The Musicalarue festival in the Landes region has been attracting headliners and spectators for thirty-five years.

In the heart of the open-air theater, pianist Chilly Gonzales plays his first notes, seated in a bathrobe behind his piano. Bastien Perez, programmer of the Musicalarue festival, has been trying to attract this world-renowned artist for ten years. He doesn't hide his emotion at finally seeing him perform in front of 3,500 festivalgoers. On the main stage next door, the singer Santa attracted 12,000 spectators. In total, 40 music groups and street art companies perform over three days in fifteen venues in Luxey, a village in the Landes region that normally has a population of 700.

This Saturday, July 26, the festival is sold out. To provide the greatest possible comfort to both festival-goers and the people of Lux, a capacity of 15,000 spectators per day was implemented following the 2019 edition. That year, nearly 20,000 people came to attend street performances during the day and concerts in the evening. "The village can't accommodate that many people," explains François Garrain, president of the Musicalarue association and founder of the festival. So, "we had to find other ways to cope."

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