In Pas-de-Calais, Cali offers a solidarity concert to former Bridgeston employees

Faces, smiles, music and human warmth. This Saturday, April 23, the Gentils space in Marles-les-Mines in Pas-de-Calais took on a festive air. On stage, the singer Cali gave a support concert to former Bridgestone employees.

A joyous moment, filled with emotion titled 1000 hearts still standing which caused the 400 or so spectators gathered to pound. “I see friends that I haven’t seen for ten months, you know Bridgestone, it’s there”, reports a participant indicating his heart.

For one evening, the ex-Bridgestones experienced a parenthesis, out of time and full of hope. “I like the idea that even crushed, people still get up and it continues”, assures Cali at the end of his concert.

On stage, the singer was accompanied by his pianist to perform pieces from his repertoire but also a few covers, such as the title of U2 With or without you and of course the essential Corons by Pierre Bachelet. An emblematic song from the North that the spectators took up in chorus. “I had the chance to kick off an RC Lens match at Stade Bollaert where not much was going on. When the public sang that tune, I got chills”, he says in an interview with France 3 Nord.

When the Béthune site closed its doors in April 2021, leaving behind 863 employees, Cali promised them to come. A spontaneous reaction for the committed singer who wanted to send a message of comfort to those made redundant. “I put myself in the place of the worker who returns home and who announces to his family during the evening meal that he is laid off”, reports Cali.

It was Jérôme Bujakiewicz, his stage photographer from Béthune, who then slipped him the idea of ​​offering a concert to workers and families. “With Cali, we wanted it to be friendly, for people to be happy, for them to forget their daily problems, and that’s the case, I’m very happy with the success of this concert. he rejoices.

For the artistic and technical team of Cali, the goal is not to be limited to a single date. Why not imagine a reminder every year so as not to forget them.