By Santiago Rivas @rivas_santiago Photos by Julian Gutierrez
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Despite the rain, it was a good day. Sunday will always be the most interesting day of the festival, if it continues to be run as it has been for some time now. Unfortunately, the festival coincides with the LGBTIQ Pride march every year, so many who would like to be on one side and the other find themselves tied to the event they prioritize. The calls for respect for love and diversity were numerous and much needed, and it was a day with a significant female presence, so much so that it was noticeable simply by checking the festival's Instagram stories. I arrived late, once again (for various reasons; that will be the pattern of my time at Rock al Parque 2019), but I had the opportunity to see some great things.
Eruca Sativa is a bandononón. There are only three of them, but they sound like a punch in the gut. They move between genres effortlessly, and they have a very distinctive, unmistakable sound. Sometimes they sound like funk, sometimes like rock, sometimes like Argentine rock, sometimes like a guitar-driven song. Everyone shines at some point, including the drummer., But it's definitely a female band, powerful from a feminine perspective. They gave an excellent performance and received an overwhelmingly loving response from the audience. I didn't know they were so popular here, but I'm happy for them because they deserve it. I hope they keep creating and expanding their sound.
From the district call came Burning Waters, a proposal that also applies to “trans-gender” bands, because it goes from bluegrass to cumbia, nonstop. They made a pretty strong statement in support of LGBTQ+ rights and against hate and discrimination, but they're not politically correct. On stage, they played a banjo, a tuba, a violin, bass, guitars, and rasps. It's an interesting project., But I think they need to continue refining that proposal, so that we can hear everything they have to offer. A good sense of humor is always refreshing, but it's not everything, nor is it anything new. In fact, creating intelligent and funny groups is practically a Bogota tradition, from Hora Local to the present day, and just a few hours ago, Odio a Botero performed. All this to say that they shouldn't simply stop there, and that they have a vein they should explore further, refining their approach.
The 5, 6, 7, 8's They were a highlight of yesterday's party. They have a great vibe, and a pretty simple sound. Rockabilly and rock and roll are fun genres, but they don't have many variations. To this, they added a couple of Japanese songs, which was much appreciated, because it wasn't enough to simply go and see, after so many years, "the band from Kill Bill." They put on a great show, and the crowd loved them. They're not just a "novelty band.".
From the LAKE stage, I went to BIO, to watch a bit of The Dirty Candle. I enjoyed their performance, and I think they sound great. It's not really my style, but I know it's incredibly popular, like almost everything that comes to us from Uruguay and Argentina. The melancholic rock of the Río de la Plata will always have a home in Colombia., Like its predecessor, tango had it, and like its younger cousin, cumbia villera, it already has it. Something else to learn from Uruguay, which, as one Twitter user said, will always be the champion of America.
Toxic Holocaust It was a must-see act at the festival. They've been cultivating a very powerful sound for about 20 years. Actually, it's Joel Grind, their guitarist and live vocalist, who has cultivated it., with influences as beneficial to thrash metal as grindcore or punk. They were excellent at this concert, shifting between black and thrash, their usual sounds, delivering a masterclass in metal that everyone surely appreciated. It's clear they're a young band (20 years in metal isn't that long, compared to the years of a dwarf on a frozen peak), and that sound, still open to experimentation, provides some very interesting nuances. I was very curious to hear them and was completely satisfied, but what's yours is yours, and I went to see... Rita Indiana, the queen of my Rock al Parque.
I was intrigued to discover what sound Rita Indiana and the Committee would present at a festival like this. Not because they couldn't simply do it in the style of Los Misterios (Rita Indiana's previous band), with a sparse but sufficient instrumentation that allows for emphasis on Indiana's words and intelligence, which is the foundation of everything.Intelligence, of course, knows how to adapt and not repeat itself; the live format of the closing show on the LAGO stage was rock, as much as it was Caribbean.. One of the great things about Rock al Parque is that its name presents a challenge to many bands that aren't strictly rock, encouraging them to adapt and modify their sound to meet what they perceive as a requirement. It isn't, and anyone should be able to play at the festival, as long as they embody that spirit of rock that transcends music and sound, but it's worth seeing the results.
The very positive aspect of this festival Sunday was the way the day was structured around a declaration of principles.. I don't know if they planned it that way and I want to think they did, but it was clearly the day dedicated to diversity of all kinds, from the ska that opened the BIO stage and the punk of the PLAZA stage, to the feminist and outright resistance merengue-punk-Dominican-Puerto Rican that Rita Indiana brought, or the presence of Sodom on the main stage. Experiments like this are worthwhile.
The negative aspects are the food area and the transit corridors. The stage redesign experiment is worthwhile because it's a good idea, but 1- the LAKE stage is overflowing with people, which is a success that should be credited to the curator., But a logistical error leaves it as a small stage, both in the audience space and in the pit. The result was everyone crammed in here and there, and some ear pain for those of us in the press, not to mention all the people who crowded around and didn't let the photographers do their job peacefully, in the most popular issues.
The food court, meanwhile, is blocked off all afternoon and all night. A friend and I waited in line for forty minutes for a coffee, and all the places were the same. It's not just the supply that needs to be expanded, it's also the space. The lines of tired and hungry people are being squeezed through by those rushing between stages, making the whole experience very uncomfortable. It's crucial that, if they want to make the festival bigger and bigger—and they know that if they do their job well they'll succeed—they design the space to accommodate everyone who came. They need to think ahead and avoid repeating the mistakes of five years ago, when the food area was becoming too small and they managed to fix it.
