Rock al Parque
Rock al Parque, Spanish for Rock at the Park, is a rock music festival that takes place in Bogotá, Colombia every year. The festival is very popular since it is a free entry event and it is sponsored by Bogotá's district government.
History
Early 1990s
The festival originated in 1995 as a supporting event for new local bands by Bogotá's government. The Institute for Culture and Tourism developed a project that could bring together both new local bands and rock music fans in a city where international rock tours rarely occur. The project also aimed to teach tolerance among Bogotá's youth.
Mario Duarte, a Colombian singer from the rock band La Derecha (The Right) supported by Julio Correal and Bertha Quintero, then vice president of the Institute for Culture and Tourism embarked in the adventure of organizing a festival in which young adults would become the main characters. The response to the call was remarkable; more than 120 bands from all towns attended to the casting.
The first festival took place from may 26 1995 to may 29 1995 at the Olaya Herrera Stadium, the Mediatorta open field theatre, Simon Bolivar District Park and The Santamaria Bullfighting ring. The final participants and contributors for the first festival were a total of 43 bands, among the most recognized ones were AterciopeladosThe Velvet Ones, Morfonia, 1280 Almas, Catedral and La Derecha. The foreign bands were Fobia from Mexico and Seguridad Social from Spain.
More than eighty thousand people attended the festival. The only ticket sale events were the concerts that took place at The Santamaria bullfighting arena.
1996-2000
In 1996, three simultaneous stages gave place to the second version. There were more than sixty national bands such as Dogma, Sagrada Escritura, Policarpa y sus viciosas, La pestilencia, Agony, among others. The foreign contributors were Lucy Bell and Los Tetas from Chile; Autenticos Decadentes from Argentina; Spias and Zapato 3 from Venezuela, Zopilotes from Peru; La Lupita from Mexico and Puya from Puerto Rico. Around 105.000 people attended the concerts.
The continuity of the festival was kept and as of year 2000 there were more international well-known artists. During that year artists such as Manu Chao from France and La mosca Tse Tse from Argentina stunned the audience with monumental performances. This year the festival goes under the motto "It is up to us that the music continues".
New millennium
 | This article contains statements that are anachronistic. |
For 2003 the festival continued and it was more commercialized than ever. After the success of Aterciopelados which became a Latin Grammy nominee, more local bands thought of Rock al Parque as a starting point to be discovered by the music entrepreneurs and the media as well. Nationwide broadcasting radiostations gave more importance to the events and committed themselves to the discovery and support of new artists. The band 1280 almas (1280 souls) celebrated its ten years with its fans. The closing events took place under a rainy day but this did not stop the 40.000 people that attended the concerts.This year's motto was "Because it is good, it remains".
2005 saw the light of experimentation for the festival. The band Kraken opened the festival by playing with the Philarmonic Orchestra of Bogotá. For the first time the festival has an opening attendance of more than 40.000 people. The band Apocalyptica from Finland surprised the audience with its original performance and creativity on stage.
In 2006 among the bands that played were Fear factory, Horcas and Manu Chao
2007 was a uncommon year for Rock al Parque since the first festival's day was joined of huge hailstorm that made the fest be cancelled for that day.
Recovering the lost presentations, next saturday (November 10th), bands that were cancelled due the hailstorm matter, played at the same stage in a "sub-festival" called "Metal al Parque", because of the numerous heavy metal bands that showed during the day.
Among the groups playing at Rock al Parque 2007, we could find: Aterciopelados, Agony and Ultrageno (as a tribute to National Rock Bands, closing the festival every day); Nepentes, Agent Steel, Coheed and Cambria, Have heart, Carajo, Nadie, Alerta, De bruces a mi, Sigma, Injury, Grito, Brujeria and a whole arsenal of groupings that showed their skills and talent at LATIN AMERICA´S MOST IMPORTANT FREE ROCK FESTIVAL.
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