‘It's a French festival, but there are no borders": Matthieu Drouot on the second edition of Heavy Weekend!

   On 6, 7 and 8 June, the Heavy Weekend rock & metal festival will be rocking Nancy for a promising second edition. To mark the occasion, Matthieu Drouot, CEO of Gérard Drouot Production, gave a press conference at his company's head office to tell us about the new features and ambitions of this festival, which was created with the aim of totally innovating current festivals. He was joined by Andy Kuntz and Stephan Lill from Vanden Plas for a Q&A and a long-awaited showcase.

« We had a great first edition last year, with 35,000 festival-goers over the 3 days. We're hoping to do even better this year. [...] It's a project that's here to stay. »

-Matthieu Drouot-

   As we all know, rock and metal have been making a comeback on the French music scene for some time now (much to our delight). But when it comes to festivals, demand outstrips supply, and it was with this in mind that Heavy Weekend was created, a few years after a health crisis that slowed down the nightlife world. But the event has no intention of resembling the other festivals in its range, and is going for something more innovative, reinventing the construction of a festival as we know it, while keeping the basics that form the very essence of this event. But beyond this desire for renewal, there is also the desire to establish the festival on a long-term basis. And with a flamboyant first edition, boasting a carefully-curated line-up that attracted 35,000 festival-goers over the 3 days, and a second edition that already promises to be a huge success, we can expect no less.

The choice of Nancy was a strategic one. In addition to a particular affection for the city, there's its location, which makes it easy for border countries to get here, and also its history, made legendary by the bands who have played here. These include AC/DC, Guns'n Roses, Iron Maiden, Metallica and System Of A Down. Which makes the Zénith de Nancy the ideal venue!

« It's a French festival, but there are no borders. It's easy to come to Nancy. »

-Matthieu Drouot-

But the dates are never decided at random either. The festival generally takes place at the beginning of June to avoid coinciding with Hellfest, Graspop or other joint events. Mathieu Drouot admits that there is no ideal date, but that this choice was strategic to guarantee the presence of certain artists and attract a wider audience.

   And it's all very well to talk about innovation, but it's even better to explain it! The festival stands out for a number of reasons, but above all for its comfort. A comfort already imposed by the hours of the programme, which offers 4 to 5 hours of music a night from 6pm to 11.30pm, but also by its capacity of 15,000 seats, offering the possibility of sitting down, in response to the criticisms of classic festival-goers. The rhythm of the 12 concerts over 3 days is intense but organised, with concerts sometimes longer than you'd expect at other festivals but still short enough for everyone to have their moment of glory. The sound quality is second to none, compared to our beloved Bercy. The acoustics at the Zénith in Nancy are renowned. And although the festival is taking place in a zénith, an unusual venue for an event of this scale, there are still some typical elements, such as catering and entertainment.

The festival aims for a strong line-up, with a perfect balance between French bands and international headliners, which is something Mathieu Drouot himself is determined to do, with a view to supporting the French scene. He told us that it was difficult to confirm certain groups because of their schedules and tour routing, but this in no way detracted from the line-up for the second edition, which aims to be as varied as it is attractive.

He also told us that there would be no meet-and-greet sessions at this year's festival, due to logistics and the artists' busy schedules.

Another innovation at this year's festival is the accessibility of tickets for young people and students, with the proposed inclusion of the Pass Culture and student rates. They have also decided to correct the prices that were considered too high for the first edition. There will also be greater accessibility for people with reduced mobility, and a greater number of toilets, something that was heavily criticised during the first edition.

As well as being a festival that listens very carefully to its festival-goers, it is also a very safe event that focuses on the well-being of its participants. Other festivals have been heavily criticised for not handling sexual violence or other accusations properly, but here, Mathieu Drouot told us about the importance attached to the festival's security, confiding that this was not something that had already been reported, but that it could be a risk when diversifying his audience. He is doing his utmost to reassure anyone wishing to attend the event by ensuring heightened security to prevent sexual violence and for the overall safety of the festival, to offer festival-goers an event of pure pleasure and peace of mind.

« You don't launch a festival and say you're going to put hospitality on the back burner. »

-Matthieu Drouot-

Although the first edition was a real success in terms of publicity and the number of festival-goers, the team was nevertheless in deficit. A deficit Mathieu Drouot considers ‘normal’ when launching an event of this scale. It has to be said that they are faced with a lack of state or even local subsidies, which perhaps explains last year's higher prices. He told us that his aim was to make the event sustainable and perhaps attract financial support in the future, but without depending on it.

After all these confidences and a short question-and-answer session, it was the turn of Andy Kuntz and Stephan Lill from Vanden Plas to take their places and answer some of our questions. Much to our surprise, Yann Heurtaux from Mass Hysteria was also present. After answering a few questions and explaining how their respective bands adapt to a festival line-up, Vanden Plas took us back in time to their collaboration with Olivier Garnier, before playing us a few tracks including Postcard To God, acoustically, as it was back in the day.

In a nutshell, Heavy Weekend is an ambitious initiative aimed at reinventing the metal rock festival in France. Its aim is to combine comfort, quality programming, accessibility and regional roots. Despite the challenges, the team is committed to continuous improvement and innovation, while remaining attentive to the needs of its festival-goers. It's an ambitious and promising event, which will undoubtedly be with us for decades to come.

Tickets & Pass : here !