Psychedelic eMagazine Feb. 2014 | Page 28

28 PREVIEW FESTIVAL photograph Ikaz Video Hadra Trance Festival 2013 was a beautiful edition, in terms of organisation, crowd and music ! More than 10000 people gathered for 4 days and 3 nights and...it was magic. But the financial reality was another story... Because of the problems experienced at 2012’s with rain and intense cold, the authorities put us under massive pressure for 2013 to improve every aspect of the planning and security for 2013. This led to an obligation to spend vast amounts of money, far above what would normally be expected at a festival... As a result, the budget had grown to an almost unsustainable level. We hoped for the best, needing 12,000 people to break even but unfortunately 10,000 came. This has resulted in a huge deficit… The final months of 2013 were hard trying to work out a solution to this. What could happen in 2014 was the big unknown. But finally, we can tell you that we’re preparing a really special edition for 2014 ! We’re working on a new start, with new ideas, new implants and a fresh spirit to bring you something unique ! A festival represents an amazing opportunity to gather a large audience for a perfect psychedelic experience in a stunning scenery, everything coming together to create a timeless event ! But it’s also a one-off occasion to support our movement and gather worldwide artists together ! Hadra has always paid special attention to its programming, assuming a pioneering role in France to mix less well known local artists and international headliners. It is a goal every organizer should keep in mind, to improve the scene and focus on developing new psytrance artists, not just only main headliners... Moreover, a psychedelic festival is not only about music, it’s a place for revitalizing the spirit, for living together, for dreaming, for change lives and all that is created by everyone - the public, the organisers and hundreds of volunteers, the musicians and the artist crews, the decor teams and the amazing universes they create, the lecturers, the stallholders... It’s also about local development. Hadra, working as a non-profit organisation, wants to extoll the message that psytrance culture - too often denigrated by the main stream - is a thriving and respectful culture. Psytrance culture and its festivals can work well with local retailers and authorities, paying a particular attention to environmentally friendly measures to create what is a sustainable and profitable festival for everyone ! That is what Hadra stands for and hopes become the norm all over the world !