Since the beginning of the pandemic, festive entertainment and parties have taken on negative tones. Not without its share of reason. Many organizers chose to simply ignore preventive measures. Despite the danger, they held clandestine events even at the peak of transmission, hospitalizations and deaths due to covid-19.

The problem is that this was practically the only way the sector was portrayed over the last 18 months in the press. It was the same on social media. The notion was established that concerts, parties and festivals are essentially a form of superfluous entertainment.

It is not up to me here to judge, whether to condemn or absolve, who did or did not do events during the pandemic. There are more appropriate people and contexts for this. My purpose is to show the importance of live music, doing it through the lens of festivals.

Festivals are where many people discover new music and artists. They play a very important role in revealing and promoting artists and entire cultural scenes.

The experience provided by the various stages with diverse curation means that surprises often happen – and a great performance at a festival can make all the difference in the career of a young talent.

Festivals drive a value chain that goes far beyond music. Passenger and cargo transport, hospitality, commerce, services. These are just some of the economic sectors that benefit from holding a festival. Not to mention the increase in tax collection and the creation of jobs, both direct and indirect.

They are platforms for sponsoring brands to interact with their audience in a direct, authentic and relaxed way. The trend today is for this participation to take place in an increasingly less ostentatious and intrusive way, seeking complete integration with the narrative, visual language and positioning of these events – thus adding more value to the final audience.

There is a large group of backstage professionals – producers, porters, roadies, technicians, security, cleaning professionals, etc – who need to be almost invisible in their work. It is up to them, behind the scenes, away from the glamor and the spotlight, to create the context and provide the conditions for artists to shine, for the magic of festivals to happen. There are tens of thousands of jobs generated by the sector.

Entertainment festivals provide several facilities and incredible moments for the family.