Context
The article highlights the success of the music venue La Laiterie in Strasbourg, France, known for its diverse and frequent concerts. The programmateur, Patrick Schneider, manages a busy schedule and successful lineup of artists.
Fact Check
The Laiterie is a popular music venue in Strasbourg, France, with a rich history of hosting a variety of musical acts. The article emphasizes the dedication and passion of the team behind the venue, led by Patrick Schneider.
Article
With its 150 to 200 concerts per year, La Laiterie, as stated by its programmateur Patrick Schneider, stands out as one of the top five venues in France – outside Paris – in terms of programming the most dates. This proves that the venue has established itself in the contemporary music scene. And once again, for this reopening where discoveries (like Jalen Ngonda on May 19), the veterans (The Fleshtones on May 27), and headliners (Charlie Winston on May 24 or Miossec on May 28) still answer the call.
Douze concerts with full attendance
Out of the 32 concerts announced until the end of June, “about ten are already fully booked,” specifies Patrick Schneider, with Excel spreadsheet evidence in hand, who also handles the financial aspects. This control and mental agility akin to Tetris, to better juggle between budget and fees, ensure perfect reactivity in a constantly buzzing music world.
This artistic science allowed them to “keep the ship afloat” during the 18-month break for renovations, with 75 localized concerts in five peri-urban venues. This expertise also keeps them on course in an increasingly competitive industry that demands early programming, “up to a year and a half in advance, when it used to be just a few months.”
But the Laiterie’s touch is also first and foremost a matter of passion. This desire to connect music and audience began in Seltz and Fort-Louis when Patrick Schneider, with turntables and challenges at hand (like the failed attempt to book Peter Gabriel), merged his musical culture with rural life.
Between daring decisions and steadfast values
Nathalie Fritz and Christian Wallior, two other locals, also joined in. An associative start named Rock-O-Fort later bloomed in Strasbourg where they encountered the positive energy of Thierry Danet from Radio Campus. The group, after thrilling the Palais des Fêtes and the Bourse venue, launched the Artefacts festival in 1996, bringing in top acts like Iron Maiden, Ice-T, or Cypress Hill each year until 2017. Of course, Ososphère and its electro gathering remains relevant. Their 4.0 association is tasked with managing it all. Despite this, the team, under the associative aegis of Artefact PRL, took over the famous Laiterie in 1994, where their programming skills reached their peak.
The neighboring Plateforme, established in 2005 to blend music with professionalism, secures opening slots if needed. The rest is a matter of negotiations with agents and/or artists, calculations, playing with different styles, and skillful balancing between daring decisions and steadfast values.
Finally, a few rock’n’roll anecdotes like “Finley Quaye who smashed his dressing room and insulted his audience in 1998.” Not one to return. Far from it, unlike the Mulhousiens of Last Train who, as Patrick Schneider notes, “started in the small room, filled it in 2016, moved to the large room in 2017, and sold out in 2019.” This very Last Train, who were fully booked on Friday and Saturday in this brand new Laiterie shaped by Patrick and his artistic loyalty.
Ticketing and full lineup on artefact.org
