Crescendo Festival
Introduction
The Crescendo Festival is a FREE 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!
Teaser 2024
The festival is overseen by an association and partly operates thanks to volunteering; it is entirely free of charge.
Heavent Festival Awards Paris 2024
The Crescendo Festival was honoured on November 13th in Paris by winning the Award for Best European Festival with a capacity of under 5,000 people by day, in front of a jury of 12 leading figures from major event international companies.
Thank you to the whole team for having contributed to this success for over 20 years.
The editorial from the boss
That's it, the 25th edition is over!
It is now behind us and has once again provided moments of great musical, human, and joyful emotion, filling the minds of the 2,000 festival-goers who attended each of the three days with wonderful memories.
It began on August 15 with an extraordinary heatwave, followed on August 16 by a sea breeze from the ocean that created a slightly ghostly, almost tropical atmosphere with temperatures of 30°C, and ended on Sunday, August 17 with a memorable finale (under normal weather conditions 😉). the festival lived up to all its promises, and you were there, festival-goers who came from far and wide, some from very far away, to share in this great celebration of progressive music.
Despite the complaints of a few grumpy neighbors who complained that we were making “too much noise,” we can already promise you a 26th edition that will be just as good, if not better, with casting having begun in mid-September and ending in mid-December! At the end of October, 80 bands have already asked to play in 2026, including 38 French bands...
Once again, a big thank you to the municipality of St-Palais, which has supported us for so long, to our partners and, above all, to our army of volunteers, who have once again spared no effort.
And thank you to everyone, artists, technicians and, of course, you, the audience, for making this great celebration of prog rock sustainable and peaceful.
Let there be Music !
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.
2026 Festival Dates
August 20th, 21st & 22nd - 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.
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 !