From March 6 to 19, the “Nice Tour de Scènes” Festival organized by the “Une Salle de Concert à Nice” Collective in co-production with the City of Nice, will be held in all the contemporary music venues across the Nice area. The lineup includes rock, reggae, French chanson, electronic music, jazz, hip hop, punk, pop, metal, and percussion, showcasing a musical eclecticism aimed at attracting a large and diverse audience. The objectives are manifold. A music festival of any kind brings together artists and an audience. Nice Tour de Scènes will demonstrate that on the French Riviera, quality local bands exist and that a large audience is eager to listen to them. Yan Degorce-Dumas provides some details about the first edition of this festival: “51 groups will perform featuring national and international artists such as Guem, Big Red (former Raggasonic), Tripod, Dupain, Poum Tchack, Oliver Stone who have agreed to support the Une Salle de Concert à Nice collective voluntarily or with minimal expenses. We aim to showcase the vibrancy in Nice’s music scene.”
Increasing musical events will break the stereotype of “Nice as a No Man’s Land” for contemporary music. The French Riviera is musically overlooked and does not fall within the “logical” tour routes. In full agreement with this observation, the Nice municipality, the Alpes-Maritimes General Council, and musical associations are uniting to reverse the trend. “A step has been taken this year with Nice Tour de Scènes and Nice at the Heart of Contemporary Music, but we must continue the march,” promises Thierry Martin, director of cultural affairs for the city of Nice. This step will eventually lead to the creation of a concert hall, which will closely meet the demands of the “Une Salle de Concert à Nice” collective: a complex dedicated to contemporary music with a medium-capacity venue of 500 to 1000 standing spaces with removable seats, rehearsal studios, recording spaces, training in sound and lighting techniques, management, communication, distribution, legal issues, and a resource center dedicated to the promotion and production for local bands.
The Nice Tour de Scène festival virtually lays the first stone of the concert hall. The success of this musical event on the Azurean stage leaves no doubt that the second and third stones will be laid more swiftly. Thierry Martin’s metaphor is clear: “The mechanism has been set in motion. The pan is on the fire. We must be careful not to let it go out and to not let the pan boil over.” So ladies and gentlemen, lovers of contemporary music, cook up your best recipes, and guests will naturally come to your musical feasts.
The program for the Nice Tour de Scène Festival: https://www.salledeconcert.com/tourdescene.htm
