Rock in Évreux

Rock in Évreux was the rock and pop festival at the Navarre racecourse, in Évreux. The association Normandie Rock organized it, also written Normandy Rock in 2017. On 8 February 2017, at the Tagram, mayor Guy Lefrand and that association present the first gathering, 23 and 24 June, at the same racecourse where Le Rock dans tous ses états had just closed. Yann Biville is the director. Paul Langeois, who also directs Beauregard, programmes. Vincent Ficot presides. Mario Rodriguez handles the technique and Yann Gault the communication. A one-day pass costs 42 euros and a two-day pass 70. Camping alone, 10. The two days with camping, 80. Under 12, free. There were 16,000 people over those two days, guests included. Biville says they stayed below what was planned. The racecourse is a walk and a bus from the center, an hour from Paris, beside the river Iton.

The night walked is Saturday 28 June 2025, at the same racecourse. The eveball blog puts the doors at 16:00, with people already there for the first band. Uptight opens for about 45 minutes. Sabrina Lebon sings and dances, and gets the crowd to sing People are you ready? Between stretches the DJ TAD returns. Diva Faune is a trio: Yogan on vocals and guitar, Jeremy on keyboards, Valentin on drums, machines and backing vocals. Nada Surf arrives from New York. Matthew sings. Daniel Lorca is on bass, with a cigarette he throws at the edge of the stage and some dreadlocks at the nape.

The headliner of that night, and of the whole festival, is Dire Straits Experience. Chris White, saxophonist from the early days of Dire Straits, is the one who carries the project. Two companions from that time were going to come on with him and in the end White goes alone from that lineup. Terence Reis sings. They play Money for Nothing, Sultans of Swing, Telegraph Road, So Far Away and Romeo and Juliet. The guitar is not Mark Knopfler's. The crowd hums with eyes closed. Before Groundation, TAD puts in pyrotechnic effects. Groundation closes the band music. They date from 1998 and arrive from California. Harrison Stafford sings. Marcus Urani is on keyboards and Ryan Newman on bass. The rest comes and goes. Upsilone closes the doors with the decks. On Friday 27, France 3 announces Louis Bertignac, UB40, Captain Sparks and the Royal Company, Train and Yodelice, and advances Red Red Wine and Meet Virginia as what they were going to sing. The one-day early-bird pass starts at 35 euros.

On 24 September 2025 the association declares itself in cessation of payments. Lefrand's statement puts the accumulated deficit above 900,000 euros and says the taxpayers do not take it on. The next day the city council announces that it takes the organization back. In 2026 the June weekend is not held. Lefrand explains that the association did not know how to carry the 2025 gathering and that the matter is in the courts. The budget he describes for the previous festival is around 335,000 euros, of which about 200,000 were the box office, and about 135,000 stayed with the agglomeration. The public money moves to another gathering, of three days, in Grossœuvre. That gathering is not the racecourse night.

The bill announced on 8 February 2017 names The Prodigy, Jain, Trust and Machine Gun Kelly. Days later, at Gibert Joseph, Biville adds Gojira, Les Wampas, The Limiñanas, Ásgeir, Austra, Claptone, Peter Peter and Samba de la Muerte. The Évreux bands that open, in that announcement, are Slaughterhouse Brothers on Friday and Wolzovitch on Saturday. The reduced pass, for a student, a works council, a lycée or an apprentice, stays at 39 euros one day and 66 for two. On Friday 23 there were more than 15,000 people, when in the afternoon the grass was still half empty. In 2019 the capacity was 15,000. The attendance figure for that gathering was not published and some stages were left with few people. It names MC Solaar and Matmatah among the names.