Why you should go to the festival mid-August next year

La Route du Rock (pun on the famous boat race route du rhum) will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2020. I have attended every single one of them since 2004, as a ritual. It is not your regular festival. It is not owned by the ones, it is small and independent and most of all human !

22000 tickets sold this year across the 3 days makes it a small one and this is exactly my point. Do you struggle making decisions when your two favourite bands are playing at the same time ? Do you struggle with cleanliness or queues to get a pint ? Are you really enjoying the factory / amusement park feeling as soon as you enter the site ?  I for one do. And there is none of the above at la Route du Rock.

You can even take the festival shuttle to discover the beautiful city of Saint-Malo and enjoy the afternoon gigs on the beach for free !

Small in size, but big in names : Tame Impala, Fountains DC, Deerhunter, Idles and Metronomy all played this year. In previous editions I also saw The National, Air, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Ride, Interpol, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Foals, Belle & Sebastian, Mogwai, Massive Attack, Portishead, Alt-J… the list is simply just too long !

Two stages, 1 gig at a time and the only question you may ask yourself is "when the hell am I eating ?" as I did this year on Thursday with Fontaines DC, Idles, Stereolab, Tame Impala and Black Midi in a row. That was definitely my day this year. Happy to see Idles again, but excited to see Fontaines DC for the first time and that’s my big moment. They started early in the festival (first band to perform on the main stage) making the rest a bit long for my liking. Dogrel is one of the best debut albums ever, their sound is unique and Irish poetry and literature are dear friends of mine: that band was made for me! They joined Idles for their last song. The festival couldn’t have started better !

The main issue this year was rain. Pouring down non-stop on Saturday, even my Britain-made raincoat gave up. Yet rain is a common factor and a way to exhibit your best festival attire among Parisian hipsters.

The camping has improved as well (3 nights for a fiver) - no need for baby wipes anymore, you can actually shower everyday and not come out dirtier!  Also worth noting while the UK have made it illegal to leave your tent behind, no such thing in France but the festival collects them and donates them to NGOs taking care of the homeless.

So if you can’t afford Green Man next year, book your tickets for la Route du Rock (about £100 for 3 days). Festival pass + ferry packages are also available to make it hasslefree.

No announcement yet as to next year’s celebrations (if any) but something is certain, we’ll be there.