Gary Beaumont
WELL this summer’s festival season is officially under way, with events like Barcelona’s Primavera Sound setting the scene for the coming months.
There have already been a few mishaps though. The very promising Trafalgar Festival fell victim to some dodgy municipal decisions, having its venue at Barbate gazumped by the more established Cabo de Plata Festival, which had to move from its original Tarifa site.
It appears the local authorities are back to their usual tricks.
Never mind, let’s look forward to the good stuff, beginning with the Ojeando Festival in Ojen on the first weekend of July. This is a must for those interested in the local indie scene, with a great lineup of bands playing on the festival’s three stages over two days. Bands include Supersubmarina, Trepat, León Benavente, Full, Delorentos, Hungry Butterfly and Flaming Dolls. Many of the shows are free entry, while for the headliners a two-day pass is a mere €20.
In fact that first weekend in July is proving to be a busy one with the Torremolinos Funky Town festival on the Friday, featuring disco star George McCrae, best known for his 1974 hit ‘Rock Your Baby’.
The following day, Saturday 2, sees the start of the two-day Fuengirola Blues Festival at Sohail Castle. Over the past year we have seen the tragic and unexpected loss of too many of our musical heroes, giants such as David Bowie, Lemmie and Prince. But there is one star who actually should be dead by now, having been diagnosed in 2012 with terminal pancreatic cancer, but continues to perform and will be headlining on the Sunday. I am of course referring to Wilko Johnson, former guitarist with Doctor Feelgood who, along with his band which includes former Blockheads Norman Watt-Roy and Dylan Howe, will be rounding off a great weekend of blues.
That’s it for this edition, don’t forget to get out there and keep music live by supporting local venues and festivals!
“SHOULD BE DEAD BY NOW” thats a bit off isnt it blimey !