The Arrecife en Vivo festival will arrive in the city on September 22nd and 29th and October 6th and 13th. The City Council announced it during a presentation event held this Tuesday morning at La Recova Municipal in Arrecife. Both the representatives of the City Council, as well as the Cabildo of Lanzarote and the Tourism Board have expressed the "pride" that having a festival of these characteristics in Lanzarote represents.
Since its first edition in 2013, the 'Arrecife en Vivo' festival has managed to gather "200 bands and more than 100,000 people" in the streets of the city. "It is important that Arrecife and Lanzarote are associated with culture." Also to a tourism that "enriches our cultural baggage, improves our well-being and ensures a sustainable coexistence between visitors and locals," explain Semi Gil and Tirso Blancas, directors of this cultural production, who thanked during the presentation for the "support they have had from the public and the response from the bands."
According to forecasts, "60% of the spectators" of this festival, which will be held from September 22nd to October 13th, will be from Lanzarote and "40% will be visitors", mainly from the Canary Islands. Although also from the Peninsula and different parts of Europe, who will adapt their vacations to the dates of 'Arrecife en Vivo'.
This year the stages will be located in the Islote de Fermina, the Charco de San Ginés, the Marina Lanzarote marina and, for the first time, on the Cruise Pier. The concert routes will be free of charge. The musician from Lanzarote, Buli Panés, dressed as Elvis Presley, will guide the public through the streets of the city to the rhythm of the parade.
"It has not been easy to design the route, as it has been necessary to reconcile several factors: the capacity, the security, the respect for the night rest of the neighbors and the pedestrianization works that are being carried out in the city," the directors report.
2,000 tickets have already been sold
"There are already more than 2,000 people" who have tickets for the '10th Anniversary Concert' that the festival has organized for Saturday, September 23rd. This extra day will celebrate "the 10 years of life" of the festival at the Cruise Pier with a poster full of rock legends: El Drogas (at 11:15 p.m.) with his Barricada-40th tour, which will be accompanied by some of the best musicians of Navarrese (and state) rock such as Brigi Duque, Eugenio Aristu Flako and Txus Maraví; Def Con Dos (at 9:35 p.m.) on their 'Mutantes p´al pueblo' tour and the mythical Hamlet (at 8:05 p.m.). They will be accompanied by the powerful dj and drum duo Serial Killerz (at 1:05 a.m.), the power duo Lady Banana (at 7:00 p.m.) and the conejeros Sickmen (at 6:00 p.m.).
The stage, in front of the Naos pier and the Castle of San José, is a spectacular space that the organization has managed to have thanks to the support of the institutions, especially the Port Authority. The doors will open at 5:15 p.m. The last tickets for the 'Special 10th Anniversary Concert' on September 23rd can be purchased on the festival website.
Several street food stalls will be located on the Cruise Pier, during the four free concert routes and also during the special concert on Saturday. The public will be able to enjoy the cuisine of three Arrecife establishments: the hamburgers of 8 Burgers, the variety of sandwiches of La Despensita and the pizzas and focaccias of Mi Niña Café. In addition, the menu includes vegan and gluten-free options.
Due to the characteristics of the Cruise Pier stage (there will be a single entrance and exit, sale of alcohol and a large influx of public), this year the festival will carry out an access control at the entrance roundabout, as required by the Public Spectacles Law of the Canary Islands, to prevent the entry of projectiles into the venue and also to ensure that minors under 18 years of age do not enter.
"Minors will be able to enjoy the concerts until half past ten at night. Although we would like to be able to enjoy the concerts at the Cruise Pier with our entire family, as happens in communities such as Euskadi. We believe that the Canarian regulations that regulate public shows in the Canary Islands have room for improvement and we are going to start collecting signatures to try to modify it," explains the producer Hsmith Solutions.
160 artists will perform in the five days of the festival
With all the tickets sold in the Wizink Center in Madrid, the Asturian punk rock group 'Desakato', will say goodbye to the Canarian public this Friday, September 22nd on what will be their farewell tour. 'Arrecife en Vivo' proposes a radically rocker day to inaugurate: with Calva Louise, a trio that has conquered the guitarist of The Strokes himself; the feminist punk band Akelarre; Cantera Rock, the band of the Toñín Corujo Music School; the rocker version of dj CHK and the Rockalean parade.
Urban music will be the protagonist of the second day on Friday, September 29th, which will have the legendary Tote King as headliner, the combo of 'R de Rumba' and Porcel in a show that vindicates the funk roots of the genre, the Sevillians Space Surimi (pure creativity and flow), the platform of rappers, mcs, beatmakers and conejeros producers La Jaula del Canario, and the parade of the percussionists Kolpez Blai.
"Three dates to say goodbye as we deserve," Alizzz recalled two days ago. The last one will be in 'Arrecife en Vivo' on October 6th, with one of the most influential producers of recent years (discoverer of Rosalía and C. Tangana). He will be accompanied on the route by Los Estanques and Anni B Sweet, the most beautiful, original and psychedelic alliance of Spanish pop; the Galician Grande Amore, a machine for making hits with the everyday, rock and electronics; the very young Baldosa, best revelation band in the 'Canary Music Awards 2022'; the good pop vibes of the Lanzarote group 'Ya No Te Quiero', the danceable set of Yera Flavor and the parade of Psycho Clown and Lekittoko Deabruak.
In addition, on October 13th the festival will say goodbye with one of the revelation bands of last year: La Plazuela, "the best we have heard." They will be accompanied by the group Niña Polaca, authors of the most chanted lyrics of the Spanish indie festivals; the mythical Doctor Explosión presenting the best album of their discography; the veteran conejeros FreeWomen playing the album Tonalities live; the tropical electronics of Ácido Pantera, the parade of The Walking Matt and the final set of Cheese & Bacon DJs. "Original" and "with popular support"
"It is a great urban festival that proposes two kilometers of pedestrian route along the sea," Yonathan de León highlighted. The Councilor for Tourism Eli Merino, has underlined "the courage, effort and talent" of the producer 'Hsmith Solutions'. The Councilor for Culture of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Jesús Machín, put the festival as an example of the capacity that the cultural industry has to "boost the economy", and the Vice President of the Cabildo, Jacobo Medina, remarked that Arrecife becomes from this Friday in the "epicenter of leisure in Lanzarote".
In addition, Héctor Fernández, CEO of Turismo Lanzarote, has remarked that the festival is "the paradigm of complete cultural experience and an original festival for its format, for its musical diversity and for focusing on Arrecife".
In these ten years, the festival has been awarded in the 'Iberian Festival Awards' as the best small and medium-sized festival in Spain, in 2016 and 2019, and with the title of Distinguished of Tourism awarded by the Cabildo of Lanzarote for its commitment to cultural tourism.
Convinced of the need to bet on local talent and the cultural industry, this year Arrecife en Vivo organized the training program 'AEV Training' at the Víctor Fernández Gopar Theater with "great success" of attendance. Some of the students who participated in the photography masterclass taught by the specialized photographer Javier Rosa, will be working in this edition.
In its commitment to disseminate the conejera musical culture, in 2024 they will premiere twenty new chapters of their documentary series AEV Channel. Again, the festival has designed lights, stages, sound and routes to be respectful both with the environment and with all those people who prefer to rest. Several users of Adislan will return to work in this festival that seeks to "create culture and community" in the public space.
