Almudena Heredero, director of Primavera Sound Madrid: "There are too many festivals, the situation needs to settle down"

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A squirrel with face gems and neon sticks could cross Spain without setting foot on the ground hopping from festival to music festival.

And of all of them, one of the largest in size and the most important in relevance is

, which next year will double the Barcelona line-up (from June 1 to 3) in Madrid (from June 8 to 10), with a budget of 65 million euros.

The jump of Primavera to Madrid will be the confirmation of an absolute change in the festival scene in Madrid, where a decade ago there were none and now two giants, Mad Cool and Primavera, will compete with other medium and small ones.

«Before, public institutions in Madrid

, but in recent years they have been realizing that, far from being a nuisance for citizens, they have a great cultural, economic, social and media impact, generating employment and wealth”, says Almudena Heredero, director of Primavera Sound Madrid.

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The festival announced its deployment in Madrid last year in full confrontation with the mayoress of Barcelona, ​​Ada Colau, and after launching the explicit threat to leave the Catalan capital.

The event itself celebrated its 20th edition with a huge graffiti depicting Colau kissing the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso.

The waters now seem to have calmed down.

"

, ​​what we do have is to stay in Madrid," says Heredero.

«

at a cultural and tourist level and this opportunity must be seized.

Our jump to Madrid is not a one-off bet, but rather a powerful project with the firm determination to remain", continues the director of Primavera Sound Madrid, whose name is Madrid and not

, despite the fact that the city on the outskirts will be the that will house the festival in the old Rock In Rio venue. A location that will not be temporary: «We intend it to be our space, with a multi-year agreement with the Arganda City Council.

We will stay there unless some compelling reason prevents it."

The distance between the City of Rock in Arganda and Puerta del Sol is 42 km.

A marathon, literally, that the festival intends to manage with a mobility plan that raises doubts and that is one of the main occupations and concerns of the festival.

"Our idea is that the public does not resort to their vehicles and use public transport."

In total, 400 coaches whose agility will be as important to the public as the concerts by Rosalía, Blur, Depeche Mode or Kendrick Lamar.

The venue will have a capacity for 100,000 people a day, although Heredero already warns that they will be "prudent" and that they do not want to "jump into the pool and create a situation that is chaotic or unpleasant."

« We are not

, there will not even be 80,000».

A lot of people, in any case.

Many festivals.

Many millions of tickets and subscriptions sold... and, several cancellations sounded last summer.

«There are too many festivals and concerts in halls.

In the future, the situation needs to settle down, ”says Heredero, who in any case does not want to talk about a bubble.

"Before the pandemic, there was already a boom in festivals, there was very strong growth in 2019 and I think a very varied and wide offer can be maintained."

But no experiments with soda.

«A festival may seem like a good business, but it is very complicated and requires a high degree of professionalism.

».

With 60,000 or 100,000 daily visitors to the festival, Heir is already one of the most powerful women in the live music sector, in which women in management positions are the exception.

"

, women are not in a situation of equality," says the director, who is also part of the board of directors of the Women in the Music Industry (MIM) association. .

«The music industry is still macho in Spain.

Steps are being taken little by little, but it is something that could be achieved now, it is not necessary to wait five years or do it gradually ».

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• Barcelona

• rosalia

• Isabel Diaz Ayuso

• Madrid's community

• Ada Colau

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• Pop

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