A big night for a hometown talent
Ottawa's Xav Trudeau, who performs under the name Xav, headlined a massive outdoor crowd at the University of Ottawa on Thursday night as part of uoShow, one of the marquee events of the school's Welcome Week celebrations.
According to a post from @613trending, the 18-year-old shared the stage with fellow performers LGS, Duava and Roy Woods for the annual outdoor concert, which has become a Welcome Week tradition for incoming and returning students at uOttawa.
Momentum building fast
Xav has had a breakout year. He recently landed his first appearance on the Billboard Canada charts with his single "Downtown," a milestone that's put him on the radar well beyond Ottawa's local music scene. For an artist still a teenager, sharing a bill with an established name like Roy Woods at a campus show this size is a notable step up.
University Welcome Week shows tend to draw some of the biggest campus crowds of the year, giving performers exposure to thousands of students all at once. For a hometown artist like Xav, playing uoShow in front of a home crowd carries extra weight, especially with his music starting to break through nationally.
Why it matters for Ottawa's music scene
Ottawa doesn't always get credit as a launching pad for major music careers, but nights like this one are part of how that reputation shifts. A local 18-year-old going from Ottawa stages to the Billboard Canada charts, and then back to a hometown crowd of thousands, is the kind of trajectory that puts the city's music scene on the map.
Keep an eye on Xav's socials for what comes next, between the chart debut and performances like uoShow, this looks like the start of a bigger run.
Story via @613trending on Instagram, video via @pedroxdomingos.
