"We're crossing all generations, it's really cool": the Nuits Carrées festival closes a "record" 19th edition in Antibes

Pop, rap, electro... The music was good at the Nuits Carrées festival, held on the Pré-des-Pêcheurs esplanade from Thursday to Saturday. A colorful 19th edition, whose director, Sébastien Hamard, takes stock.

Three words to describe the 2025 edition?

Human, incredibly musical and square… Very square (laughs). We're having a record edition, with a very consistent attendance that's almost sold out every night, with more than 9,800 festival-goers smiling. That's the greatest pride we can have. And the special thing about this edition is that the visitors were there very early, they came from opening to closing and fully enjoyed the experience.

A vintage that is a victim of its own success, with minor glitches in the distribution of drinks [our edition of June 14]?

We put in place some pretty fun arrangements that we found lacking on the first evening, which created some rather annoying queues. Our role as a cultural operator is to support local restaurateurs [around fifteen shopkeepers, artisans, and restaurateurs from Antibes Juan-les-Pins] with larger volumes. We missed the first step, but after that, it was impeccable; we were able to raise the bar.

For you, what were the highlights?

There was Ben Mazué's show, a pretty incredible show. We also had a great moment with Soolking, an urban music artist who's very well-known internationally. Parents came to accompany the children; it was a wonderful moment. The electro closing with Bakermat worked well, as did Théodora's appearance on the last night. Through our programming choices, we try to maintain this diversity of the audience. We span all generations; it's really cool.

What's planned for the next editions, especially the twentieth in 2026?

We have lots of plans. We'd like to celebrate the twentieth anniversary properly by sticking to formats that appeal. In 2026, we'll focus more on the content than the packaging, perhaps with nods to the last twenty editions.