This year again, the month of July will rhyme with festivities in Carcassonne. The Festival de la Cité will enliven the Aude prefecture with at least one event per day until July 31. Between concerts, plays or performances, an overview.
The Festival de la Cité de Carcassonne has been around for almost 70 years, and the enthusiasm it generates has seemed to increase tenfold in recent years. This year again, the programme is substantial, and promises a month of July with almost no downtime. The figures are dizzying: 120 shows, 80 of which are completely free as part of the OFF festival. Last summer, the Festival de la Cité welcomed more than 200,000 spectators from all over France and beyond.
Prestigious names for the IN
This year again, the IN festival of Carcassonne is taking up residence inside the Cité, in the Jean-Deschamps theatre. An exceptional setting classified as a UNESCO world heritage site that can accommodate more than 3,000 spectators each evening. This year, the venue will host 20 shows, in addition to two plays and the concert by Camille and Julie Berthollet at the Château Comtal. Thus, the Cité will see artists such as Sting, Mika, Bigflo & Oli or Patrick Bruel pass through its ramparts, as well as some emblematic groups of recent years, such as Shaka Ponk, IAM, Toto or Louise Attaque.
OFF celebrates its 20th anniversary as it should
At the same time, the OFF festival, which is celebrating its twentieth anniversary, will occupy the rest of the city: from Square André Chénier to Place Carnot, via the bastide Saint-Louis or the Hôtel de Ville. For Pascal Dupont, director of the festival, this success can be explained by several factors. “The quality of the shows offered now rivals those of the Inhe believes. To kick off the festival this year, it’s a nice nod that OFF was invited to the In stage from June 24 to 26. And then in addition to being completely free, the stages of Carnot and Chénier offer exceptional proximity between the public and the artists”. Thus, Olivia Ruiz, who has already been to the In in the past, will be there, like Natasha St-Pier, Michel Jonasz or Chimène Badi.
A festival that is almost sold out!
At the time of writing these lines, there are only very few places left for a few concerts on the official ticket office of the Festival de la Cité: the Italians of the Opera on July 2, Carmen on July 5, Greta van Fleet on July 10 , IAM on July 20, Pierre de Maere and Grand Corps Malade on July 24, as well as two plays, on July 4 and 6.
For the rest, those who do not have a ticket to attend an IN festival concert will still be able to enjoy the dozens of OFF festival shows organized free of charge in the city center throughout the month of July, or try their luck on the festival’s partner resale sites, where tickets are regularly put back on sale.
