https://feeds.thelocal.com/ Read the latest news and views from France in English en-us news@thelocal.com (TheLocal) webmaster@thelocal.com (TheLocal) TheLocal RSS Feed US rapper Kanye West has postponed his scheduled concert in Marseille, following reports that the country's interior minister was seeking to block the performance. https://www.thelocal.fr/20260415/kanye-west-postpones-france-concert-after-ministers-block-call Wed, 15 Apr 2026 08:58:45 +0200 kanye-west-postpones-france-concert-after-ministers-block-call A town that hosts one of France’s biggest music festivals has withdrawn its subsidy to the event because Irish rappers Kneecap have been booked to play. https://www.thelocal.fr/20250717/french-town-withdraws-festival-funding-over-kneecap-appearance Thu, 17 Jul 2025 10:35:04 +0200 french-town-withdraws-festival-funding-over-kneecap-appearance A French court has upheld a ban on a concert by a French rapper accused of anti-Semitism and "defending terrorism", just hours before he was due on stage. https://www.thelocal.fr/20240216/court-upholds-ban-on-french-rapper-accused-of-defending-terrorism Fri, 16 Feb 2024 09:52:25 +0100 court-upholds-ban-on-french-rapper-accused-of-defending-terrorism Fans of the late Johnny Hallyday, "the French Elvis Presley", will be able to commemorate the sixth anniversary of his death with two songs never released before. https://www.thelocal.fr/20231117/new-songs-mark-sixth-anniversary-of-french-star-johnny-hallydays-death Fri, 17 Nov 2023 10:05:35 +0100 new-songs-mark-sixth-anniversary-of-french-star-johnny-hallydays-death The music of pioneering French electronic duo Daft Punk will resound on Thursday through Paris' Centre Pompidou, as a never-released track is unveiled at the spot where their love affair with the genre began. https://www.thelocal.fr/20230509/daft-punk-to-unveil-never-heard-song-where-it-all-began Tue, 09 May 2023 17:15:35 +0200 daft-punk-to-unveil-never-heard-song-where-it-all-began From old rockers to classic cinema, fireworks to modern theatre, here are some of our favourite French summer festivals. https://www.thelocal.fr/20220617/16-of-the-best-festivals-and-events-in-france-this-summer Fri, 17 Jun 2022 16:29:11 +0200 16-of-the-best-festivals-and-events-in-france-this-summer He's one of France's best-loved artists, despite being Belgian, but is less well known in the anglophone world. As his releases his first album in nine years, here's why you might like to know more about Stromae. https://www.thelocal.fr/20220304/stromae-5-things-to-know-about-one-of-frances-best-loved-artists Fri, 04 Mar 2022 13:29:43 +0100 stromae-5-things-to-know-about-one-of-frances-best-loved-artists Starved of live music for the past year, fans of veteran French rock band Indochine got the chance to see their idols in concert on Saturday, all in the name of Covid-19 research. https://www.thelocal.fr/20210529/french-rock-group-indochine-plays-covid-trial-gig-in-paris Sat, 29 May 2021 22:27:24 +0200 french-rock-group-indochine-plays-covid-trial-gig-in-paris French festivals are feeling a terrible sense of deja vu as they are forced to cancel this year's events by spiking Covid-19 infections and a sluggish vaccine rollout. https://www.thelocal.fr/20210402/french-festivals-face-another-summer-of-cancellations Fri, 02 Apr 2021 14:26:35 +0200 french-festivals-face-another-summer-of-cancellations One of the era's defining dancefloor acts hung up their helmets on Monday, as French electronic music stars Daft Punk announced their retirement in a typically enigmatic fashion with a video showing one of them exploding in a desert. https://www.thelocal.fr/20210223/8-of-french-duo-daft-punks-most-memorable-moments Tue, 23 Feb 2021 14:53:01 +0100 8-of-french-duo-daft-punks-most-memorable-moments A French court on Wednesday handed suspended prison sentences to four people charged over the collapse of a stage as it was being set up for a 2009 concert by pop superstar Madonna, which killed two workers. https://www.thelocal.fr/20210217/french-concert-promoters-in-court-over-collapse-of-madonna-stage-set-that-killed-two-people Wed, 17 Feb 2021 12:29:50 +0100 french-concert-promoters-in-court-over-collapse-of-madonna-stage-set-that-killed-two-people France will begin to shake off its coronavirus blues Sunday with cinemas opening on the stroke of midnight and thousands of people taking to the streets for its midsummer music festival. https://www.thelocal.fr/20200620/france-shakes-off-its-virus-blues-as-cinemas-casinos-set-to-open Sat, 20 Jun 2020 11:05:08 +0200 france-shakes-off-its-virus-blues-as-cinemas-casinos-set-to-open Friday marks the annual "Fête de la Musique" in France. Here's what you need to know about the country's biggest street music party and how to make the most of it. https://www.thelocal.fr/20190621/fte-de-la-musique-2019-how-to-make-the-most-of-frances-biggest-street-music-party Fri, 21 Jun 2019 10:23:54 +0200 fte-de-la-musique-2019-how-to-make-the-most-of-frances-biggest-street-music-party Two feuding French rappers have said they will settle their differences with a two million-euro cage fight in Switzerland in December. https://www.thelocal.fr/20190415/feuding-french-rappers-will-settle-differences-with-swiss-cage-fight Mon, 15 Apr 2019 14:41:08 +0200 feuding-french-rappers-will-settle-differences-with-swiss-cage-fight Prolific French composer Michel Legrand, who won three Oscars during a career spanning more than half a century, has died aged 86, his spokesman said Saturday. https://www.thelocal.fr/20190126/french-oscar-winning-composer-michel-legrand-dies-aged-86 Sat, 26 Jan 2019 10:14:48 +0100 french-oscar-winning-composer-michel-legrand-dies-aged-86 French rocker Johnny Hallyday's posthumous album sold 300,000 copies on Friday after going on sale at midnight, the late star's record company Warner Music France told AFP. https://www.thelocal.fr/20181020/posthumous-hallyday-album-sells-300000-on-first-day Sat, 20 Oct 2018 02:28:57 +0200 posthumous-hallyday-album-sells-300000-on-first-day French singer Charles Aznavour, who died Monday aged 94, was buried Saturday in the family vault outside Paris after a private funeral at the city's St John the Baptist Armenian cathedral. https://www.thelocal.fr/20181007/aznavour-buried-in-family-vault-after-intimate-funeral Sun, 07 Oct 2018 04:35:25 +0200 aznavour-buried-in-family-vault-after-intimate-funeral Charles Aznavour reinvented popular music one cold December night in Paris in 1960. https://www.thelocal.fr/20181006/how-charles-aznavour-changed-music-forever Sat, 06 Oct 2018 16:18:50 +0200 how-charles-aznavour-changed-music-forever A little-known French rapper who caused a furore in France this week with a music video called "Hang White People" has been ordered to face trial on charges of inciting violence, legal sources said on Friday. https://www.thelocal.fr/20180929/french-rapper-to-face-trial-over-hang-white-people-video Sat, 29 Sep 2018 04:36:11 +0200 french-rapper-to-face-trial-over-hang-white-people-video Flexing their vocal chords in the language of love has proven too irrésistible for some of the biggest names in the music history, but how good did their French actually sound? https://www.thelocal.fr/20180809/top-of-le-pops-ten-famous-singers-who-recorded-songs-in-french Thu, 09 Aug 2018 19:09:33 +0200 top-of-le-pops-ten-famous-singers-who-recorded-songs-in-french