Festival-goers who came in large numbers, circulation to be reviewed, improvements to come, now that Les Déferlantes have taken up residence at the Château d’Aubiry, in Céret, from July 7 to 10, David Garcia, co-director of Frontera Productions, looks back on the Party.
As Les Déferlantes ends, David Garcia says “to be overall more than satisfied with these four days. It’s almost too good.“On the criticisms that can be made he adds:”There are and we hear them perfectly. Afterwards, it’s part of the life of a festival.“
Record attendance
In total, no less than 104,000 festival-goers met during this 2022 edition of Les Déferlantes. With a maximum capacity more than doubled between Valmy and Aubiry, the organizers expected an increase in attendance, but their expectations themselves were exceeded. “We knew we would have a few more people, especially on Sunday with Muse, but there were still some concernssays the co-director of Frontera Productions. Between the Covid, the change of location, we couldn’t predict people’s behavior… But in the end we had a full evening, and a lot of festival-goers on the other days too. The Breakers have really gone into another dimension.“
Strong programming for an exceptional site
David Garcia also insists on the artists present. “I think we offered a great experience to the public. In terms of scenography it was already huge, we had crazy artists, everyone was able to find what they were looking for… And they too had a great time, they played the game thoroughly.“Another major point according to him for this “Breaking experience”, the place. “Until now people knew little or nothing about the Château d’Aubiryhe explains. We woke up the sleeping beauty and gave her a worldwide reputation thanks to the international artists who went there.“The park has also made it possible to offer entertainment and showcase local products. “What’s great is that the families were able to share good times thanks to everything that was offered (games, simulators, sports workshops, etc.), completes the organizer, and we were also able to show local products with a 100% local village, with beers and wines from the P.-O., restaurants from here, etc.“
Elements will be reworked
If the party was not spoiled, it was still impacted by a problem on the first evening, that of access to the site and the car parks. “There were criticisms, it’s normal, and we heard them, it’s something we’re going to reworkconcedes David Garcia. The most important thing for us is that there were no injuries, no major problems. We were lucky to be very well supported by the services of the sub-prefecture, the gendarmerie as well as the town hall of Céret, in particular on this question of traffic, and we can only thank them because it was a challenge for us, we are getting our bearings in this new place.“Especially since the abolition of shuttles has not scared away festival-goers over the past three days.”With such programming, and an equivalent in ticket price of €5 per artist, I think people have accepted to make this compromise and walk from the car parksbelieves the co-director of La Frontera. It’s a bit in the festival spirit, like Woodstock or Glastonbury.“
Finally, the Aubiry park itself should also benefit from a facelift. “The park has not been maintained for forty years. There we had a lot of dirt, but because the development work started only a few months ago, so not everything could be doneexplains David Garcia. We had to uproot certain trees, install what was needed to accommodate the infrastructure, and so on. But now there is going to be a real embellishment work, with more greenery, it will just take a little time.“