Corona music fest vs avandaro

21/11/06

Most people’s experience of live music at its best usually coincides with a music festival of some sort.  Over the years a number of quality gatherings have been constructing their reputations for good music with good vibes; Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits in the USA or Glastonbury, Reading in the UK come easily to mind.

Within the space of a week the Mexican scene provided 2 examples of the festival experience that both in their own way provided both entertainment and an illustration of how the scene here is still suffering from growing pains.

Corona Music Fest - November 11^: Azteca Stadium: 

With 3 stages on offer and 25 bands over nine hours, including the likes of The Mars Volta, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Of Montreal representing imported talent, the day was full of promise.

The organisers had also managed to bring together a fair selection of national acts with the “tented stage” hosting a fascinating combination of bands, including Los Fancy Free, Maria Daniela and Dapuntobeat amongst others.

In general however a lack of facilities and alternatives, especially given the predictably unpredictable weather, detracted from the overall experience. 

To be a festival there must be an extra dimension that gives it a distinct identity, the Corona Music Fest still has a way to go to create to create this illusion. 

Avandaro 2 - November 17 18 19 Santiago tenguistenco:

The first Andavaro in 1971 was the result of a social movement and need for freedom of expression at a time when the control of the state was overpowering.

Celebrating 35 years since the first gathering the organisers ambitiously tried to recreate the Peace and Love and Rock and Roll atmosphere that encapsulated the first festival. 

Although one can see the attractiveness of the relaxed and open approach to the festival, perhaps a better structure, with even a reduced format may have been the way to approach the rock revival. 

With bands queuing to get on stage late into the night to play a couple of songs to a thin crowd on the Friday evening the first 24 hours were all about survival from plummeting temperatures.

The best musical contributions seemed to come from the many campfires scattered across the grounds. Many present had been at the initial gathering, the experience indelibly marked on their memory.   

There was a range of people huddled around from different social backgrounds sharing stories and songs of good, the bad and the just plain ugly in terms of rock and roll.   

Both Avandaro and Corona Music Fest have something interesting to offer.  Both are important in building a series of events that leads to a coherent rock history.

An appreciation of Bowie, The Ramones or even Clap Your Hands Say Yeah must also be balanced with a consciousness of who has come before domestically to create the possibility of free expression on a national stage.

The history and myth behind the music is crucial in creating the “imagined identity” that makes for a distinct national rock scene.

Stories such as standing in the rain for 8 hours just to see The Mars Volta become myth, the collection of those myths become identity.