Paléo Festival-Cedar Herald Index

The Paléo Festival de Nyon, usually just called Paléo, is an annual rock festival held in Nyon, Switzerland. It started in a small way in 1976 as the Nyon Folk Festival. The first one was held in the village hall in Nyon. From 1977 until 1989, it was held at Colovray, Nyon, by Lake Geneva and had only two stages, but today it is one of the major open-air music festivals in mainland Europe and the biggest in Switzerland. Today the event has grown to include international artists. In 1990, it moved to its current location, at the Plaine de l'Asse, accessible either by walking, bus or the Chemin de fer Nyon-St-Cergue-Morez narrow-gauge railway.

The festival lasts six days at the end of July, from Tuesday to Sunday, and the final main stage concert is preceded by a great firework display with music.

Paléo Festival

As of 2005, 3.5 million spectators and 2500 artists had been part of the Paléo Festival.

Paléo Festival

Stages

The Paléo features six stages: La Grande Scène (the Main Stage) Vega (Which replaced Les Arches in 2022) Le Club Tent (the Club Tent) La Ruche (the hive) (formerly called 'La Crique') Le Dôme (the Dome) Belleville (since 2022, dedicated to electronic music) Le Détour (regional bands now located inside the festival, formerly called 'FMR' which was a free stage)

Paléo Festival

Since 2003, the Paléo has introduced Le Village du Monde (The World Village) section, which is a space reserved for an invited region of the world. This place offers the region's culture and food. It also includes Le Dôme which shows only artists from the invited region.

280,000 visitors and over 5,000 staff participated in the 2015 event.

Tickets

Tickets can be purchased on the Paléo Website. Special offers are available usually as early as November of the year preceding the next Paléo festival with discounted all-week passes. Later in Spring the official programme is published and the second, slightly less discounted tickets are available. They are often sold out very quickly. In the months preceding the festival more tickets are sold at full price.

To fight black-market ticket sales, 1500 one-day tickets are held up to be sold the same day as their validity date and can be purchased online (to be printed by the buyer).

The lineup used to be revealed on a late April Wednesday at noon, following which, both tickets and passes would sell out within days. From 2008 onwards, the lineup is unveiled one week prior to the sale, giving people plenty of time to make up their mind and thus rushing them online to get their tickets one week later. In 2009, all 280,000 tickets and passes were sold in a record one-and-a-half hours.

Yearly summary

1997

Invited artists: Al Jarreau Eddy Mitchell IAM Isaac Hayes Jamiroquai Jane Birkin Johnny Clegg & Savuka Khaled Morcheeba Noa Noir Désir Pascal Obispo Placebo Shaggy Simple Minds Sinéad O'Connor Suzanne Vega Texas

For a full list see the 1997 history.

1998

Invited artists: Charles Trenet Claude Nougaro Dolly Eagle-Eye Cherry Faudel Herbie Hancock IAM Jean-Louis Aubert Joe Cocker K's Choice Linton Kwesi Johnson Louise Attaque -M- MC Solaar Patricia Kaas Portishead The Prodigy The Wailers Run-D.M.C. Stereophonics Yann Tiersen

For a full list see the 1998 history.

1999

Invited artists: Alliance Ethnik Ben Harper Celia Cruz Charles Aznavour Cheb Mami Fun Lovin' Criminals Garbage Gotthard Iggy Pop Stephan Eicher

For a full list see the 1999 history.

2000

Invited artists: Beck Bloodhound Gang Buena Vista Social Club Compay Segundo Rita Mitsouko Louise Attaque Massilia Sound System Mickey 3D Morcheeba Muse Noir Désir Oasis Patrick Bruel Pink Martini Renaud Saian Supa Crew

For a full list see the 2000 history.

2001

Invited artists: Ben Harper Kool & the Gang Lynda Lemay Manu Chao Natalia M. King Placebo Red Snapper St. Germain Texas The Young Gods Tom McRae Vanessa Paradis

For a full list see the 2001 history.