MONTREAL: Anyone attempting to navigate the area near the Place des Festivals in downtown Montreal on Saturday night discovered one definitive fact: the masked Saguenay music duo Angine de Poitrine is incredibly popular right now.
According to event organizers, hundreds of thousands of concertgoers completely packed the Jeanne-Mance Street and Sainte-Catherine Street area for the free Montreal Jazz Festival show, which kicked off at 9:30 p.m. Jazz Fest officials remarked that they have not witnessed a crowd of this magnitude since music legend Stevie Wonder performed at the festival back in 2009.
While the vast majority of the tens of thousands of fans left the venue with their phone camera rolls full of content and smiles on their faces, a few spent the night in a hospital emergency room.
Urgences-Santé confirmed that paramedics responded to 10 emergency calls between 10 p.m. and midnight, ultimately transporting six individuals to the hospital. Additionally, about five people called to report symptoms of heat stroke but chose to refuse medical treatment once health specialists arrived on the scene.
Spokesperson Benjamin Dansereau-Leclerc explained that the Jazz Fest, much like any major event hosted in Montreal, maintains a dedicated first-aid team on-site. Paramedics are only dispatched when it becomes necessary to transport patients to a hospital facility. He noted that the calls received were regarding falls, intoxication, and other sudden medical issues, adding that none of the conditions were considered life-threatening.
“We do that for the biggest concerts, it happens,” Dansereau-Leclerc said when asked if the volume of emergency calls was unusually high. “It’s not unusual, but we’re prepared for that.”
He further explained that for massive music events like Osheaga and Île Soniq, Urgences-Santé typically averages between five to 10 emergency calls. The organization holds rigorous pre-planning sessions with all event promoters well ahead of schedule to properly prepare for potential medical emergencies.
