London (AFP)

“I haven't done something like this for two years!”: Like Leonie Louis, nearly 10,000 music fans gathered at the Kaleidoscope festival in London on Saturday, savoring the lifting of the latest restrictions linked to the coronavirus.

Adorned with sequins or wreaths of flowers, festival-goers did not shy away from the threatening weather to invade Alexandra Palace - a legendary music venue that hosted Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones and Jay Z - and its gardens, located in the north of the British capital.

Already swaying in front of the main stage or lying in the grass, everyone is enjoying this great comeback of live music.

“I'm really happy to be here,” says Leonie, comfortably stretched out in a sun lounger, “it's really so good to see everyone going out, drinking and having fun, hearing music and being able to dance. . Just enjoy it! "

The Kaleidoscope festival, which brings together bands like Groove Armada, The Coral but also renowned comedians and writers, is one of the biggest events on stage in England since the country lifted its last health restrictions on July 19.

For the 24-year-old management consultant, "now was the right time" to do it.

"People have had enough of being locked up, going out and going back into confinement," she explains, adding, fatalistically: "There will never be a perfect time to reopen, as the coronavirus will never go away completely. ".

- Negative tests -

The health situation, however, made the organization "very difficult", told AFP the event director of Alexandra Palace, Simon Fell, fearing until the last minute a cancellation at the option of a sudden change of the rules sanitary facilities.

"How do you sell tickets to people, if you don't really know if the event will take place? It's a very difficult position," he said.

But "it was a very difficult situation for all the players in the sector", he added, "we did not know in advance what the rules would be!"

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Around the main stage, there are no masks, but festival-goers with a smile from ear to ear, swinging their hips with beer in hand from the early hours of the afternoon, enjoying a magnificent view of London.

The long-awaited return of music on stage creates a surprising atmosphere at this third edition of the festival, where families with children and clubbers in extravagant clothes meet under colorful flags.

Joshua Brigts, 25, is "a little anxious" about the health situation, as England is in the grip of the explosion of the Delta variant of the coronavirus, which is much more contagious.

“But at the same time, I know everyone here has tested negative in the last 48 hours, as walking through central London there are just as many people, if not more, and we don't know anything about them, "he tempers, saying he" feels oddly safer here "than on his commute to work.

- Music as a remedy-

Sitting next to him on a bale of straw, his friend Stephen Parsons, 25, sporting a trendy floral shirt and "Fuck the world" cap, explains, "amazed", that this afternoon of music gave him back. " optimism".

"The music completely lifted my spirits," said the young man, from Bedford, a hundred miles north of London, just for the day.

For a year and a half, he watched many concerts online, but nothing could replicate the vibe of live music.

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"What I really like about a festival is well-known groups but also a small stage like this to experience this unique atmosphere".

"And that you can't have it on Zoom!", He adds, "it is not the same thing at all!"

© 2021 AFP