Events and festivals in Nouvelle-Aquitaine on 29-30 August 2026: the Fêtes d'Agen bring bandas and concerts to the city centre, while Guéthary, Morlaàs and Arcachon hold their end-of-summer celebrations.
Three days before the start of the French school year. Agen holds its Fêtes on Friday 28 and Saturday 29 August, on the Place du Docteur Esquirol. Events and festivals in Nouvelle-Aquitaine on 29-30 August 2026: the Fêtes d'Agen bring bandas and concerts to the city centre, while Guéthary, Morlaàs and Arcachon hold their end-of-summer celebrations.
The Fêtes d'Agen, a whole city centre out in the street
On the Place du Docteur Esquirol, the Fêtes d'Agen stage concerts by national headliners on Friday 28 and Saturday 29 August, while bandas, bodegas and street shows take over the pedestrian centre.
The event went by another name for years: the Grand Pruneau Show.
Created in 2005, this popular festival changed its name without touching its recipe: turning Agen's entire city centre into one huge festive space, set every year on the last weekend before school starts. Bandas set the tempo, bodegas dress the streets, and the main square runs concerts on both days.
Most of the weekend's celebrations across the region happen in small villages; Agen is the only one to put a whole city centre out in the street, from the stages to the street entertainment.
The festival closes on Saturday 29/08, three days before the new term begins on Tuesday 1 September.
Village fêtes, electro nights and street arts
Six more events share Saturday and Sunday, from the Basque coast to the Creuse: three local fêtes, two music stages and one village handed over to street arts, for anyone wondering what's on this weekend.
On the Basque coast, the Fêtes de Guéthary, Getariako Bestak in Basque, line up foot races, a giant méchoui, a craft and food fair and Basque dancing in the village streets until Sunday. Béarn answers on the Place Sainte-Foy in Morlaàs, where Les Pyrénéennes gather a producers' market, a Béarnese fair, a flea market and a Gascon ball over three days, Friday to Sunday. In the Creuse, Terre en Fete, the big farming festival run by the Jeunes Agriculteurs since the 1950s, sets its ploughing contest and fireworks at Le Bignat, in Moutier-Rozeille, on Saturday and Sunday.
Nightlife belongs to Bordeaux.
The Initial Festival gathers big names in techno and house at the Parc des Expositions on Friday and Saturday, two days of DJ sets and live performances restricted to over-18s. In Arcachon, the Akupana Eco Festival powers its stage with solar speakers on the Plage des Arbousiers on Saturday, mixing folk, reggae, electro and soul around stands from local makers, a set-up unique in Nouvelle-Aquitaine. In the Vienne, Les DévéRouillé turn the village of Rouillé into an open-air stage, free and family-friendly, with contemporary circus, equestrian shows, brass bands and object theatre, wooden games included, a format kept up since 2016.