2022 is being, among many other things, the year of the return of the macro summer festivals , with special emphasis on the macro prefix. As if it were a race to make up for lost time, the crowds, queues, waiting for transfers and a gastronomic offer that has not evolved beyond the concept of food truck have become the constant of everyone who seeks the communion between live music and open air this summer.
In parallel, other types of festivals are growing slowly, faithful to a philosophy in which success is not counted by tickets sold. Precedents like the festival life , with sustained growth and nestled in a natural environment, or the Without salt , the festival with a surprise poster that is celebrated on the island of San Simón (Ría de Vigo) with a capacity limited to 800 people, they have given birth to other proposals in which the place and the gastronomic offer is as important as what happens on stage.
Here is the list of “other summer festivals” that we don't want to miss.
The 2021 Esfera Festival set in a vineyard.
SUMMER FESTIVALS ADAPTED TO THE ENVIRONMENT
With this idea in mind, in 2017 the first edition of the 17th Ribeira Sacra festival began, in the Galician region of the same name, where the Cabe, Sil and Miño rivers converge. That was the germ of Festivals for a Territory , a set of musical events tailored to the places where they are held.
"It started as an experiment in slow maturation," explains Carlos Montilla, director of the cultural promoter I-Radia. “We wanted to get away from the experience of the macrofestivals and seek a greater relationship with the environment, especially with gastronomy and the wine world. We bet on a format that did not exist: multiple locations, connected by a bus mobility plan, in which the environment was sought to add value”.
Thus, the scenarios of each edition are changing, looking for "a story that has to do with the territory, the cultural or natural heritage," says Montilla. In this way, the 17th Ribeira Sacra has advanced to its new edition (from July 28 to 31, with Teenage Fanclub or Manel on its bill) celebrating its concerts in unusual settings.
"Each year some scenarios change, but there have been some especially mythical ones that remain, such as the concert for a very small capacity that takes place on a catamaran", he points out. Another of his classics is Viewpoint of Santiorxo , at 530 meters high and in which the musicians play at ground level, with the Sil river canyon as a backdrop.
Spherical Rioja Alavesa
CONCERTS WITH DESIGNATION OF ORIGIN
This edition of the 17th Ribeira Sacra will also have in the Regina Viarum wineries to one of its locations, reinforcing the festival's link with the DO of the area in which it is held. An alliance that dethrones beer as the quintessential festival drink and that has served to extend its proposal to two other places with a wine tradition.
The first to join was Spherical Rioja Alavesa , which this year will take artists such as Mon Laferte or Iván Ferreiro to different locations in the area from August 18 to 21, including the iconic Ysios cellars and Marques de Riscal . "Part of that relationship with wine involves bringing music to that landscape, listening to a concert a few meters from the vines themselves," Montilla points out.
The triangle of that connection between music and wine lands is completed by the newcomer, nomad , which will celebrate its first edition from October 15 to 16 at the Terrer dels Alforins , In the Valencian community. Around these locations, the programming of the three festivals strengthens the relationship with the wine culture. In Essfera Rioja Alavesa, for example, they carry out acoustic tastings in collaboration with the musical journalist Ángel Carmona from Radio 3, in which different wines are related to music, according to their qualities.
GASTRONOMIC EXPERIENCE
The classic festival itinerary includes, in the gastronomic section, a fast food offer that has gone from absolute survival to the inclusion of other more sophisticated options within the street food universe. In Festivales para un Territorio, on the other hand, what is eaten is as important as what is heard. “ We wanted to get out of the concept fast food , not because it seems wrong to us, but because we wanted to include a gastronomy that was in keeping with the spirit of each festival and a slow pace”, explains Montilla.
Here, the volume of assistance is essential. "It would be unfeasible to do it for 20,000 people, but by holding festivals for 1,000 or 2,000 people we can count on very high gastronomic proposals."
In the past 17th Ribeira Sacra, the chef Lucia Freitas , whose restaurant To Tafona has a Michelin Star, was in charge of creating the festival menu. This year, that responsibility falls on louis veira , from the restaurant Veira Tree in A Coruña, with another Michelin Star. Based on local products, his proposal for this edition includes cheek stewed with mustard sauce and pickles , low-temperature pork ribs with aniseed or celeiro hake with padrón peppers fish and chips style. In Spherical Rioja Alavesa, Francis Paniego , chef of The Portal of Echaurren , will be in charge of taking his kitchen to the Marques de Riscal cellars.
This conjunction of elements, from the environment to the gastronomic offer, transforms the experience of the usual music festival. A different atmosphere, in which attendees and artists mix without the distance of pits and fences. “The goal is for the public to have a different perception of what a festival can be. Let them blow their heads, in the best possible way”, concludes Montilla.