For Jul, a Stade de France and a Vélodrome with prices worthy of those of Madonna

In recent weeks, rumors have been rife around Marseille rapper Jul. His silence since mid-January was unusual. At 34 years old in ten years of career, this rapper has nearly 5 billion views on YouTube, 7.5 million albums sold, 26 gold records, 22 platinum... At this level of popularity, discretion so sudden was abnormal. The prodigy with the Canebière accent, the one whose gold and platinum label is inscribed on OM t-shirts, had disappeared from Instagram and no longer posted anything on X. His 300-meter home square with swimming pool, hidden in a private condominium where he can meet other stars, like a certain footballer, now benefits from a security service. Patrols are carried out from dusk until morning between the main gate and those of the different villas.

Did this boy, who was very generous towards neighborhood associations and hospitals in Marseille, have security concerns again? When he started, his first manager was murdered, the victim of a settling of scores between two Marseille family clans against a backdrop of drug trafficking. Obviously traumatized by this tragedy, Jul regularly says he is afraid of being “salamied”. According to our information, however, he has no security concerns at this time. “He is full of recordings and cannot move around as he wants and drink a coffee like that in the middle of town,” relatives explained to us in March to justify his public withdrawal. Ransom of glory for the one who makes the young people of France dance with his sounds, a mixture of soul, funk, salsa, reggaeton, disco and afrobeat, wrapped in a rap made in Marseille.

Also read “The numbers are huge and never go down”: the magic recipe of Jul, French rap cash machine

Monday, however, Jul broke his silence. To the delight of his hundreds of thousands of fans - the “mif”, or family, as he calls them -, he announced to the daily La Provence that he was going to return to the stage in 2025. And not matter where: in a year, it will be on display at the Stade de France for the first time on April 26. Then will perform at the Vélodrome on May 24, the stadium where Jul gave his only XXL concert three years ago. On the Old Port in the collective memory, this June 4, 2022 is legendary: on Boulevard Michelet, the bars were filled to the brim in front of the stadium, the waiters zigzagged with loaded trays: 20 pastis for 30 euros. The particularly festive atmosphere was that of the big OM matches.

For this concert, scheduled for 2020 and postponed due to the pandemic, Jul arrived on stage in TMax, “Johnny Hallyday 2.0” style, with his perfectly assumed “white prolo” outfit: tracksuit, bucket hat, flip-flops and socks. Wishing to bring together the Marseille rap scene, he had Alonzo, SCH, Naps and Soso Maness at his side. The sound system was frankly bad but the party was there. “It’s Marseille baby,” you could say. Jul, some of whose relatives had been in prison, ended his concert with a tribute to the prisoners of France. According to him, his passion for music saved him from Baumettes.

To fill the Vélodrome and the Stade de France in 2025, the “J” will have to sell 80,000 and 60,000 tickets respectively. As always, the announcement of these concerts was made just before the ticket office opened in 48 hours. The poster shows him on a black background, dressed in black, his face hidden by his hand sign which forms a “J”. On the official sales sites, it is clearly specified that you must register by email to receive the alert of the sale.

At the Vélodrome, no less than eight categories of seats are offered: gold square, categories 1,2,3, “early” square, lawn, “platinum zone” or VIP seats. Against six categories at the Stade de France. If Ticketmaster does not yet specify the price of seats, the Marseille ticketing site Adam Concerts indicates that you will have to pay between 55 to 486 euros for the Vélodrome. Or the prices charged for international stars of the caliber of Madonna or Bruce Springsteen. If inflation has been there, the heat wave recorded has nothing to do with that of the kilo of tomatoes or the packet of pasta: in 2022 places were sold from 38 to 70 euros.

As always, tickets pre-purchased a year in advance by fans will be used as cash to finance the production of the show. In the coming weeks, it will be necessary to pay for the scenography, the rental of the two stadiums and provide the technicians' fees.

In Marseille, seeing Jul perform at the Stade de France for the first time and return to the Stade Vélodrome for the second time arouses a lot of pride. He himself dreamed of it: as La Provence recalls, "Soon I'm announcing the Stade de France", he predicted on the song Flow Mitraillette, from the album Independence released in 2021. Or even last August on his channel Instagram discussion: "I'm not lying to you, I really want to go to the Stade de France too." Jul is the second Marseille rapper after Soprano to perform in such large venues.