“We’re expecting a lot of people, we’ll probably end up with three full days,” rejoices Jean-Paul Roland, general director of this event which marks the opening of the summer festival season.
“It will be one of the big editions, I think,” he anticipates, while last year, some 125,000 people flocked to the Malsaucy peninsula.
“A crazy party for four days and four nights”, promises the festival’s communication, with, as every year, around sixty artists drawn from a wide musical scope, including several big names, starting with David Guetta, headliner this year.
“Artistic Margins”
The French DJ with over 80 million singles sold will perform on Sunday on the “Grande Scène” and will complete the list of electro heavyweights who have passed through Belfort, after Daft Punk (1996 and 2006) and DJ Snake (2017).
Another big name, Lenny Kravitz will be making his comeback a quarter of a century after his first appearance. The American, scheduled for Friday evening, has just released his twelfth album, “Blue Electric Light”.
In the middle of their farewell tour this year, the Canadian rock group Sum 41 will perform on Saturday evening, while the Black Pumas, whose performances at the Eurockéennes were cancelled in 2020, 2021 (due to Covid-19) and 2022 (bad weather), are this time expected on Friday.
Old hands of alternative rock, The Breeders, who signed the legendary “Cannonball” in the early 90s, will play Friday night. Musical revelation of 2023 with her album “La symphonie des éclairs”, Zaho de Sagazan is scheduled from Thursday. As for the rap scene, it will not be outdone with Kaaris, Bigflo & Oli, Gazo, or the Belgian artist Shay.
Effort for the environment
“We always go quite far into the artistic margins” but always with “a generalist spirit: it’s not because we have a lot of people that we can’t also be attentive to lesser-known things”, such as for example “Congolese or Ivorian rap or things that come from Scandinavia”, professes Jean-Paul Roland.
In his eyes, “these large gatherings” like the Eurockéennes “are salutary in a somewhat divided society”. “We always have the impression that crowds have something threatening about them, whereas we see them as proof of humanity and sharing”, continues the general director.
The festival is also continuing its efforts in environmental matters. The manager cites waste and energy management, sustainable catering and the hiring of a sustainable development officer.
Voting proxy counter
Impacted by current political events, the Eurockéennes will offer a counter to help festival-goers who are late with their procedures and help them complete their proxies for the second round of early legislative elections on Sunday.
This ticket office “is aimed at ‘late citizen festival-goers'”, smiles Mr. Roland, according to whom “this is the first year that the festival falls at the same time as elections”.
However, there are no voting instructions, he insists. “We are an association under the 1901 law and in our statutes, it is specified that we cannot do religious or political proselytism (…) There is no activism in this matter, it is just helping to make a proxy.”
