Metallica, top rappers set to appear as Quebec festival turns 50

Metallica and leading rappers including Kendrick Lamar will play the Quebec City Summer Festival as one of North America's rare non-profit music festivals turns 50.

Known in French as the Festival d'ete de Quebec, the event runs from July 6-16 with headliners playing at the Plains of Abraham battlefield, billed as the continent's largest stage with audience capacity of 100,000.

Metallica, who are on a tour after the metal legends released their first album in nearly a decade, will play the festival along with fellow rock acts Muse and Phantogram.

Rap acts include Lamar, the creator of the critically acclaimed 2015 album "To Pimp a Butterfly," as well as more recent hip-hop sensations Migos and Fetty Wap featuring Monty.

The Backstreet Boys, who recently launched a comeback residency in Las Vegas, will figure among the pop acts along with P!NK.

Other highlights among the nearly 1,000 performers at the festival include country crossover acts Kelsea Ballerini and Lady Antebellum, and folk rocker Melissa Etheridge.

The festival, which in its early years put a stronger focus on French-language artists, has drawn global acts in recent years while staying significantly cheaper than most major music events, with a pass for all 11 days starting at $95 (US$71).

"I'm so proud that in today's world of business globalization, we remain one of the few major non-profit, independent festivals in North America," the festival's general manager Daniel Gelinas said in a statement.

The festival enjoys public support as a way to draw tourists to the historic city.

Led by demand from millennials, festivals have been sprouting up around the world in recent years, led in North America by a handful of major promoters.

The few other major non-profit festivals in North America include Summerfest in Milwaukee and the Maha Music Festival in Omaha.

source: AFP