San Sebastián (EFE).- San Sebastián was for years one of the inexcusable places on the circuit of the great concerts in Spain. Now, it is the only Basque capital that lacks a suitable venue and the worst thing is that “there is no short-term solution”, highlights the director and promoter of the Get In promoter, Iñigo Argomaniz.
Argomaniz does not see a short-term solution
He says that Donostia “is already fifteen or twenty years behind.” There is no plan in the city to solve the problem, which prevents concerts from being scheduled in spaces that can accommodate 10,000 or 15,000 people. Bilbao has two, “one for 8,000 and another for 16,000”, and Vitoria “with the Fernando Buesa Arena for 14,000”. Add Pamplona, with the Navarra Arena for more than 11,500 spectators.
Iñigo Argomaniz at the presentation of the Get In 30th anniversary exhibition. EFE/Javier Etxezarreta
On the table there are two proposals, that of a multi-use building in the Ficoba fairgrounds in Irun and that of Illunbe in the Gipuzkoan capital, which are supported by the PNV and the PSE. But Argomaniz does not see the solution in the short term because those plans would take years to materialize.
The most recent is the electoral offer launched by the socialist candidate for Mayor of San Sebastián, Marisol Garmendia, to sell Anoeta to Real Sociedad. She proposes allocating the amount of the operation to the renovation of the sports area that surrounds the stadium and the conditioning of Illunbe as a multipurpose pavilion.
“I would prefer to have as many venues as possible because it would be easier to cover the need for artists. That there is a pavilion in Irun, very good, but San Sebastián also needs another important one”, points out this man from San Sebastián. And that he remembers that his city was “an advance” of spaces for live music in the 70s and early 80s.
Illunbe Thorough Conditioning
They were places like the Anoeta velodrome, through which groups and musicians such as Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Neil Young, REM, Pet Shop Boys, Pearl Jam, Bryan Adams and Coldplay have passed, but whose capacity has been reduced to 5,800 people.
These are some names from “an incredible history” of a city that also received, at the Real Sociedad stadium, bands such as Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, U2 and Depeche Mode, among others.
Coldplay during his visit to the Anoeta velodrome in 2005. EFE/Juan Herrero
He believes that “an Illunbe prepared for shows would be very good”, but warns that the conditioning should not only go through the current bullring, but “throughout the entire area”.
“It is not only a problem of the arena, but of the entire area, parking lots, accesses, all the external part must be improved. When it’s cold, it’s very cold. You need a plan as has been done in the stadium. The example of Anoeta would be valid for Illunbe ”, he comments.
The “txuriurdin” field has always worked. “We have lived very well with the Real, with always incredible behavior, with Jokin (Aperribay) always helping in everything he could so that shows were put on,” he highlights. He points out, however, that a dozen concerts have been organized in the stadium in 25 or 30 years and what is needed is a pavilion.
working like never before
The problem is with the city, since your company moves through the rest of Spain, Europe and America. In 2021 it celebrated its three decades and is now at figures higher than in the years prior to the pandemic, approximately 30% above.
Bruce Springsteen at his last concert in Donostia, in 2016. EFE/Juan Herrero
“We have been working since last year like never before. We are more active than ever, performing more concerts than ever. It is being one of the best years of the 32 of Get In. Having been unemployed in 2020, 2021 and part of the 22nd, there was a great desire to go out, to see concerts, to receive communion together, to socialize, to take to the streets to sing and to see groups”, he remarks.
He says that “the digital and streaming era” has diminished the income of “physical music”, that of records, and that is another of the reasons “that there are so many artists on the road”.
A “great debate” that is also very current is that of ticket prices, which have increased due to the increase in inflation and the expenses “that the productions and the teams are having”.
“But when you take certain artists to small places, there is no other formula than having some expensive tickets,” says Argomaniz, who gives as an example the two Bob Dylan concerts this summer at the Kursaal in San Sebastián, with tickets for 75 euros. but also 205, a record equaled only by Julio Iglesias in 2012 and far from the not-cheap Tom Waits concert at 130 euros in 2008.
Get In Rejuvenation
Argomaniz has 42 years in the world of music, he has come this far based on “common sense, a lot of work and a lot of passion”. “And also with a bit of getting it right because, since there is so much risk, it is essential to have some things that work,” she adds.
Get In, as a representative of artists, leads the careers of 35 musicians and groups, including José Mercé, Mikel Erentxun, Iván Ferreiro, Pablo Alborán, Ariel Roth, La Oreja de Van Gogh, Amaia Montero, Bebe, Maika Makovski and Fran Perea .
Since 2021 they have added almost a dozen new names, in some cases “participating” with other managers, although in 2015 the squad already began to “rejuvenate”. It has incorporated musicians such as Leo Rizzi, Alvaro de Luna, Nil Moliner, Marlon, Paul Alone, Marta Soto and Veintiuno.
They work “very well” and have been in America for 25 years. There they organize more than 200 concerts a year -in Europe they do between 20 and 25-, in countries like the United States, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay.
“Also, the response from the public in America, when you take care of it and don’t abandon it, it’s forever. Once you succeed in America, they never leave you, ”she underlines.