The sun is timidly peeking out and all we can think about is singing, dancing and celebrating. While waiting for beers sipped from returnable plastic cups and queues in front of dry toilets to the sound of dozens of cheerful music groups, here is our Recommended Itinerary, from Paris to Marseille, via Arles, Clermont-Ferrand, Reims, Carhaix and La Rochelle.
Jazz, pop, classical, metal, rap, world music… There’s something for everyone.
For us, the ball starts gently in the Bois de Vincennes, at We Love Green, the first music festival that puts the environment at the heart of its programming. And since you don’t attract flies with vinegar, it’s also one of the rare festivals in France where you eat well, the stands in the food corner being focused on local, organic and vegetarian food (forget the hot dog monopoly , 50% of the offer is vegan), certified by the Ecotable charter.
Solar panels, bio-fuel, hydrogen to power the festival, governed by an eco-responsible production charter, We Love Green has been trying since its creation in 2010 to limit its carbon footprint as much as possible. Our good conscience is delighted, but our ears too, because after a 2022 edition drowned in the rain, the headliners (Orelsan, The Blaze, Phoenix, Lomepal, Bon Iver, Jack Johnson…) are just as attractive as the artists emerging (D4VD, Johan Papaconstantino, Honey Dijon, Charlotte Adigéry
From Friday June 2 to Sunday June 4, 2023.
For more than 50 years, the Saint-Denis Festival has invited classical musicians from all over the world to bring its historic buildings to life through eleven concerts: the Basilica and the Legion of Honor. This year, the Franco-Italian mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre and the Jupiter ensemble conducted by Thomas Dunford begin the festivities with a baroque program around the figure of the warrior woman with Provenzale, Vivaldi, Destouches, Cavalli, Philidor …
Then Julien Chauvin and his ensemble Le Concert de la Loge, in residence this season at the Festival, will play “Die Schöpfung” (The Creation), Haydn’s masterpiece, in a version reworked by the composer in French. Andris Nelsons, one of the greatest contemporary conductors (he is music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig), will resonate Beethoven’s 5th Symphony under the nave. On the creative side, Gregory Porter will pay tribute to crooner Nat King Cole. Not so classic…
From June 2 to 27 in Saint-Denis.
Welcome to Hell ! The Hellfest has become in 16 editions the essential festival for lovers of “Extreme Music” (hard rock, heavy metal, death metal…). It is now one of the biggest metal festivals in Europe and the first in France.
Each year, 450,000 festival-goers gather at Hell City Square, a huge “metal market” with a decoration similar to science fiction films, or in front of stages with delirious pyrotechnic effects. This year, the program brings together rock legends: Kiss, Mötley Crue, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden, Slipknot, but also Machine Gun Kelly, Pantera, Rancid, Coheed and Cambria… Rock’n’roll is not dead!
From June 15 to 18 in Clisson, Loire-Atlantique.
As the season ends at the Philharmonie de Paris, what a great way to extend it than to go to the Festival Days Off, where pop and contemporary groups have been coming to dialogue for 13 years among a cutting-edge line-up, mixing musicians who all have a appetite for experimentation.
This summer, the Icelandic trio Sigur Rós join forces with the London Contemporary Orchestra to unveil the titles of their eighth album recorded at Abbey Road. Lous and the Yakuza, the Belgian songwriter, whom we introduced you to in 2020, will cover some hip-hop pop soul hits from her Gore and IOTA albums. The New York veterans of Interpol will be back on stage for a rereading of Antics, their second opus released in 2004. The sweet November Ultra will lay bare its feelings. Strong emotions guaranteed.
From June 29 to July 8 at the Philharmonie de Paris.
The culmination of the Europavox project (a music info site, tours, debates, etc.), the Clermont festival has been conveying a positive and strong European message since 2006 to unite young people on the continent by programming hundreds of groups of 27 nationalities. . This year, we will discover English nuggets (Jacob Banks), Swiss (Varnish La Piscine), Icelandic (Arny Margret), Polish (Dobrawa Czocher) or Croatian (Fran Vasilic), but we will not miss the French stars (-M- , Pomme…) and Belgians (Pierre de Maere)… Long live Europe!
From June 30 to July 2 in Clermont-Ferrand.
About twenty artists will perform on two stages at the Parc de Champagne in Reims for the sixth season of the Magnificent Society. On the menu: pillars of French rock culture such as Louise Attaque or Phoenix, stars of the current pop scene such as Aya Nakamura, Sofiane Pamart or Angèle and some Afro trap and independent pop talents such as Rema, Meryl, Vacra, Favé, Agar Agar or Japanese Breakfast. Champagne!
The revolt of artists against the RN got the better of the holding of the main Occitanie music festival in Perpignan. Welcoming 100,000 festival-goers for four days, Les Déferlantes was going to welcome on their site which has been constantly expanding for fifteen years Indochine, Damso, Rosalia, Scorpions, Soprano, Sting, David Guetta… Except that when its organizers announced that they would move the 2023 edition to Perpignan for security reasons, Indochine and Louise Attaque threatened to cancel their visit. The city is indeed held by the National Rally… The festival has finally backtracked and will settle in the Jardins du Lydia in Barcarès, near the sea…
From July 6 to 9 at Port Barcarès.
Since its creation in 1992 in Landeleau near Carhaix with 500 guests, the Vieilles Charrues festival has grown to become one of the biggest festivals in Europe. James Brown, Johnny Hallyday, Bryan Ferry, ZZ Top and Tracy Chapman have performed there. This year again welcomes formidable stage beasts with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Robbie Williams, Rosalia, Blur, Shaka Ponk, Jeanne Added, Suzane, Idles, Acid Arab, Soprano, Hot Chip, Jain…
From July 13 to 17 in Carhaix.
For more than twenty years, the Marseille Jazz des Cinq Continents festival has extended its territory, from the gardens of the Palais Longchamp to the Mucem, to the Théâtre de la Sucrière, to the Center de la Vieille Charité, to the Saint-Victor Abbey and to the departmental archives of the Bouches-du-Rhône… Seven venues and thirteen evenings marked by the appearance of Ballaké Sissoko, Morcheeba, Selah Sue, Gilberto Gil… In the opening, the musician and storyteller Lamine Diagne and the filmmaker Matthieu Verdeil will pay tribute to the Jamaican-American poet Claude MacKay . Oxmo Puccino will build a bridge between rap and jazz with pianist Yaron Herman. Gabi Hartmann will sing her sweet songs in French, Portuguese, Arabic and English. We wonder if Chilly Gonzales will come in a dressing gown on the stage of the Théâtre Silvain to rap about Beethoven!
From July 8 to 27 in Marseille.
It is the biggest festival of French-speaking music. Created in 1985, it brings together more than 150,000 festival-goers in the city of La Rochelle for 5 days of concerts by the water. Madness! Soprano, Renaud, Izïa, DJ Snake, Michel Polnareff, Deluxe or Louane are the stars of this edition. In parallel, at the Chantier des Francos, “a nest to incubate and hatch the best of today’s scene” which has indeed revealed Suzane, Pomme, Christine
The ripening fruits of this season are called Ada Oda, AnNie. Adaa, Claude, Lazza Gio, Lisa Ducasse, Yoa, Uzi Freyja… Remember their names, they may be tomorrow’s headliners.
From July 12 to 16 in La Rochelle.
Cap vers le Midi and its 28th edition of the committed festival Les Suds for 15 concerts inviting peace and travel… In the evening, we listen to the Malians Tinariwen (artists-fighters, electric guitars slung over their blue-indigo tunics, Amazigh cause), the Colombians of Combo Chimbita (fighting against racism on Afro-Latin tunes), the Algerian Houria Aïchi (rehabilitating the courtly love songs of the Chaouis of eastern Algeria) or the Israeli-Iranian Liraz (singing for women oppressed by the mullahs of the Iranian regime) on the majestic stage of the Ancient Theater or in the heart of the intimate Cour de l’Archevêché.
From July 12 to 18 in Arles.
It is one of the biggest festivals in the world. Created in Chicago in 1991 by Perry Farrell, singer of the group Jane’s Addiction, it has since been exported to Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Sweden and France. All the biggest music stars perform here every year. With us, the program is of quality: Lil Nas X, Kendrick Lamar, Kygo, Niska, Benjamin Epps, Damso, Ava Max…
But also Street Food from around the world, a space dedicated to sustainable development and raising awareness of environmental and social issues, a paradise for children (Kidzapalooza), a stage entirely dedicated to rap, the genre that sits at the top of all rankings in France… Americans don’t do things by halves.
From July 21 to 23 at the Paris Longchamp racecourse.
The holidays are over ! That’s the impression you get when landing at Rock en Seine every year at the end of August, with a tanned complexion, sand in your toes, still smelling of sunscreen… Rock festival steeped in history (it’s in its very dressing rooms that Oasis separated), this year it will receive Billie Eilish, Florence The Machine, Placebo, The Strokes, The Chemical Brothers, Foals, L’Impératrice, Wet Leg… The banks of the Seine will take on the appearance of beach.
From August 25 to 27 at the Domaine National de Saint-Cloud.
