After so many editions, it would be hard not to look for Guillermo Amor. The Low Festival unveiled this Friday a new phase in Torrevieja, leaving Benidorm behind and offering a fresh festival experience. At Parque Antonio Soria everything feels closer, from the stages to the bars and the sounds, which occasionally overlap. Javier Ferrara, from Parquesvr, jokes about it while Ginebras perform at the same time.
As Torrevieja cements itself as the new meeting point for the lowers, the atmosphere remains as effusive as ever and the venue, highly compact, is easy to navigate. Among the most appreciated details are the misting fans scattered along the food-truck corridor, especially useful during the early afternoon, since Parque Antonio Soria is basically a large paved esplanade with hardly any natural barriers.
The audience does its part to keep the Low’s tradition alive, and the concentration of stages ensures that each artist draws a sizable crowd. There, for example, the black-and-white emotional intensity of Iván Ferreiro shares space with the technicolor of Papa Topo. While the former alternates between material from Los Piratas and his solo career, blending guitars with unbridled emotion, the latter lean on anime-inspired choreographies, vibrant colors, and occasional shots at pinkwashing and fascism, as ‘Por España’ returns to the repertoire. All of this within a concert that draws from the Spanish melodic song tradition, even when tracks like ‘Nunca digo no’ lean especially punk.
We can also talk about the indie magnetism of Veintiuno, another one of those groups that have grown over a decade to become one of the regular draws of the festival circuit with hardly any noise. Without developing a particularly singular personality within the national indie scene, they have written songs as popular as ‘La vida moderna’, and their live show benefits from the variety that tracks like ‘Cabezabaja’ or ‘La llorería’ bring. Diego Arroyo, moreover, acts as host with his usual reflections between songs, including an invitation to live because “life is two days and it’s almost noon.”
With audiences well distributed between the two stages, it’s clear that the crowd isn’t just for the headliners and that many end the day having discovered new favorites. The electronic stage also stands out, a 360-degree circular structure—a kind of wall-less pavilion beneath which the DJ booth sits. Through the night you can hear things like a hardcore remix of David Bisbal’s ‘Ave María’, because the era of postmodernism is long behind us.
Veintiuno’s indie gives way to Fangoria’s pop perfection, who reframe last year’s show around material from ‘La verdad o la imaginación’. From the new album they recover only a handful of tracks, starting with the title track and continuing with ‘Me voy’, which, while not matching the impact of ‘Dramas y comedias’, sits naturally among classics like ‘Geometría sentimental’.
Among the show’s novelties stands a charming medley formed by ‘Bailo’, ‘Bailando’ and the “bailando, bailando” line from La La Love You, as well as the staging of a modern lounge for ‘Consecuencias’. The middle portion of the concert loses some momentum with moments like the Spanish version of David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’, but regains momentum thanks to the house remix of ‘¿A quién le importa?’. To close, perhaps ‘Ni tú ni nadie’ would have benefited from a slightly more elegant rework. The burst of fireworks after the show was, in any case, a greatly celebrated finale.
The early hours proved a challenge for Ginebras, and they navigated it like no other, multiplying their usual dose of punk-pop energy. Fueled by both their front-row followers and those who watched the gig seated on the ground to recharge, they unleashed their usual swagger amid the punk shout of ‘Billy Max’, a few detours toward perreo and Latin party vibes, and a particularly emotional moment, with tears included, as they dedicated words to a person close to the band going through a difficult situation. A journey of emotions that once again demonstrated Ginebras’ ability to lift the crowd’s spirits.
Meanwhile, on the other stage, Parquesvr presented ‘Tonto’ and other tracks with a Javier Ferrara in full throttle, pacing the stage from one side to the other and delivering an energy nearly inexhaustible. At times he recalled a Future Islands filtered through the punk lens. Their show was one of the day’s most entertaining.
In another swing from pop to rock, the festival’s grand international draw on Friday was Kasabian, another festival favorite. It was striking that the British group didn’t appear until two in the morning, a decision that prolonged the audience’s time at the venue well into the night.
Kasabian had one mission: to lift a crowd that, at that hour, was already running low on energy. They also sought to convince the lowers that Sergio Pizzorno is a great frontman after Tom Meighan’s exit. He achieves it. He does his part, encouraging attendees to haul friends onto their shoulders or to bend low and jump with extra force a few seconds later. “Low” becomes “high,” he proclaims. The same old formula, yes, but it still works.
And a repertoire nearly infallible in its blend of guitars, explosive rhythms, and synthesizers also works. After an introduction with The Beatles’ ‘Hey Jude,’ ‘Club Foot’ delivers an epic opening, while the recent ‘Superpowers’ fearlessly stands up to the band’s classics. The strong reception of ‘Release the Pressure,’ their collaboration with Calvin Harris, and the encore with ‘Fire’ sum up what was experienced during this first Low night in Torrevieja: a evening where rock, pop, and electronic music coexisted naturally in the festival’s new edition.
