How to enjoy the frenetic electro music while respecting the barrier measures? The Paradise City festival seems to have solved this difficult equation. Groups of eight people on boats to respect physical distance, a unique supply to avoid going back and forth at the bar ... the Belgian electronic music festival has thus been reinvented to adapt to health guidelines in times of coronavirus .
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Thursday, July 2 in the evening, in the enchanting setting of the castle park of Ribaucourt, about twenty kilometers from Brussels, there are only 400 to wiggle for this very special edition of the Paradise City festival. The maximum authorized for outdoor gatherings.
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" We are the first event with an audience in Belgium " since the deconfinement, " suddenly people are super-excited, everyone wants to party, to see artists playing ", explained to AFP one of the organizers of festival, Antoine De Brabandere.
Paradise City, which normally gathers around 10,000 people a day, had to be canceled in its usual form. " We were disappointed, we thought about a way to be able to do something, " said the organizer. Then adds: " We said to ourselves, boats would be ideal, because people stay in their friendly bubble, don't get close to others, and it's a somewhat special experience ".
A rescue boat
In a month, the boats are designed, then built in a few days. On board these flat-bottomed wooden boats, which they advance on the lake while paddling, festival-goers are advised not to dance with too much frenzy.
A rescue boat is watching. Even if the water is only 40 cm deep, as some have experienced during the first Wednesday evening of the festival. Exceptionally, participation was free, by drawing lots. The lucky ones then had the right to invite seven people from their immediate circle.
In the middle of a group of friends who order at the bar before boarding, Rachel Kremers, a 27-year-old lawyer, did not think " going to a festival this summer ". " It's better than the live stream you see on your couch, " enthuses the young woman, invited by a friend, who has " not even watched " the poster before coming.
The artists scheduled for this evening are all Belgian, BeraadGeslagen, a duo whose sounds borrow in particular from jazz, Lola Haro, a DJ from Antwerp, and Charlotte Adigéry, whose music combines electro and Caribbean influences.
On a boat, surrounded by close friends, including her roommates, Lua Huyghebaert, 25, is delighted. “ It is the first time that we come out for a real party. It feels good, ”says this young woman, who has come to the last two editions of the festival.
Will the formula be repeated? " I hope it's temporary, " says Antoine De Brabandere. Then he concludes, optimistically: " What is important in a festival is to meet people, not to stay in your bubble ".