Festival Frenzy
Hola everyone!
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Well I should probably start by apologising on delaying my update too friggin’ long, but I’ve just had a busy summer! And I’m back to give you all the scoop on the biggest summer rock fest in Argentina “Cosquin Rock 2003“.
The festival ran over 4 nites, with an average of 12 bands on each night, including Catupecu Machu, Las Pelotas, Divididos, Los Piojos, Charly Garcia, Bersuit and lots more. The fest is held at the city of Cosquin, province of Cordoba, about 1hr-drive from Cordoba’s capital city where I live. Cordoba province has a long-running history of big summer festivals, due to its beautiful landscapes, mountains and rivers, it’s one of the biggest tourist attractions in the country, especially to visitors from Buenos Aires who just love getting away from that crazy city and relax here in laid-back sunny Cordoba. hey! I hope I’ve convinced you to come and visit…
Cosquin Rock is all about the biggest names in Argentina’s rock, as well as giving the smaller bands (like ours) a chance to break it and be seen by thousands of people who travel from all over the country for the fest weekend. The city of Cosquin gets invaded by rockheads, neo-hippies, punks, freeloaders, Kumbaya-singing campers, harmless wandering drunks, non-official fest merchandise resellers, and mad fans wearing their fave band’s T-shirt fighting over which band rules the most, while queuing up to get in. These mobs are self-proclaimed band “tribes” coz they are really proud of belonging to a certain band’s creed, and are way too enthusiastic about it! The biggest tribes are fans of Los Piojos, La Renga and of course Los Redonditos de Ricota whom I think are the ones who gather all tribes into a big fat one.
Going back to my previous update, you’ll remember our band Hyperstatic participated of the Pre Cosquin band competition, and won a slot to play at the fest, so our gig was planned for Friday. Here we go.
Friday the 7th, 2.30pm. There was a free bus leaving for Cosquin from the city for all the bands, us included. Unfortunately, we had to wait for all the sleepy and lazy-assed guys from visiting bands staying at the hotel, to grace us with their presence and get in the bus. So at about 4pm we finally got on our way. There were members from Intoxicados, Karamelo Santo, La 25 (they brought their dog all the way from BA) El Otro Yo etc. It’s a nice hour-long trip through sierras (mountains), small creeks and rivers, the weather was kind of dull and cloudy, but quite hot.
We arrived at 5.10, and were dropped just behind the stage. The venue is a huge “plaza” right in Cosquin’s centre, and this year they got rid of the fences at the back to fit more people in, so 3 of the surrounding streets were also part of the festival area. (Check out the aerial photo…)
With backstage passes proudly hanging from our necks, we got in the VIP area, and were shown to our dressing room. Then chaos kicked in, coz we were told we’re on 2nd, and the show was starting at 5.30 so we needed to get our asses onstage NOW to set up before the 1st band started. OH SHIT. Where the hell is our roadie? And our lead guitarist?! They traveled on their own, and it took them ages to get thru every festival access control in Cosquin. So we had to go and start setting up ourselves, since the backstage area is actually underneath the stage, there’s miles of stairs and corridors to get up there, but somehow we managed just in time. Then we came back down again and changed clothes in ridiculous record time. Our roadie Pato and Ariel (guitarist) showed up then, so we started breathing out again …
At exactly 6.05pm we got onstage, plugged in (no such thing as a soundcheck here, it’s a festival and you do what you can) and to my horror I realized I hit my guitar on the way up so it got out of tune! Tuned in with Pato’s help in a second that seemed like ages, and started the 1st song praying that it’ll be ok. Luckily, it was!
Hyperstatic is one of the few bands in Argentina singing 90% in English, and playing at a massive mainstream-oriented fest like Cosquin Rock, we had to prove everyone and ourselves that we could get away with it. Argentinean rock crowds aren’t exactly patient or open minded, but somehow, there was no problems.(We expected to get bottled and/or heckled) But I’m happy to say the gig was awesome from the 1st song on!
About 2.500-3,000 crowd watched our gig, a lot of them came running from the back of the plaza to see us. (The fest’s full attendance reached 17 thousand each night) A group of teenage grrrls screamed from the start until I paid attention and asked what is it? They wanted me to throw some guitars pics at them, so I did. Gotta be nice to the fans, he he. We ran thru’ an adrenaline-driven 25 minute set, breathless but rocking out still, and we even included a cover of a classic Argentinean 80s pop band all punked-up, which got everyone singing along. (Los Abuelos de la Nada “Asi es el calor” for the Latin readers information). The comments from people and press afterwards was that we got a good kickin’ loud mix, thanks to our mixer Ale Yunes, and that we were one of the most interesting and original bands of the whole festival. Get a load of that!
After the show there was a press conference in a big tent set up on the side of the stage, so we sat for half hour answering q’s from press from all over the country. We also recorded a few radio and TV greetings, the “Hi I’m Karina from Hyperstatic and you’re listening to…” kinda thing, which was pretty ace! Then we posed for a few photos as well.
Back in the VIP, we mingled with all the bands, there was a great vibe back there, people popping in each other’s dressing rooms etc. There was a lot of CDs and press packs exchange, we got to meet all kinds of music industry people as well as getting invited over to play in other cities in Argentina. Check out our drummer Alberto posing with Sokol, singer in BA’s Las Pelotas, Thursday’s closing band…
I think I forgot to mention that it was a beer-sponsored festival!! So beer was free for all the bands, all throughout the night, needless to say we got merrily wasted, as you can see on our backstage pics…There was also lotsa food, pizzas, etc. This is the life, folks!
As for the shows, the one we enjoyed the most was of course El Otro Yo. We got to see their set from the pit between the stage and the crowd, no one stands in your view, and you get the most DEAFEANING VOLUME! WHAAAAAAAAT?!? I CAN”T HEAR YOU!!. El Otro Yo played mostly songs from their recent “Colmena” album, all powerpop and catchy punkrock style, and got all the kids singing along like crazy.
Attaque 77 bears a 15 year-long career on their backs, they still sound as basic punk rock á la Ramones as they did back then, but they have a massive loyal following. For their last song they invited the other bands to come up to sing their classic “Donde las aguilas se atreven”, see photo…
Divididos closed the evening with a 2 hour set…oh my. It was SO loud -and a bit tedious too if you ask me- but their fans didn’t give up their support for a second (I eventually went backstage again and drank more beer and mingled with rockstars a bit more, hah!). The power trio played hits from all of their albums, with their trademark Hendrix-ed guitar wall and pounding bass they ran thru classics like Ala Delta and Sabado, as well as a few Sumo tunes. (80s cult band)
The next day, Sat 8th, I went up there again, met some friends and watched a couple more shows by means of my backstage pass…gotta love it.
Worth mentioning are Babasonicos. They basically get away with any kind of song list even if it isn’t festival-approved -i.e. lots of hits- and also with their particular pimp-ish retro look they should get heckled by the ever intolerant tribes in the audience, but Cosquin fest’s crowd has learned to accept their quirkness and embrace their originality. They gave a helluva good show too. Talking afterwards to singer Adrian D’Argelos he revealed their new album will have a bit more dance-based tunes as well as vintage rock sounds, and confessed to be listening to a lot of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and The Music.
That evening’s closing act was none other than Charly Garcia, the true Argentinean Hero of rock, mostly because of his endurance that anything else right now. You know how you wonder how Iggy Pop is still alive with the lifestyle he’s had? Garcia is the same. But as always, he gave people a run for their money with an entertaining hits-filled show. Besides, he’s the only rockstar at the fest who asked for a white limo and a red carpet leading to his dressing room! How much more deliciously decadent can you get? Catch the photo of his memorable entrance on stage on a specially requested wheelchair…
Alright everyone, hope you’re having a great start of the summer if you live up there…catch ya next time.
Loveyall
KARI
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