With two days to go before the Ronquières Festival kicks off, organisers are preparing their weapons against the capricious weather, while the final preparations are being made on ground that is already partly muddy.
“The event promises to be wet but friendly,” says festival organiser Gino Innocente, scanning the weather from the press room. Outside, the rain is falling, cutting the sky into a thousand crosshatch patterns, alternating with the sun’s rays.
“We want to reassure festival-goers who may have been traumatised by the cancellation of the last day of the Ardentes festival," his colleague Jean-François Guillin adds. "Conditions are looking more clement for this weekend.
“However, in the event of rain, we plan to shelter as many people as possible thanks to all our covered structures (arbours, etc) and the canal bridge, which can accommodate around 10,000 people under its surface.”
Boots - more comfortable for wading through the slush - and K-Way jackets are also recommended, as is the use of car pooling and free shuttles to avoid congestion should an evacuation prove necessary.
“There is no disaster scenario in sight at this stage, but we remain vigilant and are in constant contact with the IRM (met. service),” assures J.-F. Guillin. “Protocols have been put in place with the police and the mayor in the event of wind or heavy weather. And areas have been set aside to accommodate the public in case the festival has to be (temporarily) stopped."
Indochine, Louise Attaque, The Subways, Kid Noize, The Prodigy, Jain, Shaka Ponk, Juliette Armanet, Benjamin Biolay and Placebo are just some of the bands and singers set to grace the festival stage. An eclectic line-up for all audiences, combining rap, rock and French chanson, with a few notes of electro mixed with indie or disco pop.
The geography of the venues has been redesigned to accommodate these artists and the audience. “In particular, we’ve provided a hill stage, which is naturally on an incline and therefore ideal for this kind of open-air show,” explains G. Innocente.
With two days to go before the festivities kick off, in the meadows bordering the boat lift, technicians and fitters are still busy with the final preparations. “We’re a little behind schedule because of the weather, but the staff (500 people at its peak) are redoubling their efforts. Everything should be ready for Friday morning”, according to the organisers.
The Ronquières Festival will be held from August 4 to 6. The ticket office is announcing a sell-out for Friday, but there are still a few tickets to be snapped up for Saturday and Sunday.
Last year, the Hennuyer musical event, which was celebrating its 10th birthday, drew more than 65,000 spectators, a record. This year, 28,000 people are expected on Friday and 26,000 on the other two days.
