“To survive, we have an obligation to make the festival longer,” explains its director.

For the first time, the 2024 edition of the festival, which takes place on the outskirts of Paris, lasts five days.

The 2024 edition of the music festival that takes place every summer at the Domaine National de Saint-Cloud in Hauts-de-Seine opened on the evening of Wednesday, August 21, with a concert by Lana Del Rey. The New Yorker performed in front of 40,000 people, some of whom had bought their tickets eight months ago. This year the festival extends over five days, until Sunday. “To survive, we have an obligation to make the festival longer”explains Matthieu Ducos, director of Rock en Seine, guest on France Inter on Thursday.

In 2023, the festival also started on a Wednesday, with an evening dedicated to Californian Billie Eilish. “Every year we try to welcome the best artists or at least those who are most anticipated”says Matthieu Ducos. And Lana Del Rey”“It really surpasses anything we have ever experienced in the past, the tickets were sold out in a few weeks, it was really the first time that this had happened to us”. With the first fans who were waiting on Tuesday morning, 36 hours before the start of the concert, to be in the front row. An event impossible to miss for fans of the American, who officiated her only date in France in 2024 on Wednesday evening.

The goal of Rock en Seine is to attract a younger audience with a diversified and longer program. Before the Covid-19 crisis, the Hauts-de-Seine festival offered three days of music. To catch up after two years of pandemic and therefore absence, Rock en Seine offered four days of festival. Rebelote in 2023, with a concert by Billie Eilish on Wednesday evening and three days of concerts from Friday to Sunday.

This year, the event is extending even further to offer concerts from Wednesday to Sunday without interruption.And to attract enough people for five days, you have to address a slightly more diverse audience.”explains the festival director. Even though Lana Del Rey was already present at Saint-Cloud in 2014, she managed to “conquering a very young audience in recent years”, notes Matthieu Ducos. “Having it at the festival guaranteed us both to satisfy our most loyal audiences and then to reach out to a younger audience who aren’t necessarily used to coming.”

Extending the festival over five days between the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games was a difficult mission, but possible thanks to “very good relations with the prefecture” Paris police, reports the director of Rock en Seine. A good understanding also maintained with the Olympic Games Organizing Committee (Cojo), since the festival will host the Paralympic torch relay on Sunday. These five days of festival also allow it to cover its costs: “The development needs and costs are such that we need more operating days to succeed in making the event profitable and ensuring its sustainability.”explains Matthieu Ducos.

Because an extra day will of course allow the festival to sell more tickets, even if no day is sold out, apart from the Lana Del Rey concert on Wednesday evening. “I think we will exceed our record, we will be between 170 000 and 180 000 spectators this year”, Matthieu Ducos advances. In 2023, Rock en Seine attracted 144,000 festival-goers over four days.