Interview: John Rech on Organising Music Festivals as Restrictions Ease

John Rech, Booking Manager at Ville de Dudelange and organiser of the Zeltik festival, took time out of his busy schedule on Monday morning for an interview with Chronicle.lu.

John Rech has been organising the iconic Fête de la Musique and Zeltik music festivals in Dudelange since 1994 and 1998 respectively. He joined the cultural department of the Ville de Dudelange in 2006 and became director of the opderschmelz cultural centre in 2019. 

The past weeks and months have been particularly busy in preparation for the Like a Jazz Machine festival, which took place in May, the upcoming Ënnert dem Wassertuerm festival, which kicks off this Thursday with the Fête de la Musique, and Zeltik, the only festival in the Greater Region dedicated to Celtic music, which traditionally takes place in March but is now being held in July in the open air.

Discussing the challenges of organising not one but several festivals during a pandemic, John Rech highlighted the need to keep up-to-date with "ever-changing rules", not only in Luxembourg but also in the countries where the different artists are based. The most recent rules in Luxembourg, which came into force just yesterday, had a particularly big impact. With a capacity of over 500, however, these outdoor festivals will not follow the new CovidCheck system (reserved for events with up to 300 people). Instead, festival-goers will be seated 1.5 metres apart, outdoors (with a roof above their heads), and are required to wear masks when not seated. Mr Rech described the strategy as a sort of bridge between old and new restrictions, which he hoped would "make people feel more comfortable" as they adjust to the new measures.

Whilst this job has always required people who can "react very quickly, adjust [and] improvise", the opderschmelz director admitted that the past year and three months have been "the toughest time" he has ever had as a promoter. He emphasised the importance of "really taking care of your people", i.e. crew members, artists and audiences, and said that he would be happy when everything was set up and the first gigs were underway.

Regarding the Zeltik lineup, John Rech noted that he had been "dreaming for years now" of getting Hothouse Flowers (headline act) to play at the festival. Whilst he had met the Irish rockers a couple of times "a long time ago", he went through their agent to book them, "the classic way". He added that the band had actually already performed at the sports hall in Dudelange back in the early-1990s, thus making it all the more special that they are returning this year. 

John Rech also explained that the organisers have not stopped working during the pandemic, apart from during the two-and-a-half months when everything was closed last spring. In a first phase, opderschmelz welcomed artists for residencies to create new programmes. It then welcomed back audiences as soon as possible; 50 people could attend the adapted Fête de la Musique (compared to the usual 25,000). He added that he would take a few weeks' break this August before delving back into preparing for upcoming events. He pointed out the importance of next year in the context of Esch2022 - European Capital of Culture. There is already a full programme planned up to next summer and he is already booking artists for Zeltik 2022. In addition, a "big surprise" is expected to be announced soon...

As well as booking shows and festivals in his native town, John Rech has had a long musical career of his own. In 1997, he created the group Dream Catcher, of which he is lead singer. The Celtic pop band released their debut album in 2006 and are set to release a new live album, "Under Blood Red Ground", this summer. In the next couple of weeks, Dream Catcher will be playing a gig in Hesperange, before performing in Germany. The lead singer noted that they had only played together once in the last two years, but that he was now "looking forward to the new release and being back on stage".

John Rech concluded by inviting everyone to "come down, see some gigs and have fun" in Dudelange this summer.

The open-air Ënnert dem Wassertuerm festival is taking place from 17 June to 8 August, with Fête de la Musique running from 17 to 20 June 2021. For more information, visit opderschmelz.lu.

The Zeltik festival is taking place on Saturday 24 July 2021 from 17:00, with Luxembourg folk-rock band Schëppe Siwwen, Scottish rock music ensemble Skerryvore and Irish folk band Beoga joining headliners Hothouse Flowers. Further details are available at zeltik.lu.