The 2022 concerts of the “Enfoirés”, which were to attract 50,000 spectators in Montpellier from January 20 to 24, will finally be recorded without an audience, the Restos du Coeur announced on Tuesday, January 4, which appealed to the State to compensate 4 million. euros of ticket office loss.
“Unfortunately, this situation has significant financial consequences for the future funding of social assistance missions for the Restos du Coeur.“, lamented in a statement the charity founded by Coluche.
Due to the pandemic, the concert had already been played without an audience last year – in Lyon – but this decision was then anticipated, no ticket having been put on sale. This year, on the other hand, most of the tickets (from 65 to 90 euros) had already been sold for the six performances, ie 6 times 8,300 seats in a room in a reduced configuration, with only seats.
The explosion of the Omicron variant, and the government decision to impose a maximum capacity of 2,000 people indoors, however, led the organizers to cancel the public presence and refund the tickets. The forty or so artists planned will therefore only take part in a video capture, with a view to broadcasting on TF1 in March and the sale of CDs and DVDs the following day.
This decision “is heartbreaking, but it was the only solution“, Patrice Douret, the president of” Restos “, told AFP.” Che 4 million euros were already provided for in our budgets. They are bound to be missed. And when we know that we are helping 1.2 million beneficiaries, it’s worrying“, added Patrice Douret, who said”hope for a quick response“of the State so that it possibly compensates for this loss.
In the 2019-2020 fiscal year, before the Covid epidemic, the Enfoirés reported to the Restos du Coeur 15.7 million euros net after tax, according to the association.