Rock al Parque: 25 years young

Rock Al Parque
Tokyo Ska at Rock al Parque in 2018. Photo: Claudia Canizales Saldaña

The continent’s biggest free festival, Rock al Parque, has been going for a quarter of a decade.


There are some names on the Rock al Parque lineup that are heavier than a herd of robot elephants: Deicide – grrr! Tarja Turunen – swoon! Dying Fetus – grrr! 5,6,7,8s – kawaiidane! Sodom – grrr! Juanes – oh. Errr, yeah. Him.

Not all bands are created equal, after all. Expect the first day to be the PURE FUCKING METAL day, with at least two of Deicide, Dying Fetus, Sodom and Grave taking the stage to frighten the God-botherers. After the grand bloody hooha around Marduk and satanic lyrics, let’s see what the local press make of Glen ‘inverted cross branded into the forehead’ Benton. Dying Fetus will give further death metal kudos, whereas Sodom will keep the Bogotá thrash hordes happy. There really are a lot of them.

Related: Amazing photos that tell the story of Rock al Parque 2018

On the lighter side of things, expect at least half of Sunday to be dressed as carbon copies of semi-goth operatic metaller Tarja. It seems, sadly, to be many people’s cup of tea. The 5,6,7,8s will attract Kill Bill fans waiting for one song. Then of course there’s Fito Paez and El Tri for fans of Latin sounds. And there is, of course, Juanes. There’s nowt we can do about that now. Just hope he plays some old Ekimosis.

It’s free, but getting in will take a lot of time and you’ll face a rigorous search. Be prepared for alcohol to be hard to get hold of: it’s technically a dry festival. The transportation back home never seems to be much of a problem, miraculously, and the organisation is generally good.


Rock Al Parque starts tomorrow June 29 -and runs until July 1

1 COMMENT

  1. Este artículo es muy pobre. No dice nada. Sólo critica a Juanes. Que es un rockero en el alma y sus influencias parten del rock. Ha representado a Colombia en todo el mundo más que cualquier artista Colombiano. Dejen de ser haters y apoyen al talento local. Pelmazos.

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