While they had planned to install the festival in Perpignan, for questions of logistics and security, the organizers backtracked, "forced to give up this location" because of the reactions of their public and the cancellation of "several scheduled artists", he explained in a press release.

"Without an artist, no festival", they recalled, announcing that they are "now looking for a new place so that the festival can be held in the Pyrénées-Orientales on the dates planned", from July 6 to 9. .

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, where it took place in 2022, to Perpignan.

Controversy

This change of location, which had not been the subject of consultation with the artists, was decried by some of them.

Perpignan is since 2020 the only city of more than 100,000 inhabitants to fly the flag of the National Rally.

This weekend, the Indochine group, known for its commitment against far-right ideas, had put a first blow of pressure by conditioning its participation on the holding of its concert "in another place", otherwise it would cancel Her arrival.

A position condemned Monday by Jordan Bardella, president of the RN: "when you're an artist, you don't do politics, you don't sort the people who come to these concerts according to their political opinion", he had estimated in an interview on BFM-TV.

Tuesday, it was Louise Attaque who announced that she was canceling her visit, saying that she did not want to "endorse either the fait accompli method or the possible recovery of the festival by the town hall".

Members of the Louise Attaque group Arnaud Samuel (g), Gaëtan Roussel (d) and Robin Feix in Paris, March 22, 2022 © JOEL SAGET / AFP/Archives

In 2022, the festival welcomed more than 100,000 festival-goers over 4 days.

"I regret this decision, we were happy to welcome them," reacted the RN mayor of Perpignan Louis Aliot.

"Sectarianism"

"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", estimates this figure of the RN .

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.

The RN mayor of Perpignan Louis Aliot at the congress of his party in Paris, November 5, 2022 © Alain JOCARD / AFP/Archives

The announcement of the move to Perpignan had offended the Occitanie region, one of the main partners of the festival via a “naming” contract with Sud de France, its brand promoting regional products from Occitanie.

The region led by socialist Carole Delga had considered reducing its contribution to the festival, if it was scheduled in Perpignan.

The festival must welcome many national and international celebrities like Sting, Bigflo & Oli, Damso, David Guetta, Lomepal, Izïa, Pomme, Rosalía or Soprano.

The organizers of the festival specified in their press release that they had already "started to study certain avenues" and gave themselves "a few weeks to finalize" their choice, promising to then open "a reimbursement procedure for those who wish".

Some festival-goers had also expressed their dissatisfaction at seeing the festival leave Céret, pointing to the difference in setting between the neo-Baroque castle of Aubiry, theater of the 2022 edition, and the parking lot of the Perpignan exhibition center.

An online petition "No to Breakers in Perpignan" was launched on Friday and collected more than 1,200 signatures on Tuesday.

© 2023 AFP