"We are back on track, business is back! It feels good, doesn't it? ” . The singer Garou set the tone on Friday evening, in front of the 2,000 spectators of the Accor Arena, in Paris, gathered by France Télévisions for a first concert since the coronavirus crisis.
Read also: In Paris, Lyon, Lille or Marseille, the Fête de la musique turned upside down by social distancing
The enclosure of Bercy appeared however quite empty compared to the 20,000 people that it can usually contain. Two heart-shaped scenes were installed in its center. And all around, the technical team of the show Tous ensemble pour la musique broadcast the event on France 2, two days before the Fête de la musique which takes place on Sunday.
The sanitary rules are strict: wearing a compulsory mask, marking on the ground to avoid spectators crossing, and obligation to leave an empty seat every two seats to respect the distance in the room. "We say we are going to the masked ball , " slipped AFP a spectator, Cécilia Boulé, before entering the room. "But it will pass so quickly that we will not feel it mask" . "We come from Doubs, we did more than 500 km for this concert" , confided for his part Philippe Pierre. "We needed it, it's been more than three months since we stopped doing a concert. So there was an opportunity or never. We didn't look at the number of kilometers, ”added his wife, Maryse.
"Strong symbol of recovery"
In total, 44 artists from the French scene - there were also Vianney, Bénabar or the group LEJ - follow one another in the evening, mainly on the giant screens which cut the hall in half, another part of the concert having been recorded on Wednesday and Thursday.
"We made the decision at the last minute to invite the public," explained Lætitia Iriart, marketing director of the AccorHotels Arena, for whom the opening of this hall is "a strong symbol of the revival of the activity" . “The Fête de la Musique is the meeting place for music. We are there to give people emotion. We feel that people couldn't wait any longer, ”she says.
No other concert is currently planned in this hall before that of Mr. Pokora, on September 15.
