In Rennes, the Salle de L’Etage hosted its first concert for over a year on June 6, 2021. – C. Allain / 20 Minutes
- In Rennes, a young audience concert was organized this Sunday in the hall of L’Etage after more than a year without a show.
- About forty parents and children took their places in the room in a seated configuration.
- Those in charge of Liberty and Etage hope to attract families while waiting to be able to organize events without distancing.
She had not seen an audience since a concert at the Jazz à l’Etage festival, stopped in mid-flight by the Covid-19 crisis in March 2020. This Sunday, the Salle de L’Etage, in Rennes, found a semblance of normal life by hosting his first concert in over a year. In a cozy atmosphere and facing a sparse audience whose smiles were hidden by masks. The recovery is smooth for everyone. 20 minutes witnessed the return of culture in a closed environment.
“It’s very weird. It’s like taking an adrenaline rush. I had forgotten what it was ”. Behind his machines, Tonio is as if stunned. This Sunday, the technician handled the sound of artist Rotor Jambreks for his first concert in the next world. Facing the “rock teacher”, around forty parents and their children took their seats in a strange atmosphere. This first date for children was imagined by the Liberté team to “put the artists back on stage” and will be offered during the day, every day. Sundays in June under the name “Les Petits Dimanches”. “The concerts with us, in general, are upright, without distancing. As it remains impossible, we decided to find something else. We chose to do youth shows because they are the most in line with the constraints of curfew and distancing, ”explains Yves Barré. It is 3 pm and the manager of the Stage can rest easy. He won’t have any improvised pogo or drunk meat to deal with.
For this premiere, there was no crowd. But those who are there were looking forward to this moment. “It’s not the same life anymore, it’s as if we had lost the cultural reflex. I used to go to the movies at least once a week. But there, I didn’t even think of going back there, ”says Laure, who came with her son Fabian. “It was nice but we would take off the mask. We don’t see people’s reactions, it’s strange ”, explain Benoît and Claire, cultural professionals who came as spectators for this conference-concert on the history of rock. “It was a little rusty,” the couple slips. From the top of her 7 years, Charlotte did not understand everything about the show but the essential was elsewhere. “I missed not seeing concerts, not dancing”.
“Some audiences have lost the habit of performing arts”
This Sunday, the two performances offered by L’Etage were far from complete, in particular due to a very late communication. But whatever. “I think there will be a craze but people have to pick up the reflex. Some audiences have lost the habit of performing arts. But they will come back. For us, it is a relief, a happiness even ”, concedes the director of the room. For more than a year, some members of the team have barely set foot in L’Etage, for lack of work. “I had to work 40 hours over the whole year. It had never happened to me. It seems to be starting again. So much the better. But, I hope that it will hold, slips Youri, lighting engineer of the room. Below, the Liberté, the large concert hall in Rennes, has been transformed into a vaccination center. Less rock.
Sunday, the artist Rotor Jambreks admitted “sweating for the first time in six months”. The floor of L’Etage did not vibrate as much as during metal or hip-hop parties. But he saw strangers tread on him and even a few dance. For others, the day will come.