary tunes on April 2, 2025.

Welcome to Kane country

Kane Brown is an original in every sense of the word. The first artist to lead all five of Billboard’s main country music charts simultaneously, Brown has garnered a series of milestones (too long to list here) that continue to expand the perception of country music, including becoming the first black musician in history to headline and sell out Boston’s historic Fenway Park (2023). Don’t miss your chance to catch him playing tracks from his new album, The High Road, with Scotty McCreery and Dasha at the Bell Centre, April 4, 2025.

MTL is where the party at 

As monster hip-hop concerts go, this is one for the ages: headliner Nelly as well as Ja Rule, Chingy, St. Lunatics and Jermaine Dupri, all together, all on one unforgettable night. Celebrating the 25th anniversary of Nelly’s debut studio album, Country Grammar, the Where the Party at Tour features 54 dates across New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Europe and the United States. Catch Nelly and his all-star lineup when they blow the roof off the Bell Centre, April 15.

We wish you’ll be here

Montrealers love — and we mean loooove — their Pink Floyd, and apart from the iconic English prog rockers themselves, the very next best thing is internationally renowned cover band Brit Floyd. This year, Brit Floyd returns to the stage with their biggest and most spectacular production to date, a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s classic album Wish You Were Here, complete with a stunning laser and light show, spectacular circular screen, inflatables and theatrics. Immerse yourself in all the Pink Floyd hits at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Place des Arts on April 16, 2025.

Zappa-tastic!

Renowned guitarist in his own right and son to legendary musical non-conformist/experimentalist Frank Zappa, Dweezil Zappa has added a Montréal date to his Rox(Postroph)y Tour, celebrating two of his father’s landmark albums, Roxy & Elsewhere and Apostrophe. The tour commemorates the 50th anniversary of both albums, and Dweezil notes that “if you have never heard my father’s music, this might be the tour to start your obsession.” Minds will be blown at Théâtre Maisonneuve, Place des Arts on April 21, 2025.

Sink or Swims

If you haven’t already heard of him, meet rapidly ascendant, multi-genre singer, songwriter and musician Teddy Swims. With a musical palette that spans R&B, pop, soul, country and more, Swims (an acronym for Someone Who Isn’t Me Sometimes) has been steadily marching up international charts for the last two years. Don’t get that sinking “I’ve missed out” feeling: catch him when he brings his I’ve Tried Everything but Therapy tour to Place Bell on May 24, 2025.

Bid adieu to one of the greats 

Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, the towering tunes of Barry Manilow were omnipresent on radio, and over a career that spans six decades, he released 51 top 40 singles, including 13 that hit number one, 28 that appeared within the top 10, and 36 that reached the top 20. Instantly familiar hit recordings like Mandy, I Write the Songs and Copacabana (At the Copa) are why he is ranked as the number one adult contemporary artist of all time. Celebrate the legacy of Barry Manilow when he plays “The Last Montréal Concert” at the Bell Centre, May 30.

To put it bluntly…

British singer/songwriter James Blunt scored one of the biggest hits of the new millennium with his chart-topping single You’re Beautiful off 2004’s Back to Bedlam LP, one of the top 10 best-selling albums of the decade. We’ll let Blunt take it from here: “I’ve released seven studio albums, but Back to Bedlam was the one people actually bought. So on its 20th anniversary, the record label and I thought we should repackage it with some early demos, and milk it for all it’s worth.” Blunt brings his Back to Bedlam 20th Anniversary Tour to Place Bell, Laval on June 13, 2025.

Summer concerts

The cult of the Creator

Genius lyricist (“Do you look both ways when you cross my mind?”) and rapper, songwriter, producer, director, actor, fashion designer, you-name-it Tyler, The Creator is set to grace us with his presence in support of his recently released album Chromakopia. True to form, Chromakopia is, at the risk of understatement, an eclectic and brilliant quasi-concept album that runs the gamut of influences and styles. Tyler and openers Lil Yachty and Paris Texas will break the Bell Centre on July 22, 2025.

(It’s all) working for The Weeknd 

Following a typically epic live performance at this year’s Grammy Awards ceremony, Canadian global pop superstar The Weeknd will embark on an all-new North American stadium tour in support of his new album Hurry Up Tomorrow. The recording serves as the final chapter in his trilogy, following After Hours (2020) and Dawn FM (2022), and comes on the heels of a record-breaking 2024 that saw him become the first artist in history to have 27 songs with over 1 billion streams each on Spotify. Blow your mind with The Weeknd as well as genre-defying rapper Playboi Carti and special guest Mike Dean at Parc Jean-Drapeau on July 24 and 25.

Get ready for a “Firework” to explode in MTL 

Dubbed the “Queen of Camp” by both Vogue and Rolling Stone, pop music mega-star Katy Perry has parlayed a wicked combo of light-hearted theatricality and razor-sharp songwriting sensibility into a music empire that has seen her become one of the biggest-selling artists in history. Katy Perry’s red-hot Lifetimes Tour, in support of new album 143, descends on the Bell Centre on July 30.

Phoenix rising

One of the most successful alt-rock/nu metal outfits of the early 2000s, Linkin Park suffered an enormous blow following the death of charismatic lead singer Chester Bennington in 2017. That would have been the end of most bands, but in the fall of 2024 the group made a triumphant return to the top of the rock charts with new album From Zero, featuring new vocalist Emily Armstrong. Linkin Park, with openers PVRIS, will pick up where they left off at the Bell Centre, August 6, 2025.

The best of the west

If you haven’t already heard of Tate McRae, buckle up, because you will soon. The crazy-talented Calgary singer, songwriter and dancer first gained prominence as the first Canadian finalist on So You Think You Can Dance at the age of 13, and by 2021, age 18, she was the youngest musician to be featured on the Forbes “30 Under 30” list. The multiple-award-winning pop star, who has racked up a staggering 11.6 billion career streams, performs with special guest Zara Larsson at the Bell Centre, August 24, 2025.

Fans of Urban music rejoice! 

One of country music’s most influential artists, Australian/American singer, songwriter and guitarist Keith Urban has been a driving force behind the evolution and still-growing popularity of country music for the better part of the last 35 years. With a well-earned reputation for barn-burning live shows, Keith Urban brings his High and Alive World Tour to the Bell Centre with special guests Chase Matthew, Alana Springsteen and Karley Scott Collins on September 19.