Rock al Parque

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Mid-August marked the 20th anniversary of a music festival in Bogota called “Rock al Parque,” a three-day festival celebrating everything that is hardcore ROCK.

The festival spanned Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Luckily for all involved, Monday was a Catholic holiday celebrating the Assumption of Mary. In a country where the majority of the people are Catholic, that means a Catholic holiday is a national holiday as well. What better way to celebrate the mother of Christ than by head banging to some metal?

As I didn’t have to teach class, I decided to wander down to Parque Simon Bolivar with my friend Matteo to check out the festivities. We were able to watch 3 bands, including Doctor Krapula (Colombian), Molotov (Mexican), and Aterciopelados (Colombian). We ended up leaving right before Anthrax, an American thrash band that closed out the festival. Why did we leave early? Because I wasn’t quite willing to fight public transportation with tens of thousands of Colombians after dark. Maybe next time J


I couldn’t believe how many people were there. It reminded me of those music videos where famous bands like U2 has a live show in a major city like Tokyo or Mexico City and the crowds cover the landscape. When I heard a whirring noise above me, I looked up and saw a droid-like camera soaring over the crowd and realized I just might be in one of those videos! Pretty rad.

The crowd was peaceful and relaxed where we stood, which was about 4 football fields away from the main stage. There was at least another football field of people behind me, too. They had at least 6 big screens spaced out in the crowd just so people could actually see the bands play. Thanks to these cameras, I was able to enjoy the insanity of the mosh pits from a comfotable distance.

The crowd cracked me up. Everyone was decked out in black, leather, spikes, and band t-shirts. I’m sure many of those people really were rock enthusiasts and were in an electric guitar-induced euphoria, but many looked like they had just bought out the shelves of Hot Topic. For example, I saw a lot of Ramones, Led Zeppelin, and Kiss t-shirts. In other words, it would have been a great set for a 90s movie about the high school misfits. But who cares if everyone looked alike, really? Everyone seemed to be having a great time, so cheers to that.  Finally, it was really fun to see the crowd get excited about a familiar song, and awesome to hear everyone sing along. Here's a short clip of one of those moments:



As crazy as it was to find my way home (I’m still not used to the public transportation in certain areas of town), I’m so glad I went out of my comfort zone to see some heavy metal. I hear next month will be Jazz al Parque. I can’t wait to see how the crowd differs, if at all! Hardcore jazz fans say yeeeeah!

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