Two months after the release of their fourth album, The others are us, Bigflo & Oli are celebrating their comeback with a colorful event. With the Rose Festival, which they co-created and organized with their production company Bleu Citron, they promise Toulouse a musical return “with a festival worthy of the name, modern and aimed at young people”tells us straight away Oli.
A newcomer to the summer music festivals, Rose is, above all, the first from Toulouse, explains Samuel Capus, director of Bleu Citron: “There was no mainstream music festival for young people in Toulouse.” Words already made by the duotwo years ago, in a YouTube video announcing the event: “For a long time, when we were at a festival, the artists we met told us: guys, we would like to come see you in Toulouse but there is nothing”, says Oli. The project of an event to be set up in their native land was born in 2018 in the imagination of Bigflo & Oli. Finally aborted twice because of the pandemic, the first edition of Rose sees – finally – the day at the MEETT, Parc des Expositions in Toulouse, on September 2 and 3.
Designed by Bigflo and Oli, the Rose Festival program is inspired “playlists from our friends. We wanted to please them by inviting artists they dreamed of seeing”, explains the younger brother. So the Rose promises “a nice palette of the current urban and popular scene with essential electro like Polo&Pan or Paul Kalkbrenner, and rappers like Damso or Laylow”, explains the director of Bleu Citron. But the poster also announces French songs with Ben Mazue, and more funky, jazzy, pop and disco rhythms with FKJ, The Empress, Deluxe, or Folamour. “It’s a little all over the place, but it’s like our generation, with super eclectic tastes”, summarizes Oli. As for the two brothers, they will play both evenings and book “a few surprises”.
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In total, 18 artists will be spread over the two stages of the site, from headliners to emerging talents. The line-up also gives pride of place to artists, musicians and performers spotted on the internet, social networks and streaming and download platforms. “I discovered Ziak randomly from YouTube, with his first clip Raspoutine. I took a shock! After he exploded on the rap scene, I insisted on bringing him to us!”, writes Bigflo on the festival website. The creators of the Rose then have a real objective: to make the festival a musical springboard for young talents, and to devote a good part of its programming, or rather a third stage, to these 2.0 discoveries.
Bigflo & Oli sign this festival with the desire to “radiate and move Toulouse”, explains Oli, and to put local artists on the front of the stage: the wildly successful rapper Laylow, the rising artist Zinée, and the duo, members of the Zebda group, Mouss&Hakim..
“Toulouse is the center of all our projects, it is our colors and our values”, attests Oli. And as the love of the two rappers for their city has no limit, they create, with the Rose, an event in their image with an immersive visual aesthetic. This weekend, therefore, expect to see installations of emblematic monuments of Toulouse, and pink, the identity of the festival, really everywhere. Festival-goers, it’s up to you to play the game!
With a total of 25,000 festival-goers per evening, and a ticket office that is sold out, the success of the festival is already there. “It’s quite historic for our city”, testifies Oli. But “the success of the Rose will be especially if it still exists in 20 years“, nuances the director of Bleu Citron. “We hope this edition will be the first of a long series, we really want it to become an institution in Toulouse”finally finishes Oli.
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Rose Festival, September 2 and 3, 2022 at MEETT – Parc des Expositions, Concorde Avenue 31840 Aussonne. Hours: 4:00 p.m. – 2:00 a.m. Prices: €46 per evening. 72€ both evenings. Catering on site. Transport: car (20 mins), T1 tram (50 mins), bus (1 hour), festival shuttle. Secure parking: 5,000 spaces on site.