It’s a time not so long ago, but bygone. In the last century, from the end of the 70s to the beginning of the 90s, Arles was a rock city with a breeding ground of around a hundred groups: Nain Jaune, Sealsia, Black Order, Dram, Rocky L’amour, Novo Homo, Exclusivit Corps…
Even if “few exploded“, specifies Jean Gil, still a musician in his spare time with the Charles Dexter Ward group. With his Arles-sur-Rock association, he is one of the linchpins of the exhibition The 45 tours of Rock’stival (1979-2024)presented until January 31 at the media library. A beautiful tribute to the actors and actresses, from municipal services to musicians, who contributed to the rock wave that swept through the city for a decade. Because before Les Suds, in Arles and Les Escales du Cargo, the little Rome of the Gauls experienced another large-scale music festival: the Podium musical which would become the Rock’stival. Never before has current music crossed the threshold of the ancient theater.
“There was great energy”
Thanks to the contributions of those who lived this story, the exhibition, which also includes a film directed by Jean Gil and edited by Serge Benkemoun, gives the moving story of a cultural and popular adventure which will have enabled many young people local groups to come out of the cellars in which they rehearsed to perform at the ancient theater and even at the arenas, opening for leading artists as varied as Bijou, Au Bonheur des dames, Bashung, Noir Désir, Carmen, Les Satellites, Gamine, Raoul Petite, Gangsters d’amour, Little Bob Story and even The Cure.
