From June to September, thousands of music festivals are organized all over France and Europe, including the Eurockéennes de Belfort this week. Among this very copious musical offer, franceinfo has selected five original events for their place or their audience.
After the Solidays (from June 23 to 25) in Paris, place at the Eurockéennes de Belfort (from June 29 to July 2, 2023), then at the Francofolies de La Rochelle (from July 12 to 16) and at the Vieilles Charrues (from 13 to 17 July), to name only the heavyweights of the French scene… The music festival season is in full swing throughout France and Europe. And in this cultural abundance, there are events that stand out for their audacity and originality. We have selected five unusual festivals for you.
DT Camp, in an undisclosed location in Lithuania
If you like electro music and surprises, DT Camp is for you. The particularity of this festival created in 2016 by the London label Digital Tsunami is that the exact location of this rave is only revealed a week before the event. What is certain, however, is that the scenes will take place “in a place of exceptional beauty in a national park in the Trakai region”, explain the organizers. Trakai is the former capital of Lithuania, a picturesque site known for its many lakes and medieval castle nestled on an island.
But to participate in this extraordinary experience, you must first be accepted by the organizers. For this you must fill out a registration form (in English) on the site where you are asked in particular which are your eight favorite artists and DJs. If you are accepted, you then receive an invitation to create an account. By becoming a member, you will then (finally) have the right to buy a ticket. The 2023 edition takes place as every year from August 11 to 13.
Nowhere, the festival without water or electricity
It is in a way the little Spanish brother of the famous Burning man, this festival which has taken place at the end of August in the Nevada desert (United States) for 37 years and where thousands of participants found a city short-lived. The Nowhere Festival is held in Aragon, in northeastern Spain, in the heart of the Monegros desert, from July 4 to 9, 2023.
The principle is the same as the American version: festival-goers participate in the creation of communities living in autonomy. No running water or electricity. To survive in 40 degrees and far from civilization, you have to bring drinks, food and equipment. At the Nowhere Festival, we don’t have any artists or spectators either. Everyone is invited to demonstrate their talents. Concerts, performances, installations or even workshops punctuate the daily life of this event, heir to hippie culture. The number of participants has continued to grow: from a few thousand people during the first edition in 2004, there were 3,600 in 2022.
Kidzik and its very small festival-goers
What if, rather than taking their children to a festival with them (with the constraint of having to impose on them the wearing of large headphones over their ears), the parents accompanied their children to a festival? This is the principle of Kidzik, a Belgian music festival dedicated to children aged 0 to 12 and whose 14th edition takes place from August 25 to 27, near Brussels. Rock, jazz, classical, world music… The half-portions are entitled to an eclectic and demanding programme. About twenty concerts are planned on four stages. This year, the headliners are, according to the organisers, Ici Baba, La Famille Handeldron and Just Vox.
Meadows in the Mountains, a total immersion in the woods
At a time when many festivals are trying to reduce their carbon footprint, he already has a good head start. Meadows in the Mountains is a music festival started in 2012 by Londoners in Bulgaria’s Rhodope Mountains, a three-hour drive from Sofia. The stages, refreshments, toilets, all the infrastructure of the festival is built by hand by local workers from the wood of the surrounding forest. Equipment designed to blend into the natural setting and to last. On the program: soul, funk and folk during the day, house and techno at night. The next edition will take place from June 6 to 9, 2024 and reservations are already open.
An Icelandic festival in a former herring warehouse
Its headliners are not confidential – Belle and Sebastian, Damien Rice, Of Monsters and Men – and yet the Bræðslan Music Festival remains, since its creation 18 years ago, an event little known outside of Iceland. It is held over one day – July 29 this year – in a fishing village in the east of the country, where 130 people live year-round.
Initially, in 2005, it was to be only one concert, that of the Icelandic singer Emiliana Torrini, who dreamed of a show in a unique setting. The location chosen, a former fish processing factory, and the concert were such a success that the one-night experience turned into a festival. The sunrise over the mountains is said to be breathtaking. But to take advantage of this setting, like music, it is better to start early. Less than 900 places are put on sale each year.