Long hair, tattoos and Doc Martens boots were in the spotlight on Saturday near Grande Allée. Quebec lived up to its reputation as a rock city when thousands, mostly men, arrived early to see the protest band Rage Against the Machine (RATM) at the Festival d’été de Quebec.
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Irreducible, Patrick Groulx, from Montreal, even arrived the day before for his idols. He was the first to enter the Plains of Abraham. He had to wait for the Alanis Morissette show to end before going camping.
“I arrived at 11 a.m. and waited for it to come out. It went well”, he was content to say, since the hours of waiting were rather festive, under a blazing sun which however added to the challenge.
Photo Didier Debusschère
Many spectators ran to the stage to get good seats, as soon as the site opened.
Isaac Parent, 22, of Quebec, prepared to emulate sprinter Usain Bolt to reach the front row of the floor before everyone else. “We others are running. This is chicken run. We start at once and we don’t look back. We don’t have a bag,” he says.
For his part, Sylvain Grisé left Drummondville early in the morning to be in the front row. “I’m an old punk. Rage Against the Machine is my band. »
Forward with a cane
Photo Didier Debusschère
Sylvain Grisé was playing aki while waiting for the gates to open, near the Plains. André Martin was at his side.
Not far away, his best friend from high school, André Martin, is well seated. He suffered a serious leg accident four years ago, forcing him to move with the help of a cane. Despite everything, he would not have missed the visit of RATM for anything in the world.
“We’ve been listening to Rage since high school. I have never seen them yet. We have seen quite a bit of all the big bands in our life, it is the only one that was missing. This may be our last chance,” he said.
Despite his reduced mobility, he promised himself to be at the heart of the action, directly in front. “I will move forward with them [ses amis], for sure. They checkent when the world pushes me too much, my buddies say, “Hey! Pay attention to his leg”. Usually everyone is super friendly. »
The guitar
Photo Didier Debusschère
Marc-Antoine Roy strummed the guitar to pass the time and entertain people.
Marc-Antoine Roy, from Lévis, 23, had brought his acoustic guitar to liven up the aisle of the Croix du Sacrifice leading to the Plains.
On an air of Nirvana, people greet him and appreciate the performance. ” I start the world before anarchy begins,” he laughs.