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VIDEO: Festivalgoers praise ‘forward-thinking’, organic Northside

The Local spoke to festivalgoers at the Northside festival in Aarhus about organic food, sustainability and, of course, music.

Published: 11 June 2017 16:06 CEST

VIDEO: Festivalgoers praise 'forward-thinking', organic Northside

Photo: Jonatan Nothlev/Northside

Several people at the festival, which sells only organic food, told The Local that the focus on organic produce was a key aspect of their festival experience.

“It’s incredibly important to create focus on it in today’s society when we have a lot of plastic and things being sprayed with all sorts of good stuff,” said Sophie Ingeborg Gade, one of hundreds of volunteers enlisted by Northside to collect and sort tonnes of recyclable rubbish at the three-day event.

READ ALSO: VIDEO: Northside festival gets drenched on opening day

The festival's organisers announced earlier this year plans to become fully powered by sustainable energy, replacing diesel generators with wind and solar cells by 2020.

“It maybe requires a bit more planning, a bit more forethought, but it’s not totally unachievable, so it’s really nice to come and be a part of something that is a bit forward-thinking,” said Canadian Ryan Kennedy, a branding executive who lives in Aarhus.

International and Scandinavian acts including Frank Ocean, Veronica Maggio, MØ, James Blake, Richard Ashcroft and The Prodigy all appeared on Northside's 37-concert programme.

British indie giants Radiohead are scheduled to close the festival on Sunday evening.

READ ALSO: Northside: Radiohead to play first Danish gig in eight years

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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