Brest and Lorient have their Raptown festival. In Finistère, the event brought together more than 7,000 young people in 2023 and 9,000 in November 2024. The Morbihan version, the 4th edition of which was held in Lanester in April 2024 with 4,500 spectators, has also become a must. . After all, it is said that rap is the most listened to style of music in France. Also Diogene Production and Saint-Brieuc Expo Congrès thought they would take advantage of a promising niche by launching Octopus, the first Briochin rap event, at the Parc des expositions, in February 2024.
“We didn’t have a specific sales target, but as things stood, we couldn’t afford to take the risk.”
Over three days, the rhyming show brought together nearly 4,000 spectators. However, a year later, the second edition was canceled two months before the meeting. “We were in a critical situation in terms of the sales curve,” explains Lara Martin, communications manager at Diogene Production. The score was worrying at Christmas time and the conclusion was made that our programming was not strong enough to bring together as many people as we hoped. We didn’t have a specific sales target but as it stood, we couldn’t afford to take the risk. »
Budget, agendas, scenography…
“Saint-Brieuc was, however, a land of promise”, the two co-producers being convinced to benefit from “the growth of the first local rap event”, continues Lara Martin. The team was banking in particular on the return to the stage of Youssoupha, “very popular with 35-55 year olds”, and on “the more musical side of Faada Freddy”. “We are obviously a little disappointed and surprised by the reception from the public,” regrets the communications manager. The availability of artists and the difficulty of creating a complete and coherent set weighed in the decision to cancel the event.
“The full budget with room rental, the sometimes significant scenography which increases fees, and the difficulty in matching everyone’s schedules are all parameters which mean that we can sometimes miss out on artists », she adds.
In total, around fifteen people worked on the event and the reimbursement of places already sold is still in progress. Diogenes hopes that future opportunities will revive the event and is working on more than a hundred other shows this year.
