Some 5,000 people attended the Indochina test concert, given in Bercy on May 29, 2021. – Francois Mori / AP / SIPA
In addition to this, you will need to know more about it.“It’s been so long” … Some 5,000 spectators danced, this Saturday evening, on Indochina hits, with masks but tight in the arena of Bercy in Paris. “We want to live … even stronger” … Saturday night, the lyrics of the song Marilyn had a particular resonance for the crowd, deprived of live for months, to whom Nicola Sirkis asked to “make noise” for the caregivers and the researchers. And to pay tribute “to all the deaths of Covid-19”.
Indochina, preceded by DJ Etienne de Crécy, returned to the stage for the first time after having to postpone for a year (to spring-summer 2022) the tour of his 40 years, because of the health crisis. And during this concert for the moment exceptional, because it is a scientific experiment, the group formed in 1981, unrolled its classics, chaining the hits that have passed through the generations: 3rd sex, I asked the moon, Your black eyes, etc. A swarm of raised arms responded to Three nights a week, then clamor invaded Bercy when the first notes of The adventurer.
Saliva test and antigen test
“We haven’t had a concert for months. Seeing the crowd again feels good, we regain a taste for life, ”testified Loïs, a 30-year-old laboratory technician, posted as close as possible to the stage. “We’ve been waiting for so long (…) So there, finding a concert, in addition to Indochina, it’s quite formidable”, was also enthusiastic Camille, 26, room of Val d’Oise to see again, ” for the fifth or sixth time ”the group.
#AmbitionLiveAgain pic.twitter.com/Its4C2rs0J
– Indochina (@indochinetwitt) May 29, 2021
Before entering the arena, the young woman had to hand over the envelope containing a saliva test carried out on Saturday, after a first antigen test carried out over the last three days and which turned out to be negative for the Covid-19 virus, l one of the conditions for participating in the study.
This experiment, already carried out elsewhere in Europe, has become a sea serpent in France, where it has been postponed several times. It finally takes place against the backdrop of a clear improvement in the health situation, two days before the start of vaccination for all adults. The study must show that if they test negative for Covid-19 upstream, spectators are not at greater risk of infecting themselves at the concert than in normal times. The experiment, the first results of which are expected at the end of June, is only open to 18-45 year olds who do not present a risk of serious forms in the event of contamination.
But the stakes remain high for the entertainment sector, which sees the resumption in dotted lines, despite the resumption of seated concerts with distancing. So far, standing festivals have been allowed this summer, but with a limit of one person per 4 m2. Nothing to do with the promiscuity that reigned Saturday in Bercy. A number of festivals have therefore already thrown in the towel (Solidays, Eurockéennes), only rare events being held, most often in a seated format and with a gauge (Francofolies, Printemps de Bourges, Vieilles Charrues).