Like many Quebecers, the organizers of the Festif de Baie-Saint-Paul had not seen the seventh wave of the pandemic coming, which strikes when the very popular musical festival of Charlevoix is held. Left to themselves in the absence of sanitary measures, they still chose to adapt their formula for this 13e edition, while returning to the cruising speed of the world before COVID-19.
“We thought the pandemic would be calmer in July, but now we see that there is an increase in cases. The situation is special, because unlike the 2021 edition, we are a little left to ourselves, without the precise rules of Public Health, which allowed us to have clear guidelines. Should we be worried or not? We do not know. It’s a little weirdbut we do our best,” explains the general and artistic director of Le Festif, Clément Turgeon.
Tangible proof that the virus is still present, the headliner of Friday’s evening, the French pop group L’Impératrice, finally had to cancel its participation on Wednesday. The organizers were however able to reshape the evening at full speed, placing the long-awaited return of Hubert Lenoir on the main stage of the Festive at the top of the bill, preceded by Clay and Friends, an addition announced on Thursday, and Bon Enfant.
To hope not to become a hotbed for the outbreak of COVID-19 cases, the festival has decided not to present shows in closed halls. Proof of the organizers’ inventiveness, the very noisy overnight stays in the basement of the Baie-Saint-Paul church have been replaced by an outdoor stage set up in the heart of the pity with sand” of the municipality. And for the Gros Mené show on Friday, this surreal setting was embellished with around thirty campfires and carcasses of crushed cars.
“With the context of the pandemic, we have chosen to take even better care of the people who come to the festival, to improve their experience, by focusing on the layout of the sites and the stages”, indicates Clément Turgeon. In addition to the 13 surprise shows scattered throughout Baie-Saint-Paul that will be announced on the Festif’s mobile application just one hour in advance, including some excellent artists from the Quebec music scene, the event organizers have chosen to come back with some winning formulas. This is the case of the floating stage moored in the Rivière du Gouffre, where festival-goers can watch shows by Geoffroy and Nova Scotian P’tit Belliveau installed on inner tubes.
On the dock
Resumption also of the concept of the stage at the bottom of the bay. This magnificent outdoor site, used for the first time in 2021, due to sanitary rules, is in fact a field strewn with hay bales. It is there, in particular, that Mara Tremblay played on Friday. Last year, those who were there still remember the moonrise while Michel Rivard was playing The Autumn Moon. You can not make that up.
The municipality’s wharf also remains a must, with this year Lou-Adriane Cassidy, Martha Wainwright, Laura Niquay and Salomé Leclerc, among others. Benoît Pinette, better known as Tire le Coyote, has excellent memories of his performance on site in 2019. “The site was overflowing, and there were people listening to us in their kayaks, in the mouth of the Gouffre River. All this with the St. Lawrence and Île aux Coudres as a backdrop. It’s quite exceptional as a site”, he tells the To have to.
“It’s also nice to see how this festival has evolved. No matter when the show is, there are plenty of people and interesting performers to see. In some festivals, we focus mainly on headliners. But the Festive is more inclined to find the right artist for each scene. And each time it’s a bit of a party between friends, and we feel a bit on vacation, “adds the one who promises a show halfway between his most recent album, In the first round of evidenceand pieces from his eight other opuses.
Tire le Coyote is indeed back this year, but this time under the trees of the Parc de la Virevolte, on Saturday afternoon. “For this scene, which looks like a kind of bird’s nest, we salvaged tree branches from the ecocentre and elsewhere to construct the visual of the scene, but without cutting trees,” explains Clément Turgeon. Before Tire le Coyote, there will have been Edith Butler, Basia Bulat and the American Pearl Charles.
With this edition, which stretches over four very dense days, the Festif is also taking the pulse of the enthusiasm for the event, which is now generating a real race for tickets. “Normally, the day of the sale, we sold 4000 tickets. But this year, in three hours, we sold 14,000 tickets. We have never seen that. Most shows are sold out. Even for the main stage, for which there are normally tickets left until the time of the festival, there is nothing more available, ”underlines Clément Turgeon.
But the festival, which attracts 40,000 people year after year, also tries to keep its intimate character as much as possible. “We want to continue to introduce artists and remain accessible, for example by offering several free shows. We don’t want to become a luxury product and we want the event to remain, as much as possible, an experience of spontaneity for festival-goers. »