Rade Side Festival

Rade Side Festival: Contemporary Music in the Spotlight in Toulon

Every autumn in Toulon, the musical scene of the Var region and the nation gathers for the Rade Side Festival, an event dedicated to contemporary music in all its diversity — rock, electro, indie, post-punk, experimental, and alternative pop. Supported by the association TANDEM Scène de Musiques Actuelles Départementale, the festival has become, in nearly a decade, a benchmark for all lovers of live music and artistic discoveries in the Var.

The festival is distinguished by its strong commitment to emerging artists, both local, regional, and national, who share its stages with more established acts. This focus on discovering and supporting new talent makes Rade Side an essential showcase for aspiring musicians from the PACA region and beyond.

TANDEM: A Structure for Contemporary Music in the Var

TANDEM, headquartered on Rue Racine in Toulon, is the departmental contemporary music venue for the Var. As such, it plays a structuring role for the contemporary music sector in the department: promotion, support for creation, artist development, audience training, and cultural action in schools. The Rade Side Festival is one of its flagship projects, through which TANDEM offers the general public a quality program in several venues across the city.

TANDEM's philosophy deeply permeates Rade Side: accessible prices, diversity of styles, attention to audiences distant from cultural offerings, and promotion of local artists. The festival takes place in human-sized venues — including the legendary Le Live in Toulon — allowing for an intimate relationship between artists and the audience, rarely achieved in major festivals.

A Program of Rock, Electro, Indie, and Emerging Music

The Rade Side Festival's program covers a broad spectrum of contemporary music. Rock in its multiple forms — post-punk, noise, indie, garage — experimental electronic music, alternative pop, post-rock, and underground music follow each other on the event's various stages. The programmed artists are often at a pivotal moment in their careers, making each edition a space for unpredictable encounters and discoveries.

The festival also offers opportunities for artistic residencies and music practice workshops, allowing the public to actively participate in the festival's artistic life. In 2025, a Pop Choir Workshop was organized in the weeks leading up to the festival, culminating in a performance during the concerts.

The 2025 Edition: November 13 to 18

The 9th edition of the Rade Side Festival was held from November 13 to 18, 2025, in several emblematic venues of Toulon's nightlife and cultural scene, notably Bière de La Rade and Le Live (95 boulevard Commandant Nicolas, 83000 Toulon).

The program for this edition highlighted artists with diverse styles, illustrating the richness of the contemporary French rock and alternative scene:

• Catchy Peril and Mega Lune opened the festival on Thursday, November 13, at Bière de La Rade.
• Bryan's Magic Tears, The Spitters, and Technopolice energized the evening of Friday, November 14, at Le Live.
• Ade, Le Bleu, and the pop choir performance concluded the festival on Saturday, November 15, at Le Live.

The Pop Choir workshops, held from October 6 to November 12, 2025, resulted in a stage performance on the festival's final evening, blending amateur participants and professional artists in a participatory and unifying musical experience.

A Festival Rooted in the City and its Territory

Rade Side is a deeply urban and Toulon-based festival. It takes over venues in the city that are themselves players in cultural and nightlife, creating synergy between the festival and the local fabric. This territorialized approach is a signature of the festival, which aims to contribute to the cultural dynamism of Toulon and the Var, by establishing itself in the long term and within the realities of the local associative and musical landscape.