Big Reggae Festival

ℹ️ No edition in 2026 — the festival is taking a break. The Big Reggae Festival is not taking place in 2026. In a press release dated April 22, 2026, the organization announced that the event would be put on hold this year (due to an increasingly complex economic context and continuously rising organizational costs), with the intention of returning in 2027 with a redesigned format. The last edition was held on July 3, 2025.

Reggae on the Riviera since 1995

The Big Reggae Festival was born in 1995 in Juan-les-Pins, on the French Riviera, driven by the passion of Thierry Guidicelli and the collaboration between Mediacom, the largest reggae producer in France, and Pie des Arts, a local organizer. For nearly thirty years, the festival established itself as the major reggae event in the south of France, presenting the best of the international reggae scene at each edition in the enchanting setting of the Pinède of Antibes Juan-les-Pins.

The Pinède Gould: reggae with your feet in the sand

The Big Reggae Festival took place at the Pinède Gould, the same mythical venue that hosts Jazz à Juan. Under the centuries-old umbrella pines, a few meters from the Mediterranean, the festival offered a unique atmosphere blending roots music, Mediterranean gentleness, and a spirit of sharing. Doors opened at 7 PM for an evening that extended late into the night, in a relaxed and benevolent atmosphere.

2024 Edition: Ky-Mani Marley and Naâman

The 27th edition of the Big Reggae Festival was held on July 2, 2024 at the Pinède in Juan-les-Pins. The lineup brought together Ky-Mani Marley, son of Bob Marley perpetuating the family legacy with his powerful voice and authentic reggae, Naâman, a French artist who has become one of the major figures of French reggae, Taïro, a veteran of French reggae, and Lidiop, a Franco-Senegalese singer with afro-reggae sounds. A rich evening blending legends and the new generation.

2025 Edition: Danakil, Groundation and Third World

The 28th edition, on July 3, 2025, offered an exceptional lineup featuring Danakil, a French roots reggae band filling the largest venues in France, Groundation, among the legends of world reggae with their unique roots sound, Third World, iconic Jamaican artists celebrating five decades of musical creations and authors of the global hit « Now That We've Found Love », and Mortimer, a young Jamaican artist with refined and fresh soul reggae.

A legacy and a break before a return in 2027

After the death of its founder Thierry Guidicelli, the festival was taken over in 2022 by his daughter Claire Guidicelli and Michel Jovanovic, so that this emblematic event could continue to prosper. In 2026, facing an increasingly complex economic context, the organization chose to put the festival on hold to better reinvent it, with the goal of a return in 2027. It should be noted that in 2026, Claire Guidicelli is launching a new reggae event on the French Riviera, the Raggamuffin Festival (August 4, 2026, Théâtre de Verdure de Nice), conceived in the continuity of the Big Reggae spirit but distinct from it.