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FESTIVAL

British bands follow Muse to Nyon’s Paléo

British bands dominate the programme of the Paléo music festival near Nyon this July, with Iron Maiden, The Chemical Brothers and Massive Attack joining Muse.

British bands follow Muse to Nyon’s Paléo
Paléo, near Nyon, celebrated its 40th birthday last year. Photo: Pierre Descombes

In a statement, the Nyon-based festival said its programme for the 41st edition, held from July 19th-24th, promises a “resolutely eclectic” line-up of musical styles, from rock to reggae to French chanson.

That’s epitomised by Thursday’s programme, which teams aging French singer Francis Cabrel, whose first hit was in 1974, with British trip-hop outfit Massive Attack.

Legendary British heavy metal band Iron Maiden will headline on Wednesday July 20th, with The Chemical Brothers, who hail from Manchester, on the Saturday.

Devonian rock band Muse, known for its large-scale stadium shows, was already announced as headliner of the first night of the six-day event, on Tuesday July 19th.

The band, returning to Paléo after 16 years, will also play Switzerland’s Gurten Festival and Montreux Jazz Festival this summer as part of their Drones world tour.

French acts are also well represented at this year’s Paléo, with French chanson icon Michel Polnareff headlining on the final night, joined by Louane, a young French singer whose breakthrough came in the film La Famille Bélier last year.

Les Insus – the new incarnation of iconic French rock band Téléphone – takes to the Paléo stage on Friday, while long-time popular French folk-rock band Louise Attack plays on Wednesday.

The regular 'world village' area of the festival will focus on Celtic countries, with acts covering Breton folk, harp music, rock and bagpipes including an appearance from Scottish ensemble Red Hot Chilli Pipers.

Paléo started in 1976 as a folkfest after growing to include a variety of musical genres in what has become Switzerland’s largest open-air music festival, attracting more than 220,000 concertgoers annually.

Tickets go on sale on April 20th.

For more information check the Paléo website.

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FESTIVAL

France’s Fête de la musique ‘will go ahead, with masks and a curfew’

France's famous summer music festival the Fête de la musique will go ahead, but with health restrictions in place, says the culture minister.

France's Fête de la musique 'will go ahead, with masks and a curfew'
Photo: ABDULMONAM EASSA / AFP

Culture minister Roselyn Bachelot, taking part in a Q&A session with readers of French newspaper le Parisien, confirmed that the annual summer festival will go ahead this year on its usual date of June 21st.

The festival date is normally marked with thousands of events across France, from concerts in tiny villages to huge open-air events in big cities and street-corner gigs in local neighbourhoods.

Last year the festival did go ahead, in a scaled-down way, and Bachelot confirmed that the 2021 event will also happen, but with restrictions.

She said: “It will be held on 21st June and will not be subject to the health passport.

“People will be able to dance, but it will be a masked party with an 11pm curfew.”

Under France’s phased reopening plan, larger events will be allowed again from June 9th, but some of them will require a health passport (with either a vaccination certificate or a recent negative test) to enter.

The Fête de la musique, however, is generally focused around lots of smaller neighbourhood concerts.

The curfew is being gradually moved back throughout the summer before – if the health situation permits – being scrapped entirely on June 30th.

Bachelot added: “I appeal to everyone’s responsibility.

“The rate of 50 percent of people vaccinated should have been reached by then, so we will reach an important level of immunity.”

The Fête de la musique is normally France’s biggest street party, with up to 18,000 events taking place across the country on the same day.

It’s hugely popular, despite being (whisper it) the idea of an American – the concept is the brainchild of American Joel Cohen, when he was working as a music producer for French National Radio (France Musique) in the 1970s.

By 1982 the French government put its weight behind the idea and made it an official event and it’s been a fixture in the calendar ever since. 

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