Top marks again for Weekend Beach

2016-07-16 07:00:00

It seems that the small coastal town of Torre del Mar in the Axarquía can do nothing wrong when it comes to music festivals and even residents don’t seem to mind three nights of music and crowds.
33,000 people attended the Weekend Beach festival on each of the three days and many more who didn’t have tickets turned up to make the most of the free stage located just outside the main ground and to listen to the music from the beach as well as soaking up the atmosphere.
Meanwhile those inside the large festival ground, situated on Playa del Poniente, to the west of Torre del Mar, were treated to an international and eclectic lineup, from American rapper Wiz Khalifa on Thursday night, through to the political messages asking for world peace of Ivory-Coast born Alpha Blondy. Through his reggae music, sung in his native Dioula, French, English and mixing words in Arabic and even Hebrew, he asked the crowd to make the peace sign and denounce hatred between religions as well as violence in the name of God.
Also on Friday Spanish rock band, Loquillo, who supported the Rolling Stones when they last performed in Spain, attracted a big crowd, with their repertoire of ‘good old fashioned rock and roll’; and the popular Love of Lesbian demonstrated to music fans that Torre del Mar’s Weekend Beach festival can already draw the big names in Spanish contemporary music.
Saturday night started off with an amazing set from Valencia-born Bebe, once again showing off the Weekend Beach’s capacity to pull in the very best of Spanish music.
For those less familiar with national bands, Saturday night also proved that this event, which only started in 2014, is even gaining a name for itself on the international scene, by attracting names such Gentlemen and Ky-Mani Marley, son of Reggae legend Bob Marley, as well as American DJs Skrillex and at 7am on Sunday morning Dutch DJ, Hardwell, closed a spectacular third Weekend Beach Festival.
A relaxed atmosphere prevailed among ‘Weekers’, the affectionate name given to those attending the festival, of which the average age is 19. However, the event wasn’t exclusively for the under-20s and looking at the crowd it was clear to see that many ‘seasoned’ festival-goers had dug out their Guns ‘n’ Roses T-shirts and Doc Martens and joined in the fun.
With a budget of over three million euros this year, of which 1.5 million was spent on 92 artists, Vélez-Málaga Town Hall estimates the economic benefits to the area to be between 2.5 and three million euros. Nearby bars and restaurants were packed, hotels and campsites at 100 per cent occupancy and local shops also welcomed the influx of festival goers.
Festival organiser, Fátima Rodríguez, said that in only three years, Torre del Mar’s Weekend Beach festival has positioned itself as “one of the most important summer festivals in Spain.” Torre del Mar’s Deputy Mayor, Jesús Pérez Atencia, announced yesterday that next year’s Weekend Beach festival will take place from 5 until 8 July.source surinenglish