PLUMES is bringing his pink guitar and his famously devoted animal audience to Philadelphia Zoo this month, marking the first time the viral French musician has performed at any zoo in the United States. Known worldwide for singing directly to animals as a form of conservation advocacy, PLUMES will spend a week at America’s first zoo, rehearsing among the habitats before a series of ticketed encounters that put guests right beside him.
How to Experience PLUMES at Philadelphia Zoo
PLUMES arrives Tuesday, August 18, rehearsing and performing at various habitats through Wednesday, August 19 — general admission guests and members may catch glimpses of these private sessions simply by visiting during that window.
The main event follows with “When Animals Listen: A Rare Encounter with PLUMES,” a limited-ticket series running Thursday, August 20, and Friday, August 21. On Thursday, PLUMES performs for the giant tortoises at 10 a.m., inside the Wings of the World aviary at noon, and for the big cats at 2 p.m. Friday repeats the tortoise and aviary sessions at the same times. Each ticket includes the performance itself, an exclusive up-close animal encounter afterward, a personal meet-and-greet with PLUMES, and a souvenir T-shirt.
Tickets start at $125 per session, with $25 off for two sessions and $50 off for all three, available exclusively through philadelphiazoo.org.
An Evening With PLUMES
The Zoo is also hosting a separate after-hours event, “When Animals Listen: An Evening with PLUMES,” from 6 to 9 p.m., pairing intimate live performances with handcrafted cocktails, chef-inspired hors d’oeuvres, and desserts as twilight settles over the grounds. Premium tickets are extremely limited to preserve the evening’s intimate atmosphere — confirm the exact date directly at philadelphiazoo.org before planning around it, as it falls during the same week as the daytime sessions above.
Rachel Metz, the Zoo’s Vice President of Animal Wellbeing and Conservation, framed the visit as more than a novelty booking. “Part of the Zoo’s comprehensive animal care program includes daily enrichment to exercise our animals’ bodies and minds,” Metz said, noting that new experiences like a performance from PLUMES are a genuine part of that plan, not just a marketing moment layered on top of it.
The visit lands at a fitting moment for a zoo that’s long treated novelty as core to its mission — Philadelphia Zoo pioneered Zoo360, the elevated trail system now adopted by more than 70 zoos worldwide, precisely because giving animals new ways to explore their own environment turned out to matter as much as the environment itself.
There’s something delightfully strange about the whole premise — a pink guitar, a French troubadour, and a giant tortoise sharing an afternoon together — but that strangeness is exactly the point. Somewhere between the giraffes and the big cats, a guest willing to follow the music might just end up believing, if only for an hour, that the animals are listening back.
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