The energetic JPEGMafia gave it their all, but the people gathered in front of the nearby Vallée and Verte stages were only there for Joey Bada$$, who was following him at 9:50 p.m. The Brooklyn rapper is a Montreal regular. His first Osheaga dates back to 2014 and he was at the Jazz Festival last year.

Jo-Vaughn Virginie Scott, of his real name, was however afflicted by a migraine Friday evening. “Before I went on stage, I was at 40% and your energy boosted me to 90%,” he said, having already performed a few songs without displaying his state. He started strong by drawing on the All-Amerikkkan Bada$$ activist and then in 1999, which introduced him to us more than 10 years ago already. He continued with pieces taken from the recent 2000, launched last year.

Halfway through, Joey made a confession to the crowd: “Beneath the badass motherfucker is a loverboy. He confirmed this by performing Love Is Only a Feeling, Show Me and Shine to the delight of the many spectators gathered.

But since he remains a tough guy, he and his DJ asked the crowd to “open up” to form a mosh pit to the notes of King’s Dead, which he recorded with the late XXXTentacion. His excellent performance ended with Devastated, sung with force by festival-goers happy with this first day at Parc Jean-Drapeau.