John Frusciante + Flea + Chad Smith + Anthony Kiedis = two million. This Thursday, the 31st edition of the Vieilles Charrues will break a new record. That of the biggest fee paid to an artist in its programming. With the arrival of the Red Hot Chili Peppers on Monday July 17, the organizers have achieved “a coup” after which they have been chasing for years. But for this they had to pay a colossal sum. According to our information, the association would have spent nearly two million euros. For comparison, it is twice as much as for the arrival of Bruce Springsteen in 2009.
We are far, very far from the first edition of what looked like a waterside fair. On the bill for the first edition in 1992, the Bretons of Ar re Yaouank gave way to very big names. In addition to the Red Hot who will play on Monday, the Vieilles Charrues will welcome this weekend the dandy Robbie Williams, the English legends of Blur, the princess Aya Nakamura, or the new queen of Spanish pop Rosalia. In just over thirty years, the Carhaix festival (Finistère) has seen a host of world music stars. But they had never been able to nab the Red Hot. “We’ve been chasing after it for fifteen years. It almost took a year, we even had an oral agreement but it was cancelled. We are very happy to receive them and the public is waiting for them, ”says Jean-Jacques Toux, historical programmer of the Breton festival. When it went on sale, the 55,000 tickets were gone in three hours.
To afford the Californian rock stars, including “the best guitarist in the world” John Frusciante, the festival had to make a very big financial effort. The result, according to him, of the concentration of the global music industry, which is owned by a handful of multinationals such as Live Nation, AEG, Vivendi or Lagardère. “We’ve seen the fees go up for several years, we don’t really have a choice but to line up. What is scary is to think that if it continues, part of the public accustomed to festivals will no longer be able to follow”, regrets the programmer. For ten years, his festival has been able to maintain a day ticket at 44 euros. But to see the madness of the stamps, one can fear that it will be the last edition at this price.
One hundred people and 9 semi-trailers
If the cachet of the American group is so high, it is also because it offers an “all-inclusive” service in the style of luxury hotels. To come to Carhaix, the Red Hot Chili Peppers take on board a group of 100 people, including many technicians but also their own chef. To transport all of its equipment such as its sound consoles, the group uses nine semi-trailers, to which are added five tour buses and ten artist vans in which two teams of drivers take turns.
The Red Hot entourage can thus manage their own comings and goings without having to contact the festival. “And again, it’s nothing compared to some,” tempers the programmer Jean-Jacques Toux. He expects to see the technical team arrive overnight from Sunday to Monday to take over the premises. “It’s a rock band so the set design is pretty basic. We are not in a debauchery of effects like on a Rihanna show”. As for the four stars, they are expected Monday during the day. We are not likely to see them much until they go on stage. The group will then have to show the public that it was right to spend 70 euros to cheer them on.