Anyone trying to cross anywhere near the Place des Festivals in downtown Montreal on Saturday night found out one definitive thing: Angine de Poitrine is popular right now.
Organizers say hundreds of thousands of concertgoers packed the Jean-Mance Street--Sainte-Catherine Street area for the free Montreal Jazz Festival show featuring the masked Saguenay duo that started at 9:30 p.m.
Jazz Fest officials say they have not seen these types of numbers for a show since Stevie Wonder played the festival in 2009.
While most of the tens of thousands of fans left with a phone camera roll full of content to share and a smile at making others jealous who did not catch the show, some spent the night in a hospital emergency room.
Urgences-Sante confirmed that paramedics responded to 10 calls between 10 p.m. and midnight and transported six people to the hospital.
In addition, around five people called reporting heat stroke, but refused treatment when health specialists arrived.
Spokesperson Benjamin Dansereau-Leclerc explained that the Jazz Fest, like any major event in Montreal, has a first aid team on site and that paramedics only respond when needed to transport patients to hospital.
He said the calls were for falls, intoxication and other medical problems, and that none of them were considered life-threatening.
“We do that for the biggest concerts, it happens,” he said when asked if it was an unusually high number of calls. “It’s not unusual but we’re prepared for that.”
He said for events like Osheaga, Ile Soniq and other big shows, Urgences-Sante gets an average of five to 10 calls.
The organization has pre-planning sessions with all event promoters before the date to plan for medical emergencies.
