Features
Dour Benefits From Culture
Belgium’s Dour Festival seemed to get a huge boost from adding a day in celebration of the fact the nearby city of Mons is currently Europe’s City Of Culture, clocking up its first complete sellout.
Photo: Dorian Jespers
in Belgium
The extra day, which was tacked on the front of the festival, brought in 38,000, while the four days of the actual festival hit a 48,000-capacity sellout for the first time in its history.
Whether it was culture or drum-n-bass culture is a moot point as the festival that started in 1989 underwent a swift change of musical emphasis for the 2015 edition. Last year a record-breaking 39,000-per-day crowd showed for a lineup that had Boys Noize, Paul Kalkbrenner, Little Dragon, Klaxons, and Maximo Park, while this year they came for Lauryn Hill, Snoop Dogg, DJ Fresh, SBTRKT, and Carl Craig.
“It is a fact that the focus lies on electronic music – but we still offer a huge amount of reggae, dub, hip hop,” said Dour’s Manu Styleman, explaining that the change in musical policy came because the event “always strives to offer the artists that are ‘hot’ with our target audience.”
Other acts helping Dour to sell out Aug. 15-19 included Mark Ronson, Flume, Young Fathers, Yelle, Santigold, and Goose.