Once again we are expecting to relive Dour Festival's unique atmosphere this year, something which has gained the festival a reputation worldwide. Over the four days, an eclectic crowd live together, letting cultural and social differences slide. For a time, the festival-goers share the same way of life and living together, creating a sort of electricity that is difficult to describe. Perhaps this is due to the diverse line-up : so abundant, coherent, and challenging that you get the impression that everything is possible. The festival crowd are open-minded and passionate for music in the broadest sense of the word.
Dour Festival: a unique, smooth-running major live event!For the 2011 festival, Dour welcomed more than 161,000 members of the public from all over the world to the Plaine de la Machine à Feu - people from Sweden, USA, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Iceland, Argentina, Japan... and of course, every part of Belgium. With this record number of festival-goers, Dour has cemented its status as the largest music event and tourist attraction in the Brussels-Walloon region, and can stand tall alongside the other largest European festivals.
Another way of living together
Over 5 days, Dour Festival creates a whole new world on its vast, open-air site, where people can make new acquaintances and have new experiences, forging a community outside of day-to-day life - outside of language barriers and regional differences.Last summer, no less than 35,000 campers lived together each evening at the foot of surrounding hills, making one of the largest campsites in Europe! Alternative accommodation - the Festivillage - contained nearly 1000 beds and was, once again, a terrific success: this part of the campsite was sold out very soon after it opened for booking.
As has been the way for 10 years, the festival looked after its sustainable development concerns. Everybody's efforts contributed, for example, towards making the festival more accessible, more diverse, safer and greener.
7 stages and 200 groups of every genre
With 6 marquees, a huge outdoor stage and a reworked, larger site, the festival grounds had room for a variety of different areas and projects, which were a great success - the Bar du Petit Bois (in the woods), the green zones, the NGO Village, the artisanal market, the football tournament...In 2011, despite poor weather for the first time in 10 years, nothing could dampen the party atmosphere, the quality of the facilities, the organistion or the security.
In 2012, for the 24th festival, Dour Festival will be able to proclaim its individuality louder than ever. It will be just as musically diverse as ever, and will strengthen the aspects that make it unique, retaining a convivial atmosphere on site and the lowest ticket prices for its category in Europe. The new electro, dubstep and drum'n'bass stage, De Balzaal, will be expanded and will occupy a new area of the site, while the other stages (The Last Arena, Cannibal Stage, ClubCircuit Marquee, Magic Soundsystem, Dance Hall, La Petite Maison dans la Prairie) will continue to attract the best of rock, pop, indie, hardcore, metal, reggae, dub, techno, electro, house, disco, dance, hip-hop and rap over the 4 days of the festival.
