For the Parisian festival, the year 2022 was that of all records. As the 25th edition opens this Friday, the organizers are already thinking about next year. Between a difficult context for festivals, inflation and the Olympic Games in Paris, the future is never assured.
It is one of the must-see festivals for music fans from Île-de-France and elsewhere. Kick off this Friday afternoon for the 25th edition of Solidays at the Hippodrome de Longchamp in Paris. On display this year in particular: Angèle, Juliette Armanet, SCH, or Zaho De Sagazan.
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This associative and militant festival always welcomes a very young public, more and more mobilized. And if the fight against AIDS was at the origin of the foundation of the festival by Solidarité Sida, the causes defended today are much broader.
2022, a difficult year
More than decades after the beginnings, the founder Luc Barruet is still as motivated. He created this festival shortly after finishing his studies. And despite the experience acquired during all these years, he is still recovering from the 2022 edition, acclaimed by the public, but truly exhausting: “2022 was a very difficult year to organize, perhaps the most difficult. We came out of this edition tired, so we had to restart the machine and then all of a sudden, we say to ourselves that it is the 25-year-olds who How are we going to do as well, or even better?
The festival has not been spared by the Covid-19 crisis and reflections on the future. The poster, it remains mainstream and current, between song, hip-hop and electro. Bigflo & Oli, Josman, Anetha, Mr. Oizo or Colombian reggaeton superstar J. Balvin, exclusively in France.
An initiatory festival
A solidarity festival, Solidays has made several causes its DNA. From the challenges of climate change to the fight against all inequalities, with dozens of associations supported and helped throughout the year. And the public knows very well what they come to find there: “We have pressure today that is even greater than the cause we are carrying. It is because this festival has become initiatory. It is beyond us. There are young people aged 10 or 12 who are never come and who talk about Solidays with tremolos in their voices to say that it’s great and important. It gives us even greater responsibilities”slips the founder of the festival.
“We are here to remember a certain number of things, to promote values. We defend the common and living together at a time when they are seriously challenged.”
Luc Barruetat franceinfo
In 2022, the attendance record was broken with almost 250,000 festival-goers. But the future is never assured: “I am very worried about 2024 because the Olympic Games pose many difficulties. We know that we will lack personnel, equipment and money. We will have to be creative and we will have to find new support”concludes Luc Barruet.
So far, Solidays has always managed to come back, but the context of the festivals, between inflation and next season shaken up by the Olympic Games, encourages a lot of caution, despite the party.
Solidays is 25 years old: report by Yann Bertrand
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