Crescendo Festival

Introduction

The Crescendo Festival is a music festival dedicated to progressive music genres (progressive rock, progressive metal, psychedelic rock) held annually in Saint-Palais-sur-Mer, in the outskirts of Royan, since 1999. Bringing together artists from both the national and international scenes (from Sweden to Peru to the United States), and attracting around 1500 to 2000 spectators each night over three days, it is one of the most significant progressive music festivals in Europe!

The festival is overseen by an association and partly operates thanks to volunteering; it is entirely free of charge.

Editorial from the boss

Here we are in 2024 and 25 years after its creation in the last century in 1999, the Crescendo is still there, well anchored in front of the ocean and the whole team is happy to offer you this 24th edition.
We would all like to thank you, festival-goers, for playing the game in 2023 and for participating in the sustainability of the festival through your donations, memberships and drinks and snacks consumptions. So thanks to you, we can offer you again this year a selection of high musical level that we hope will please you as much as us.
Quality audience = quality programming

At present, more than 200 international artists have signed a petition "Stop Devaluing Music" to challenge companies that produce generative AI that are beginning to want to play artists, composers or performers, with a great digitally sensitive ( !! ), and spoil their rights by imitating voices and diverting musical creations. So I can promise you one thing: it’s not tomorrow that a robot will be applauding on the stage of your favorite West Coast Festival!

As long as Crescendo exists, live music will be in the spotlight through all the Earth bands that we will offer! Even aliens, if however there is good prog on Alpha Centauri, case to follow … ;)

I extend my warmest thanks to the Mayor of St-Palais and to all the people of the town who have helped and supported us for a long time in the technical and administrative services. Not to mention our public and private partners. I add to this a special dedication to our faithful volunteers without whom nothing would be possible and a special nod to our technical friends who have been doing an exceptional job for so many years: Yann, Arnaud and Hugo at the sound and Jean-Claude and Florian at the light.

Festivalgoer friend, artist, volunteer, I wish you a beautiful and great party during these three days!

May the Music be with you !

Jeanmi Picot, President

Location

The festival takes place on the Concié beach located in Saint-Palais-sur-mer in Charente-Maritime.

Access to the Concié site is possible by car from Royan via the Royan ring road or from the center of Saint-Palais-sur-Mer through the Avenue de la Grande-Côte. Coming from La Palmyre, access is direct via the D25. Traffic is often extremely heavy on these routes. Coming from the heart of the Arvert peninsula, La Tremblade, Arvert, Étaules, or Saint-Augustin, the D145 and D141 are less busy.

A network of bicycle paths allows reaching the festival site from Royan and Vaux-sur-Mer. The greenway from Ronce-les-Bains to Saint-Palais-sur-Mer is a bike path that provides access to the site from Ronce-les-Bains and La Palmyre.

The urban transportation of the Royan area (Cara'Bus) serves the event site.

We reserve a part of the Esplanade for free parking of your vehicle.

Festival Dates

August 16th, 17th & 18th - Opening of the site at 5:00pm

It is possible to attend the bands' sound check during the day from 11am.

The festival normally takes place every year in the second half of August, generally the third week-end of the month.

The anticiped dates for 2025 are August 22th to 24th.

See the upcoming schedule.

Accommodations and Catering

At the festival bar you will find drinks : beers, wine, softs and water.

And you will eat : Snacking with sandwiches, sausages with french fries, vegetarian bowls, pancakes, hotdogs, popcorn. Prices from 3 to 9 €

In our list of sponsors and local partners, you will find:

• restaurants,
• hotels,
• snack bars,
• cafes,
• breweries, etc.

List of partners sponsoring the event.

Prohibitions

To ensure the safety and well-being of all festival participants, certain items are prohibited on the site. You will find the list below. Your cooperation is essential to maintain a safe and welcoming environment for everyone.

• 💣 Firearms/powder or ammunition
• 🧳 Large bags (10L maximum), luggage
• 📣 Megaphones, loudspeakers
• 🎆 Lasers
• 🛸 Drones
• 🐕 Animals (except assistance dogs)
• 🍾 Glass or plastic bottles and liquids
• 🪓 Sharp, blunt, cutting objects
• 🧯 Aerosols, sprays, tear gas
• 🧪 Exceptional chemicals
• 🔥 Flammable products, gas bottles, fire starters, lighters
• 🍲 Food (except for medical necessity)
• 🛢️ Metal cans
• 🧨 Fireworks, firecrackers, distress flares
• 🔫 Toy guns

Visitors will be subject to security checks. Some items will be kept in storage. Other items may be added to this list depending on the security requirements of the festival.

Furthermore,

• ⛺️Wild camping is prohibited on the Concié site !