I’m a firm believer that live music should be easily accessible and available to the public. In the case of this music festival, it satisfied that requirement. Unlike other music festivals, Fête de la Musique doesn’t channel any sense of exclusivity or elitism, but rather ensures that anyone can walk into the venue without feeling out of place. The target audience is people who share a love for music, as simple as that. In addition to this, the festival also promotes local music and helps local musicians and artists gain more exposure. Within the two years that I’ve attended this festival, I’ve discovered a good handful of bands local to my area.

This year, I went to two of the pocket stages: shoegaze and indie. At these stages, I got to see some of the bands I’ve been frequently listening to recently such as spacedog spacecat, MATOKI, cheeky things, and hazylazy. It was clear that a good portion of the crowd were already familiar with the acts on the lineup since they knew the words to almost every song on each set and moshed energetically to them. What most surprised me though, was how the crowds were a mix of different generations, from people my age, to people who were as old as my parents. However, despite this broad range, everyone could still appreciate all the bands that played, with the same amount of fondness towards them.

This made me realize that music is a universal language. It can translate itself through any demographic and still make an impact. Furthermore, music brings people together. Some of the friends I’ve made are ones I met by going to shows, in which we instantly bonded over our favorite bands and songs. For many people music is a common ground. The feeling of singing to the same lyric or jumping to the same beat is one that goes undefeated. 

Nowadays, music festivals tend to end up being about clout-culture, whether it be one’s ability to brag or boast about going to one, or about what celebrities wore or posted during it. But in my experience of going to Fête de la Musique, I could immediately sense that everyone who went there only cared about the music, and was there to embody the experience of it being performed live in front of them. In many cases, this is something unforgettable.

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