Vive Latino through its history: more than a thousand bands in the 22-year festival

The Ibero-American Festival of Musical Culture Vive Latino is back on track with the 2022 edition, after two years in which they had no action because of the COVID-19 pandemic that put in check everyone.

But it is not an unknown situation for the festival, in fact, it went through a hard time during the Influenza A H1N1 Pandemic in 2009 that forced a change only of date, but it remained standing.

It is undoubtedly the longest running festival, but also the largest, most imposing and most important in the Mexican music industry, as it has opened its doors to rock, reggae, metal or rap, as well as to the northern band, cumbia, tropical, electronic or trap.

The almost annual meeting at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez has grown in such a way that it went from having a couple of stages, to mounting inside the Indian Stage, Escena, and Telcel, the VL and Intolerante tents, a Lucha Libre ring, a Comedy House, a stage of “Moments” and areas even for workshops, talks, signing autographs, sale of merchandise, food, toilets, exhibitions, etc.

But let us turn to the real protagonists of history, those who on the stages, with their instruments assembled and from all over the world, played for more than 150,000 people during a rock and roll day that in 2014, for example, lasted 4 days for the celebrations of the 15th anniversary of the Festival.

The data, with the latest update in 2022, showed that a total of one thousand 108 bands from 45 countries, have played over the course of 22 years on the multiple stages of the “Vive ”, giving a total of 1,743 concerts.

Throughout that time, the curved stands and courts of the Ibero-American Festival of Musical Culture have seen the birth of many national and international projects, unfortunately it has also seen them separate, but it has managed to bring together a few others, or it witnessed the takeoff of solo careers and sadly also saw die to a small amount.

In the figures, Mexico is also dominant, being this, of course, the country where the musical proposal was born. A total of 582 national bands have passed through its stages, reaching limits of 85 local groups in 2012.

This figure contrasts with the year in which the festival carried the largest number of groups. For the 2014 edition, there were a total of 162 bands in which only 80 were Mexican, 55 from Ibero-America and 25 more from other latitudes.

The 10 performances of Liquits, an alternative rock band from Mexico City, stand out for the first time at Vive Latino 2001 and said goodbye not only to the festival, but to the music stages in 2019, ending their time as a band.

It is followed in numbers, also from Mexico City, La Gusana Ciega, Zoé and Pantheón Rococo, as well as the Mexicans, from Ciudad Satelite, from DLD with a total of 9 participations each, feel central Mexico the most dominant area.

Later, with 8 concerts, Ely Guerra and El Gran Silencio, projects from Monterrey, Nuevo León, northern Mexico, as did Julieta Venegas, born in the US, but based in Tijuana since her childhood and finally the capitals of La Lupita and Molotov.

If we talk about foreign bands, the subject gives us a lot to discuss, but we cannot deny that the curation has been of a great level. Argentina stands out among the most requested nationalities, followed by the United States, surprisingly, Spain, Chile and even Colombia.

However, the bands that have appeared most often at the Vive Latino festival for 22 years, come from the Argentine Republic. Babasonics with 9 appearances, The Authentic Decadents with 8 concerts and with 5 Bersuit Vergarabat, Los Caligaris, Fabulosos Cadillacs, Los Pericos and All Your Dead.

In this last rank, that of the “pentaconciertos” of the musical and cultural festival, are also Los Bunkers de Chile, who separated after a concert at Vive Latino, as well as Los Tres and Lucybell of the same nationality, finally, from Venezuela, Public Disorder and Los Amigos Invisibles.

But there is no Anglo-Saxon band on the agenda, which despite being an entirely Ibero-American festival, has given spaces to other countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, including Germany, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Finland, Japan, South Africa and others.

If we had to highlight several artists from the previous nations, those could be, without demeriting the work of others, The Cardigans, Snow Patrol, The Chemical Brothers, Gorillaz, Blur, The Specials, Madness, Morrissey, Noel Hallagher, Robert Plant, Save Ferris, Marky Ramone, Pixies, Rancid, Jane's Aden Diction, Limp Bizkit, Korn , Empire Of The Sun, Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra and The Prodigy, whose singer Keith Flint passed away in 2019, among many others.

This is, therefore, one of the festivals that will transgress the history of music in Mexico, and just as our parents have talked about it, our children will be eager to go and, hopefully, our grandchildren or great-grandchildren will empty the ashes of their rock and roll grandparents in the CDMX Sun Forum.

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