A new festival will liven up the summer in French-speaking Switzerland: the Pully Live Festival. Scheduled for June 25 to 28, the event has revealed part of its program, which will notably include Nile Rodgers, Gotthard and Nazareth.
This new open air was born from the complete transformation of the Pully Lavaux festival to Quebec time. A festival which, after the Covid years and a deficit in 2022, has decided to reinvent itself. “We started from an almost blank slate,” explained its president Michel Marguerat on Tuesday to the press.
The festival is moving from the site of the Arnold Reymond college, on the heights of Pully, to the quays. Enough to now accommodate 4,500 spectators per evening on the main stage (there will also be an “off” stage), compared to 2,200 so far.
The other big change concerns programming. In fact, it is widening. On Wednesday, the Pulliéran festival will hold an “urban and electro” evening including the French collective Bon Entendeur. “A global star” will also be announced soon. On Thursday, it will be time for hard rock with the Swiss from Gotthard and the Scots from Nazareth.
Had the 100% Quebec concept reached its limits?
The festival maintains its ties to Quebec, but as to how exactly this will materialize, the organizers are keeping it a mystery.
Places between 75 and 85 francs
On Friday, after a first part provided by the “local of the stage” Bastian Baker, Pully Live will welcome the “living legend” Nile Rodgers. The master of disco funk, a veritable hit machine since the 1970s, will experience his third summer in a row in Vaud after his concerts at Montreux Jazz in 2023 and at Paléo last year.
The festival will close on Saturday June 28 with “a surprise evening”, the poster of which will soon be revealed, continued Michel Marguerat.
At the same time, a free stage will allow you to discover Swiss artists and emerging talents. Around fifteen stands and “food trucks” will complete the offer. The festival’s budget amounts to “more than a million francs”, while ticket prices range from 75 to 85 francs.
At the head of an organizing committee that is almost unchanged from the Quebec festival, Michel Marguerat believes that this new version will find its place among the abundant offering of summer festivals. But at a time when most festivals want to be more popular, isn’t the festival, by expanding its programming, plunging into greater competition?
Alessia Merulla with ATS.
