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Pachanga Latino Music Festival (and final thoughts on the UMF)
We received an announcement today for the Inaugural Latino Music Festival, Pachanga which will take place at Waterloo Park on May 31, closing out a monthlong celebration of Latino music in Austin. The festival will be headlined by Fussible + Bostitch from the Tijuana-based Nortec Collective, an excellent electronic act which fuses norteño music with techno sounds. Supporting artists include the mighty cumbia-funk unit Grupo Fantasma, rockers Vallejo, Latin lounge sounds from Charanga Cakewalk and indie rock en español from Maneja Beto and Girl in a Coma.
Because a daylong fest might make a music fan hungry, a “Best of Austin” food court where festival-goers can sample flavors from local Mexican and Latin restaurants will be on site. Tickets go on sale Tuesday, April 22 at all Front Gate Tickets locations, and the initial batch of tickets will go for $18 a pop. After the early-bird tickets sell out the price goes up to $25. Children younger than 12 are free with ticket-holding adults. Full lineup for the fest is below.
- Nortec Collective presents Bostich + Fussible
- Grupo Fantasma
- Vallejo
- Charanga Cakewalk
- Maneja Beto
- Pistolera
- Girl in a Coma
- Bombasta
- La Conquista
- Kanko
- Master Blaster Sound System
- DJ Manny
- Carabelas Collective
- Angel Ferrer
- Kalua
- El Tule
- Los Gallos
- Bocastria
- Frenetica
- Edo
Unrelatedly, I’ve been thinking a lot about the Urban Music Festival which I really enjoyed this year. I know the fest, which was given a 3-year loan from the City of Austin, suffered deeply in the aftermath of the freak April ice storm of 2007 which shut down the festival’s second day. Its future is in question, but I, for one, really hope it survives.
Before this year’s fest, a colleague remarked that the UMF offers nothing to the college kids who flock to Austin for the general urban hook-up party that takes over downtown Austin during Texas Relays Weekend. After being out at the family-friendly affair at Auditorium Shores I realized that, categorically, that’s sort of the point. The UMF isn’t trying to pull the college crowd, catering instead to parents and younger siblings who might have traveled to Austin to see family members compete at the Relays, not too mention Austin’s own urban community. It was really great to see so many talented young people perform in the early hours of the fest and after talking to organizer Donell Creech, I realized that the lineup did offer a balance of acts for young people and an older set. I think our city benefits from hosting this sort of a showcase.
I do feel, however, that if the fest is to continue, UMF organizers should take a cue from Pachanga and the Fun Fun Fun Fest and relocate the event to Waterloo Park. While still capitalizing on our city’s natural beauty, with towering shade trees and ample knolls for raised seating, the park is a significantly smaller venue, easier to fill, and presumably easier to logistically manage. It’s also a short hop from UT’s Mike A. Myers Track and Soccer Stadium where the actual Relays take place. It seems like reducing the distance that families have to travel from the Relays to the Fest and perhaps providing shuttle bus service (or capitalizing on the Cap Metro’s numerous routes) would automatically bring in a larger crossover crowd.
Hopefully as our city continues to grow and change in character these sorts of cultural events will find a way to flourish. In my opinion, our diversity is one of our great strengths.
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By austinfan
April 16, 2008 11:33 PM | Link to this
Wow! What an amazing concept. It’s about time someone did an event like this.