Lollapalooza, Eurockéennes ... the festivals which cancel and those which resist

The organizers of the summer music festivals had given the government March 31 as the deadline for making decisions.

And put pressure on a week ago with their campaign "Festivals Debout", in which they threatened to adopt the policy of the empty chair in the face of ministerial and health constraints to welcome only 5000 spectators, seated, masked and distanced.

As we feared, cancellations linked to the Covid-19 pandemic are cascading: Art Rock, in Saint-Brieuc, Main Square, in Arras, Lollapalooza, in Paris, the Colmar Wine Fair, Cabaret Vert in Charleville- Mézières - but the latter will still organize an event in August -, Beauregard in Normandy and, this Friday morning, the Eurockéennes de Belfort and Musilac, in Aix-les-Bains.

"There will still be cancellations at major festivals, unfortunately"

"We looked for lots of solutions, but the rules of the ministry were untenable," explains the boss of the Eurockéennes.

With a degraded gauge, we would have had 800,000 euros of losses, because there are new costs of protection from the pandemic, installation of stands… The cost per seat is between 12 and 15 euros.

It was necessary to cancel to stop spending money and warn festival-goers who had booked transport and hotels.

"

Jean-Paul Roland regrets the strategy of the Ministry of Culture.

“We were asking for an insurance fund that would allow us to continue working on an edition, while he was asking us to organize it at all costs by promising us to cover part of our debts.

He preferred to give us a mattress when we were asking for a parachute.

There will still be cancellations at big festivals, unfortunately.

"

"We have been mistreated and we continue to be so by the ministry"

Indeed, in the wake, Musilac announced this Friday noon its cancellation.

Its director is all the more sad since he had already unveiled a copious program, with Vianney, PNL, Angèle, Aubert, Simple Minds, Therapy Taxi, Feu!

Chatterton ... "We tried everything, considered all the possibilities, but it is financially infeasible, breathes Rémi Perrier.

And our festival-goers, at 94%, did not want to come if the concerts were seated.

This is not the DNA of our festival.

So it's super hard, we're going to spend a second summer without Musilac, but to celebrate our 20th anniversary in July 2022, we'll go from four to five days.

"

Nevertheless, the man is bitter.

“We were mistreated and we continue to be so by the Ministry of Culture which will not support us financially, while we are experiencing a real period of turbulence.

And the department and the region did not even give us a call.

I hope we will still be there in 2022 ... "

The Vieilles Charrues want to "reinvent themselves"

Angelo Gopee, the boss of Live Nation France, which organizes Main Square and Lollapalooza, is angry: “The meeting with the minister dates from February 18, it is early April and nothing is still happening.

We are canceling earlier than last year, it is absurd.

But you have to be realistic.

There is no more hope on the side of the authorities, there will be no help.

Festival-goers must be able to organize themselves, our employees and service providers too.

And then you have to be also pragmatic about international headliners.

If they shoot this summer, the Americans and the English will favor their country, where vaccinations are more advanced.

"

The Vieilles Charrues, too, will probably have to do without Anglo-Saxon artists.

But the biggest French festival, with up to 280,000 spectators over four days, maintains its intention to "reinvent itself" over ten evenings, from July 8 to 18.

“We will welcome thirty artists, three per evening, announces Jérôme Tréhorel, the director of the Breton event.

We contacted the turners and there will still be quite a few artists - and very beautiful artists - on the roads this summer, especially in French song, but also in pop-rock and a little in rap and electro.

We will try with the other festivals not to compete with each other so that everyone sees everyone.

The Charrues will announce their poster in May.

Beautiful people at Pause Guitare

Other festivals also continue to believe in it and are working on their programming, such as Printemps de Bourges (postponed to the end of June), Francofolies de La Rochelle, Nuits de Fourvière in Lyon, Jazz à Vienne, Les Deferlantes d'Argelès, the Radio France festival in Montpellier ... In Albi, Pause Guitare has already unveiled its poster and it impresses with Cabrel, Souchon, Bruel, Clerc, Soprano, Vianney, Tryo, Grand Corps Malade ...

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“We decided last October to go to a new form, with a reduced site, 5,000 seated spectators and eight parties instead of four,” explains its director, Alain Navarro.

It is not economically viable, but we would rather lose money by playing than by doing nothing.

We would have lost 300,000 euros anyway by canceling.

Some artists have canceled, Damso, Niska, Angèle, Simple Minds, Izia, but others have arrived ... The producers have agreed to an effort of 10% and we will be supported by the State, which has set up aid for the festivals that will play, and our partners are following us.

They even increased.

"