The Spring of Bourges (Le Printemps de Bourges)

As each year for thirty years, a festival is organised in Bourges. It is a music festival. The theme is Rock and Roll and all the derivatives: hard rock, reggae…and so on. In reality, there are three festivals:

- the one taking place in auditoriums and under a huge marquee with admission charges. In the marquee, not everybody can sit and many people are standing… for the same price! The artists are well known by young people and arouse their enthusiasm
- the second is defined as open stages. These open stages take place outside in different places. They are free shows. The artists are often amateurs and come to Bourges to try to be spotted by production director.
- the third can be named the Pub Festival, because the artists play inside pubs and the spectators have to drink which is sometimes impossible in these jam-packed pubs. This year there are twenty-five places like that.

There is a common point between the different parts of the festival: the number of decibels, which is poured into your ears! Sometimes it is unbearable and I think it is a plant to make deaf people!

From an artistic point of view, you can find everything. It could be very good or it could be horrible and be defined only as… noise. I remember a few years ago, I was with Swedish people and we passed by an open stage and there was a violinist playing something and one of Swedish people asked me: who is killing the cat!
During the festival, the streets in the old town are crowded with people strolling and drinking at the same time! They go from open stages to pubs, buying food, sweets even clothes at itinerant dealers. It looks more like as a trade show than a festival!
Young people often sleep (but the nights are short!) in tents wherever there is a little bit of grass or in their cars or where they can (entrance hall of buildings, outside in a sleeping bag…). Waking is often difficult…and the festival-goers are recognizable by their look.
In the morning, the secondary effects are visible because a lot of rubbish litter the streets like on a battlefield and the town hall employees are on the go so as to try to clean the town up.

After five days of festival, the town has found its calm and its tidiness again!

Claude.