By José Gandue @spinning zone
Cover art by Zonagirante Studio
There's nothing more to be done. The battle was lost. The festival that interested us the most, the one that helped us grow (and which we helped to develop from its beginning) For several years now, he has gone down a path we no longer recognize, and we have decided to no longer accompany him. Rock al Parque has finally become a boring, repetitive, toxically nostalgic, and disappointing event. Perhaps we were too naive to believe that this public event, with almost 30 years of history, was going to contribute to the Bogota music scene in a superlative way, even with the passage of time, that what is experienced culturally in the Colombian capital was going to be structured, from this type of experience organized by the Mayor's Office of Bogota, in the best possible way, so that new generations would always have the best opportunity to develop their talent and showcase it to the audience of this city, as a preview of its possible expansion to the rest of the planet, but no. That's not how things work, especially with overly conservative curators, election-driven bureaucrats who only want to gather crowds for photo ops and opportunists who shamelessly sell the already failed acts of the international music market.
At Rock al Parque, the days when I could suspect that the festival was made for those attendees who were looking for new sounds are long gone., For those who believed that the competition would take the risk of redefining rock as a genre, For those who were hoping to tell the world that the festival would never have the budget of private events, but it would always have the capacity to pleasantly surprise any inhabitant who decided to attend. Okay, at Rock al Parque I saw Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Block Party, Asian Dub Foundation, a The Ganjas, to the first Julieta Venegas, to Behemont, to the first Kinky, to Rita Indiana, to many more. Today they exhibit too many "legends" of stale sound, They come playing their old, melancholic hits, the ones that encourage a pointless mosh pit because it's the norm, because it's the old custom. Bands that are completely outdated, that lost their relevance decades ago., with members who could be the grandparents of the attendees, in front of whom they play while telling the same jokes and anecdotes from yesteryear. Rock al Parque 2024 has a lineup that, with a few exceptions, is almost entirely featuring local talent, It appears to be made to be broadcast on transistor televisions, in black and white. And in that misguided package, don't forget to include La Pestilencia, an almost nonexistent group that for years has only performed at a few state events, who knows how, why, and for what purpose.
When a festival boasts, at this point in time, that its main attraction is the Spanish band Mago de Oz, It clearly shows that it is an event in a comatose state. Closing Rock al Parque with these tasteless pirates is a decadent act. Seriously, didn't they have anything better to bring? Was the offer really that poor? The joke couldn't have been cheap, either. The problem with Rock al Parque is not budget, it's concept. And if we go further, there is no single right answer to the question. What is the purpose of the festival?. If the answer is simply «"It's to give the people bread and circuses"», That is, to provide free entertainment to thousands of fans, So, at least let's give him a better quality show. One in keeping with current musical trends. Despite what the organizers of the competition suspect, Rock, in its own way, has evolved; it is more inclusive, bolder in its forms, and richer in nuances. Rock music has been renewed worldwide, after a period of decline, and now has much more to say., especially if we look at how things have been happening in Latin America, But they haven't realized this at Rock al Parque.
Simón Bolívar Park will surely be packed this weekend; it's a tradition. But, we insist, We lost the battle, those of us who wanted this festival to be something else., Something with bigger, more worthwhile aspirations. Rock al Parque 2024 has little to offer. One final piece of advice, if we may: To enjoy the best, the public has to go early, because the best district and national acts are at very early times., because the festival doesn't give them the real promotional space they deserve.
Everything we were interested in about the event was ruined. We'll miss our friends in the park, but honestly, that's not how things work for us.
