Electro (in all its many styles) has made itself at home on the Riviera. EDM (Electronic Dance Music) is the second most streamed genre on Spotify. In France, it’s worth €416 million and has captured 17% of the market for today’s music. And there are said to be 10 million DJs in the world. No doubt about it, it’s the Y generation’s theme tune. And our sunny shores are endowed with all it takes to host this new wave.
First connections
Producing music by electronic means was pioneered by composers like Stockhausen in Germany and Schaeffer in France. In the early ‘80s, Kraftwerk in Germany and Laurie Anderson in the USA made hits with electronics. British Electro and then the French Touch from Laurent Garnier to Daft Punk came to the fore at the turn of the century, leaving rock and hip hop behind. Nice launched the Centre International de Créations Musical in 1978. CIRM trained students at the Conservatoire and organized the MANCA festivals. The tidal wave of techno and rave parties marked a new era. Panda Events, offspring of that movement, was founded in Nice in 2006. “We came from the electro underground. We were into alternative music,” says Benoît Géli, aka Ben, who runs the non-profit Panda Events that spearheads electro festivals. “The Riviera had been bopping to the beat of drum machines since the 1990s. The music caught on really quickly here! Mozart, who launched the Bal de Fous in Cannes, also organised the massively popular Limelight events.” Dolly Party, born in 1997, is the other extravagant must-go. Its DJs have the LGBT movement jumping for joy from Monaco to Montpellier, via Nice and Saint Tropez, of course.
Love on the beach
Festivals sprang up all over with the blessing of the authorities. From its first edition in 2002, Pantiero in Cannes hosted the cream of the electro movement including M83, from Antibes, who went on to earn international fame. Massive Attack played on Palm Beach. In 2006, the Nu’zik festival in Nice mixed digital arts and party vibes. “Electro was well established by then. The Smarties bar promoted DJs and electro, bringing new vibes from Berlin, capital of electro. Leading to today’s Face parties at MAMAC. The Volume was a talent launchpad, with a mix of electro and pop rock with bands like Hyphen Hyphen who won the 2016 Victoire de la Musique,” says Ben.
Panda launched Plages Electroniques in 2006 and its success has grown year by year. “In the beginning we scheduled five evenings with different themes. Today, our three nights draw an even wider public, from youngsters to the earliest electro fans, now in their 40s and 50s.” In 2022 Panda invited EDM stars Martin Garrix and David Guetta and parties on beaches, rooftops, boats and the terrace of the Palais des Festivals. There were laser shows and a floating stage. The festival drew 54,000 clubbers in all. Panda’s Crossover festival has been through 14 editions of mostly live music at the junction of electro, urban, high-tech, rap etc. In 2019 Panda organised a Riviera Electronique Festival “with tech house, Ibiza style. Just what makes people happy. The Riviera draws a wildly varied audience looking to party in the open air in a glamorous setting.”
Our shores offer EDM stars their getaway spot. David Guetta played the Charles Ehrmann stadium in 2013, Place Massena in 2015 and the Cannes beaches in 2022. In 2015, Monaco rolled out the red carpet for Etienne de Crécy and his Superdiscount. After sets at the Crossover in 2011 and 2017, he’s back this autumn at the Stockfish, the new concert venue in Nice.
In July 2022 the Théâtre de Verdure hosted Neon Festival. Yearly since 2019, La Crème has taken over the lovely bay of Villefranche-sur-Mer for three days of concerts, DJ sets, and southern lifestyle with pétanque, BBQs and natural wines.
By Olivier Marro
Côteweb 2021, création de site Internet sur Nice