PALOMOSA 2025: A FESTIVAL FOR MONTRÉAL’S UNDERGROUND SCENE

The air smelled of rain on concrete and cigarette smoke curling through lavender-scented glitter mist. Palomosa Festival wasn’t just another weekend rave; it was a warm embrace of Montréal’s underground spirit! A celebration for music artists, creatives, and rebels who refuse to be defined by mainstream aesthetics.

Palomosa felt like an indie sleaze biographical documentary throwing up with vintage Y2K Dior blackout sunglasses on at midnight, while brushing shoulders with Tumblr kids raving in an underground tunnel! Tucked away on the island of Parc Jean-Drapeau, the festival pulsed like a living organism built by a community obsessed with DIY artistry and radical self-expression.

WRITTEN BY ROCHELLE ALLEN 

Photography: Jay Gallant

Style as Rebellion

At Palomosa, every outfit was more than clothing; it was a manifesto of internet-born subculture. Barcode was on the ground, capturing each look and every spark of the underground energy radiating through the festival. Fashion here wasn’t about trend cycles; it was a living archive of characters telling their stories. 

One moment, a half-baked Pokémon cosplay in shredded layers rolled up a joint; the next, a squad painted entirely in red devouring a poutine like performance art. A raver in neon upcycled streetwear, stacked with candy bracelets and a swag-era YOLO hat, lost themselves in the mosh pit, only to cross paths with a Paris Hilton doppelgänger with no chihuahua, just a friend draped in furry layers and cigarette-shaped sunglasses. 

Together, these scenes blurred into a collective hallucination that embodied the future of club culture: unapologetic, inclusive, and impossible to ignore.

Below, see our favourite looks from the Palomosa 2025!

Photography: Pablo Gaytan Melendez + Rochelle Allen

The Political Soundtrack of Subculture

Palomosa’s headliners didn’t just perform,  they carved their politics into the night, turning beats into battle cries and dance floors into spaces of liberation.

Day 1: M.I.A. – The Anthem of Resistance

“ILLEGALS, FUCK YOUR LAWS! PALESTINE — BECAUSE WE’RE BORN FREE!” - M.IA.

Few artists embody protest through pop culture quite like M.I.A. The British singer, rapper, songwriter, producer, and activist has built her career fusing alternative, dance, and electronic beats with global rhythms, layering steel pan melodies and samples over biting political commentary. Her music and activism, deeply tied to her Sri Lankan Tamil heritage, have made her a fearless voice for marginalized communities, from exposing systemic exploitation in the documentary Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. to amplifying the struggles of the Tamil people.

M.I.A.’s set opened with a rush of nostalgia that still felt alive, current, and radical. The first steel pan strikes echoed through the space like a call to action, her unmistakable voice commanding the crowd with rhythms that felt both global and deeply rooted in the underground. Just as she had us fully in her grasp, she chanted: “ba ba ba ba born free,” urging us to repeat after her. The music stopped, and the air thickened as she declared: “ILLEGALS, FUCK YOUR LAWS! PALESTINE — BECAUSE WE’RE BORN FREE!” The audience responded, echoing her words like a battle cry.

Videography: Rochelle Allen

In that moment, she reached into the crowd and grabbed a black-and-white Keffiyeh from a fan. A symbol of Palestinian solidarity, she wrapped it around her head like armour. Her words cut sharply through the audience, expressing her disappointments and calling out the failures of global leadership, naming Donald Trump as a symptom of systemic rot rather than its source. Urging us to question our collective visions and reimagine the future: “Get to the vision, and the war will win itself.” A powerful message to inspire the new generation of leaders and creatives! 

The tension gave way to euphoria as Bad Girls roared through the speakers, the anthem for rebellion, as the crowd exploded! M.I.A and her dancers cloaked themselves in metallic foil glistening in the festival lights. Then, like magic, perfectly timed rain began to fall, grounding us in the moment as she closed with her iconic song Paper Planes! The song that made her a household name, but here it felt like a victory song for a global resistance. 

The performance was eclectic and unapologetically political. A reminder that art is protest and imagination is its most powerful weapon in shaping the future of culture.

Day 2: Arca – The Alchemy of Sound and Identity

“In the face of fear, in the face of everything — we dance.”

Arca transformed the Fizz stage into a cunty altar and I’m still not over it! The Venezuelan musician and producer has become a genre-defying force, blending IDM, avant-pop, reggaeton, techno, and ambient textures into soundscapes that are as intimate as they are chaotic. Her work, particularly after coming out as non-binary in 2018, is a visceral exploration of gender, identity, and psychosexuality themes that pulse through every beat she creates.

As a massive blood full moon beamed down on us, giving the perfect backdrop to dance the night away to contagious beats and hypnotic visuals. Arca emerged in head-to-toe Rick Owens, bathed in pink lights, radiating a witchy power; the atmosphere was both ethereal and raw. She greets the crowd by dancing around and getting the crowd hyped to party! She announces the intention of the night: she wants to see us dance, and indeed we DANCED! It was like stepping into another dimension, and what followed wasn’t just a set; it was a ritual. 

Her set was a sonic journey: sharp experimental beats that twisted our minds, reggaeton rhythms that transported us to the streets of Venezuela during Carnival, drums filling the night with liberation and joy and the next we were submerged in a deep, bass-heavy techno landscape that felt like an underground rave with concrete skies.

Videography: Rochelle Allen

Arca’s performance wasn’t just a show; it was communion. She fed off the crowd’s energy, accepting a Venezuelan flag tagged with her name in black spray paint from a fan, draping it across her body as she whispered: “In the face of fear, in the face of everything — we dance.” The crowd roared back, like a spiritual organism feeding each other as she whipped her hair in circles. The audience was energized, and the music felt alive! Bass rattling through metal scaffolding while beats melt into each other.

An unexpected moment happened when Arca invited Montréal’s own trans icon, Sienna Kartharios, to the stage! Sienna’s hypnotic dancing turned the performance into a celebration of trans and queer artistry. Her movements are a sermon of sensuality and empowerment. The two shared a raw exchange of love and sisterhood. Sienna shouts, “Ten years ago, I never thought I’d be here. Look at us now.” Arca displayed the Venezuelan flag over her DJ booth, honouring her roots and celebrating queer visibility, before shouting: “When I bring someone out, it’s because I’m living for the doll.”

Photography: Jay Gallant

The set was a masterpiece of contrasts that kept you guessing and continuously moving, and brought us feelings of chaos/intimacy and euphoria/introspection. By the end, drenched in sweat and moonlight, a collective realization that this mix of sound and freedom was where we belonged. It was a declaration that the dance floor can be a sanctuary, a rebellion, and a home all at once!

Palomosa: A Glimpse of the Future

Palomosa felt like more than a festival; it was a world where joy is radical, and identity is art. In a city where subcultures often stay hidden, this gathering reminded us why we document them.

Barcode doesn’t just cover events like Palomosa; we see them as future history, snapshots of rebellion through music, art, and fashion, and proof of a global underground community. Palomosa was a diamond-in-the-rough kind of beauty that rippled beyond a weekend. Montréal’s underground is alive, and this festival showcases its heartbeat.

Photography: Jay Gallant