24h Le Mans
24 HOURS CENTENARY – THE LE MANS EXCEPTION ⎮ Live music has always played an exciting role during race week. In recent years, the concerts have grown to near festival level, with internationally renowned headliners performing on the main stage every night. The 24 Hours has even inspired artists too!
Artists previously seen at the 24 Hours circuit include Jamiroquai, Texas, Martin Solveig, Kool & the Gang, Earth Wind & Fire Experience featuring Al McKay, The Stranglers, UB40, Franz Ferdinand, The Avener, Alpha Blondy, Shaka Ponk, Amir, BB Brunes, Charlie Winston, Julian Perretta, Pete Doherty, Asaf Avidan, Kyo, Gérald de Palmas, Razorlight, Jabberwocky, The Shoe, Cali, Renan Luce, Raphaël, Mademoiselle K, Pony Pony Run Run and Cock Robin.
For more than 10 years, major names in music from all over the world have not only performed on the big stage during race week but have hit the track to compete! 24 Hours Museum Director Fabrice Bourrigaud: "Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason has done Le Mans five times. And so has David Hallyday!" Thanks to the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, spectators are treated to stellar family entertainment in a festival atmosphere every year!
A jazz band provided the music at the first running of the race in 1923. Several official 24 Hours of Le Mans songs were written shortly thereafter, namely the anthem of 1934 written by Émile Baudrier (a professor at the conservatory of Le Mans) and Bernard Ménager (a local sportsman).
24 Hours Museum tour guide Nicolas Pelletier: "The big orchestra of the ORTF (Office de Radio Télévision Française, Ed.) accompanied top performers of the era in French music" during the 1950 and 1960s. In 1967, the ORTF's stage hosted Johnny Hallyday, and rising British group The Rubettes headlined in 1970. Back then, a Europe1 radio podium in the Village next to the museum allowed a variety of singers a platform.
The 24 Hours of Le Mans has provided inspiration for movies AND music! For example, French singer Alain Souchon's song "Bidon" released in 1976. On 24 June 2022, Italian pop star Federico Rossi dropped a song simply called "Le Mans" evoking the famous race to describe the end of a romantic relationship. “It was a big hit in Italy,” reveals Pelletier.
But if there is one piece of music everyone highly anticipates each year, it's that of the credits of Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey." When Richard Strauss' "Also sprach Zarathustra" washes over the grandstands packed with spectators, it means the long-awaited start of a new running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans is about to get underway!
PHOTOS (Copyright - ACO/Archives): LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS. From top to bottom: the Porsche 956 in which Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason competed in his final 24 Hours in 1984; the stage set up in the heart of the circuit; French alternative rock band Shaka Ponk at the race.
