A year without festivals is a weird year. But like Spain saved some events (Tomavistas and Flamenco on Fire), France did too. Two of the biggest festivals in the country found a way to create another experience this summer. Let’s have a look at two events. Rock en Seine’s launched “Le Festival Des Festivals”: a special format that pays tribute to all French festivals. “Garorock fête sa rentrée” is Garorock’s response in music to its cancellation.
Le Festival des Festivals, a Rock En Seine Tribute
Rock en Seine is a big rock festival in Paris which is annually held at the end of August. The last years acts such as The Cure, Liam Gallagher and Massive Attack headlined the French festival. In 2020 Rock en Seine obviously got cancelled, but the organizers promised that they were working on something new.
On the Domaine de Saint Cloud, on Thursday 27 August, the Parisian audience had the pleasure to applause some of the most famous French artists. Christine and the Queens, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Yael Naim, Jane Birkin and Yseult were some of the artists to play during this very special event, hosted by Rock en Seine. They called this ‘Le Festival Des Festivals’.
Le Festival des Festivals was a tribute to all the festivals that were cancelled during this sad summer. On their website, after the event, the organization thanked all the “technicians, intermittents, labels, managers, and festivals, especially Eurockéennes de Belfort, Francofolies de la Rochelle, Printemps de Bourges, Solidays, Vieilles Charrues, We Love Green, and the other hundreds of French Festivals and their teams”.
For the Festival des Festivals, they all were a family to make the music play.
This event was the symbol of something new, the mobilisation of the music industry and culture. 1500 seated persons could enjoy this unique moment, broadcast on French Television and presented by some famous hosts in the country.
Garorock fête sa rentrée, another way to enjoy Garorock
Garorock is a festival in Marmande, South of France every year at the end of June, since 1996. This festival mixes a line-up with rock, pop, electro, having some international artists for every edition. Iggy Pop, Muse, The Offspring, Die Antwoord and The Bloody Beetroots are some of the artists that played at the festival.
Like most of the festivals in Europe, Garorock was cancelled. The festival should have hosted Black Eyed Peas, Disclosure and The Strokes, among another dozens of big names. But despite the sadness of the cancellation, the festival worked on a way to end summer with music.
To make sure people could enjoy this weird year, the famous French festival came up with an idea. On 12 September, another event took place in Marmande, where Garorock was supposed to be. With the same spirit, during one day, some of the big French DJs were here to play in front of a crowd, dancing and singing with their masks.
All the safety measures were respected. Because the French Government advises to change face masks every four hours, the festival gave a mask to each person. So everyone was ready to sing “Le Temps Est Bon” from the famous Parisian duo Bon Entendeur, among other shows by Feder, Synapson or Biga Ranx.
This event was extra special because the audience did not have to sit, while almost every other event was a seated one. All the teams, from safety to organization, were there to make sure everyone was respecting the social distancing. As a result of that, everyone enjoyed great concerts under a blue and happy sky.
In 2021, Gorillaz, Disclosure, Martin Garrix, PNL, Sean Paul and The Lumineers are among the artists that will be playing Garorock. For those who had a 4 day pass for 2020, the festival will offer a fifth day in 2021.
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