Festival d’été de Québec: The lead is once again enraging artists

The Festival d’été dates back only two days and a long-standing accusation of the artists performing in the Plains of Ibrahim has already returned: the lack of participation and the late arrival of festival-goers from the front zone. Golden sight.

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Quebecer Geoffroy and Jack Johnson both complained about it while performing on Thursday night. The Hawaiian singer even directly challenged spectators in the Gold Zone to make them chime in with those huddled in the general admission section to his left.

“Prove yourself. Johnson said visibly annoyed.

Blame the tube

Before the pandemic, FEQ solved the problem by returning part of the Golden District of about 400 square meters to festival-goers with general admission tickets.

In 2018 and 2019, the entire front of the theater was reserved for general admission. The corridor leading from the stage to the control room, which had divided the stadium into two equal parts, was moved to the south of the site.

It was this configuration that the festival wanted to use this year, but with 24 hours’ notice, workers tasked with assembling had to return to a pre-2018 layout, with a central corridor, due to a broken underground pipe that was used to pass wires.

completely collapsed. It is no longer possible to pass wires underground. However, there is a standard length of wire that runs from the stage to the control room and because we had to run it above ground, we didn’t have enough length to run it through the 2018 corner configuration,” explains Communications Director Samantha McKinley.

Expected business

The latter says regulators would like time, before the end of the FEQ, to fix the tube to return to its pre-pandemic configuration.

“We are crossing our fingers. You still have time to do it because it is not something you normally do during an event.”

Samantha McKinley believes that if the festival can rectify the situation, it will be the best solution for artists and spectators. You think the experience of 2018 and 2019 was decisive.

It has responded to this artists’ concern. We’ve found the right balance. »