Europe 1 with AFP 7:52 p.m., January 10, 2023
After the refusal of Indochine and Louise Attaque to perform in Perpignan, a city held by the RN, the music festival Les Déferlantes gave up organizing its 2023 edition on Tuesday. The organizers say they are "forced to give up this establishment" in due to the reactions of their public and the cancellation of "several scheduled artists".
The Les Déferlantes music festival on Tuesday gave up organizing its 2023 edition in Perpignan, a city held by the National Rally (RN), after the refusal of Indochina and Louise Attaque to perform there.
The organizers say they are "forced to give up this establishment" because of the reactions of their public and the cancellation of "several artists programmed" in a press release on their social networks.
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They announce that they are "now looking for a new place so that the festival can be held in the Pyrénées-Orientales" from July 6 to 9.
A change of location for security reasons
The current music festival, created in 2007 in Argelès-sur-Mer, a seaside resort near Perpignan, had recently announced that it would move its 2023 edition from the Pyrenean city of Céret to Perpignan, for logistical and security reasons.
This change of location, which had not been the subject of consultation with the artists, was decried by some of them.
This weekend, the Indochine group, known for its commitment against far-right ideas, had conditioned its participation on the holding of its concert "in another place", otherwise it would cancel its visit.
Similarly, the Louise Attaque group announced on Tuesday that it was canceling its visit, saying that it did not want to "endorse either the fait accompli method or the possible recovery of the festival by the town hall".
100,000 festival-goers welcomed in 2022
In 2022, the festival welcomed more than 100,000 festival-goers over four days.
"I regret this decision, we were happy to welcome them," reacted the RN mayor of Perpignan Louis Aliot.
"The exit of Indochina and Louise Attaque is unspeakable, it's sectarian (...) If we don't agree with them, we are enemies. It's political discrimination", believes Louis Aliot .
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Contacted by AFP, the mayor also denounced "pressure" from the Departmental Council of Pyrénées-Orientales and the Occitanie region, two communities with a socialist majority.
Warned on Friday, when it is one of the main partners of the festival, the Occitanie region, with a PS majority, had warned that it was considering "lowering its contribution to the festival".
The festival must welcome many national and international celebrities like Sting, Bigflo & Oli, Damso, David Guetta, Lomepal, Izïa, Pomme, Rosalía or Soprano.