French rock group Indochine plays Covid trial gig

Around 5000 concert goers took part in the experimental event at Paris’s Bercy concert hall.

No social distancing was required but masks were compulsory at Saturday night’s gig by Indochine at Paris’s Bercy concert hall. Picture: AFP

Starved of live music for the past year, fans of veteran French rock band Indochine on Saturday night got a chance to see their idols in concert, all in the name of Covid-19 research.

About 5000 concert goers took part in the experimental event at Paris’s Bercy concert hall. A further 2500 volunteers who did not attend the concert will serve as a comparison group. The trial to assess the risk of Covid transmission at events has been eagerly awaited by the live music and entertainment sector which has been devastated by Covid-19.

“It’s been so long that we have waited for a reopening of this kind of event. So finding a concert, in addition to it being Indochine, is really great,” said Camille, 26, from the Paris suburbs.

Lyrics from one song, Marilyn, seemed to express what many music fans have been feeling: “We want to live... even stronger”.

Before being admitted, the concert goers, all aged 18-45 with no special risk factors, handed over an envelope containing a saliva test done earlier on Saturday. Each person was also required to have had a negative antigen test in the past three days. Once inside, no social distancing was required but masks were compulsory. Due to the 9pm curfew in place in France, the concert started earlier than usual with Indochine on stage by 6pm. Similar trials have already taken place elsewhere in Europe and the Bercy concert had been postponed a number of times.It finally went ahead two days before the extension of France’s vaccination program to all adults, selecting participants from among 20,000 volunteers.

Results from the concertgoers study, organised at the initiative of the Assistance publique-Hopitaux de Paris and Prodiss, the national union for musical and variety shows, with government support, are expected by late next month.

Previous experimental events in Spain and Britain have not shown any increased risk of transmission. As the French summer music festival season approaches however, several major events have already decided to throw in the towel.

They are only authorised to go ahead, if fans are limited to one per 4sq m.

AFP