The Secret Place -

Secret Place

  • Near Montpellier, the rock venue Secret Place has been working since January on a protocol that would allow the setting up of two test concerts in April.

  • These experiments would make it possible to assess the circulation of the coronavirus.

  • If the evenings take place, spectators will be standing, and will not be required to respect physical distancing.

    However, all must be masked and have tested negative for Covid-19 the day before the concert.

Will the Secret Place be able to put the sound back on, almost six months after its last evening?

The Hérault hall, temple of underground rock since 1996, has been working since the beginning of the year with the Montpellier University Hospital on a protocol, which would allow the setting up of two test concerts, with more than a thousand people in total, in April.

If they are validated by the State, these experiments would make it possible to assess the circulation (or not) of the coronavirus among the spectators, the artists or the staff.

It is a way of showing the public authorities that "it is possible", underlines François Pinchon, the founder of the Secret Place.

This study would thus be "complementary to the others carried out in the region, in particular the test concerts in preparation in Paris and Marseille, in rooms with higher capacities".

Saliva tests

If the evenings take place, spectators will be standing, and will not be required to respect physical distancing.

On the other hand, all will be masked, the hydroalcoholic gel will flow freely, and the flows will be controlled at the entry and exit.

The tests will be salivary (and rapid), and provided by the Montpellier company SkillCell.

And the spectators who will participate in these evenings must imperatively be tested negative the day before.

But if everyone is negative, what is the point of such a project?

"The tests, whatever they are, present a risk of false negative", explains Stéphane Ricchiero, president of Apem, the association of producers and publishers of music, which carries the project with the Secret Place.

Seven days later, spectators will be tested again, in the same way.

This mass of data will then be processed by researchers, and presented to the State, "which will allow us to say to them 'You see, reopening certain rooms with a strict protocol, it is possible, and it does not fear anything'" , continues Stéphane Ricchiero.

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For spectators, who will have to apply for this study on the Internet, access to the concerts will, of course, be free.

But artists and technicians will be paid.

"It is also a way for the profession to resume," notes François Pinchon.

For the time being, the programming has not been stopped.

But the Palavas Surfers, a punk garage band from Montpellier, should be part of the party.

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  • Languedoc-Roussillon

  • Music

  • Montpellier

  • Concert

  • Covid 19

  • Coronavirus

  • Culture