Organized in Grimbergen on September 7 and 8, the Voodoo Village will welcome around seventy artists on five different stages called The Forest, The Shelter, The Yard, The Observatory and The Oracle. But be careful, to access the latter, you will have to show your credentials. Indeed, for the first time in Belgium, a festival will ban smartphones. Not in full but only for the audience on The Oracle stage.
The organizers will, in a way, carry out a pilot experiment inspired by what is happening elsewhere, such as in Ibiza, a temple of clubbing, where certain artists only perform without mobile phones.. “Sometimes it seems like people are more concerned with their phones than the DJ set. We also notice that more and more artists, including around the world, are adopting the ‘no phone’ policy.confided Maxim Dekegel, the boss of the festival. Part of the public is clearly annoyed by the many mobile phones held up during the shows to take photos.”
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For the ninth edition which takes place this year, only one scene will therefore be affected by the ban. It is not the largest since it can bring together up to 1000 people out of the 15,000 visitors expected daily in Grimbergen. “If it is successful, we will perhaps introduce it on a second stage. But our visitors don’t have to worry about having their cell phones confiscated or being asked to put them in a locker.”
Concretely, there will therefore be no confiscation of the phone or sequestration of it in a tamper-proof pouch. The system adopted by the organizers of Voodoo Village is simpler. This will be a sticker to put on the camera lenses. Will this be enough to dissuade revelers from immortalizing their passage in front of the stage? We will have to see how it is used.
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The organizers have planned everything. For those who want to post photos on their social networks, they will put content themselves via their own channels. It will be accessible via a specific link.
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