A top-level lineup, and it would have been even more so if Iggy Pop hadn’t dropped out of it a few days ago, a privileged space and a loyal audience. These are the three main ingredients of the tenth edition of the Jardins de Pedralbes Festival that begins today.
It will do so with a concert by James Blunt (10 pm) and will last for 48 days until the curtain drops with the English Crystal Fighters on July 24. La Vanguardia subscribers have a 10% discount on the price of tickets, as long as they buy them at Entradas de Vanguardia.
In addition to these two proposals, this year’s luxurious poster has 14 or 15 international artists and groups that postponed their performances scheduled for 2020 and 2021 due to covid. The result is 36 names –in 2019 there were 33– of varied styles and focused on the profile of the public that the seal gives to the festival: from Simply Red and Diego El Cigala to Patti Smith and Blaumut; from Tom Jones and Paul Anka to Andrés Calamaro and Jorge Drexler; from Il Divo and Alan Parsons to Nile Rodgers
This year’s edition has several features that make it unique. On the one hand, the aforementioned artistic offer facilitated by the pandemic, and on the other, all the controversy that took place a few months ago about the concession of the festival, at the end of its extension, and when another offer was presented, which finally came to nothing. . What did remain was the fact that a series of conditions were proposed for the new management of the space, which basically refer to the capacity and the protection of some areas of it.
Martín Pérez, director of the festival and head of the promoter Concert Studio, explains about this last aspect that “we have adapted some areas, others we have exchanged for others in the gardens that had not been used. And we have also changed the furniture so that the public can settle in as it should be”.
One of the noteworthy aspects is the capacity. “At first the capacity that they [Presidency of the Generalitat, Parcs i Jardins, Icub and the district of Les Corts] proposed was for the entire seated public, and they did not initially take into account the mixed capacity format. And that was capital because most of the concerts that we already had sold in this edition were of a mixed format [part seated and part standing]. When we put it on the table they realized it and said yes to the mixed capacity”.
This means that on days when the capacity of the concert is mixed, 3,400 people will be able to enter the venue, while when it is only seated, the figure will drop to 2,400. “This decision is normal because this already existed, this mixed capacity is not new, but we implemented it in 2017″. The other two stages located in the village remain where they were. “This is our great lifeline because it is what allows us to spread people around the garden. And that’s also because many of the musicians who are on those stages are great artists and people enjoy it a lot. And they thank us very much.”
This concert capacity will be the same as the capacity of the entire space; that is, there will be no tickets just to be in the Village. “It was my decision. By changing this year the distribution of garden areas, leaving some and moving to others, it has made me act with caution because the new layout of the village is not liked by everyone. Things should not be taken for granted; the day you die of success you’ve made a mistake.” And he concludes: “I don’t want to put some 2,000 more people every day just in the village area because I don’t know how it’s going to go.”
The issue that had sparked criticism in some sectors was the expansion of the gastronomic area. “We have adjusted it,” says Pérez, who quickly explains that “the great opposition to the festival comes from a neighbor and his wife, who have not stopped complaining as much as they could; that is the great opposition to the festival. , and that’s all. Some gentlemen who were delighted with us but a few years ago we stopped inviting them openly to anything they wanted to do because they abused everything and since then they are our staunch enemies. But those who decide now already they know and know where they are going. And on the other hand, there is the Pedralbes Neighborhood Association, which has written an express letter to the district of Les Corts saying that they are delighted with the festival”.
At this time they have already sold 63,000 tickets out of a total of between 84 and 85,000; “The pace we have is very good,” says Pérez. After all, “it’s the best poster I’ve ever done in my life.”
Finally, mention that the closing of the park is half an hour earlier, and now it will be at 1:30 am.
