By José Gandue @Gandour Photo by Oscar Perfer @perferoscar
Eight thirty in the evening, Lake stage. Baroness, from the United States, It's the last band on Monday's schedule to perform on this stage. Their singer, John Dyer Baizley, clearly reflects the emotion he feels on his face. I'm sure that never in his childhood in Lexington, Virginia, did he imagine that one day he would play in front of thirty thousand people. in an unknown city called Bogotá, located in a country covered with so many violent and primitive clichés in the minds of its compatriots. I dare say that when his band was invited to play at Rock al Parque, Baizley never imagined that so many of the people who saw him perform on the last day of the festival would be humming along to so many of his songs with such familiarity, constantly requesting encores. He seemed genuinely moved and grateful. I'm sure he won't easily forget that moment.
The audience at Rock al Parque 2016 behaved admirably. They avoided falling for the extremist calls of some irresponsible individuals and She accepted everything she heard with patience, with affection, with a desire to have a good time. While certain individuals who present themselves as journalists and cultural managers were calling for disobedience to the festival's call because not all the participating bands sounded like the narrow definition of rock they had in their minds, The more than two hundred and fifty thousand spectators who came to Simón Bolívar Park during these three days accepted what they saw, They discreetly left when they didn't like a performance and wandered through the three stages in search of the emotions they were seeking. They went to celebrate the music, regardless of the foolish boundaries imposed on them from clumsy stands.
The Rock al Parque audience is criticized because the artists don't feel their presence afterwards in their private performances. Some are so stubborn that they believe they'll increase their fan base by playing in places far from where most of their festival-goers live. These musicians haven't grasped that this absence is their own responsibility, due to their failure to create a genuine circuit encompassing all parts of the city. As we mentioned in a previous article, Bogotá bands only perform in the 10% of the urban landscape., and they expect the inhabitants of the remaining 90% to adapt to the circumstances.
The Rock al Parque audience, who mostly come from the city's middle and lower classes, It's not part of the private festivals' database. These events, which charge admission prices equivalent to the Colombian monthly minimum wage or more, don't cater to that audience. Furthermore, their promotional slogans include phrases like "A different world," and many of their customers accept that difference. so as not to be included in the group of spectators who go to Simón Bolívar Park for free every year. In a way, these businesspeople are trying to convince us that the true potential of the Colombian contemporary music market lies only in those who have enough purchasing power to buy their products, and the truth is, I completely disagree with that.
Let's return to the Baroness experience. We're talking about a band that It had only been played on specialized radio programs, And, until the day of their performance at Rock al Parque, little had been published about them in local media, and yet, the thousands of spectators who were at the Lago stage, They had done the work of listening to his music beforehand, Learn about their career and sing along to each of the songs they performed at their concert. Based on this, I'm making a bet with all of you, confident I'll win: Check back in the coming months to see how the band's numbers increase on Spotify, Deezer, and YouTube And check how many of the band's music consumers come from Bogotá. There will be a lot, I can guarantee it.
This is the audience that matters. The same audience that knows all the songs of Los Elefantes, that celebrates Compadres Recerdos at the top of their lungs and who attends to Danicattack in a calm and tender manner. It is an audience that wants to experience music by respecting and idolizing good musicians. and that she's not there because of fashion, posing, or an Instagram photo. It is an audience that collects these moments in its memory and wants to contribute to the local music scene throughout the year. if its protagonists leave their comfortable trenches and they finally commit to reaching out to their neighborhoods and to give presentations throughout the city at reasonable prices. It is an audience that is asking to be included in the plans of Colombian musicians, who, due to forgetfulness, laziness, or believing in misguided narratives, It is taking a long time to reach their doors and spread his work among them. This audience is the fucking best and it's time to pamper them as they deserve.
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