Gemma Bastida I Fuengirola (Málaga), (EFE).- Artists such as Bizarrap, Robbie Williams, Gloria Trevi and Pablo Alborán headline this year’s lineup of the Marenostrum Fuengirola concert series, which from May to early September expects to gather 200,000 attendees and generate an impact of more than 25 million euros in the city.
Born in 2016 as a bet of the City Council of this town for live music, Marenostrum Fuengirola has established itself as one of the great musical events in the country, both for the group of top-level artists that it attracts each year and for the public that congregates: almost 190,000 people in 2022.
Gone is that first edition that attracted 8,000 attendees for five consecutive days of concerts. This year there are more than 40 performances planned over four months.
“Each year it is getting much better in terms of public attendance results and economic impact on the city. Everything has gone further and we have been awarded as the best concert cycle by the Association of Musical Promoters”, highlights the mayoress of Fuengirola, Ana Mula, in an interview with EFE.
Everything for everyone
Artists of different genres and generations will spend these coming months at Marenostrum Fuengirola, such as the British Robbie Williams (June 15), the Puerto Rican singer-songwriter who has won six Latin Grammys Kany García (June 30), the star of the urban genre Feid (June 16), July), the singer-songwriter and composer from Málaga El Kanka (August 3) or the legendary pop and reggae band UB40 (July 30).
The Argentine producer Bizarrap will repeat for the second consecutive year (August 12), who has broken all records with his hit ‘BZRP Music Sessions Vol.53’ together with the Colombian singer Shakira, and other artists such as Juan Luis Guerra ( July 6), the Mexicans Morat (July 21) and Alejandro Fernández (June 21), Pablo Alborán from Malaga (May 20) or Manuel Carrasco from Huelva (August 19), already with all the tickets sold.
The objective, assures the mayoress of Fuengirola, is “to try to satisfy the taste of all audiences”. “There is everything for everyone”, she emphasizes.
Marenostrum also attracts a good number of foreign audiences thanks to the programming of international artists such as Jennifer López, who in 2019 chose it for the only concert of her European tour, Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart, Santana, Ricky Martin, Sting, The Beach Boys or Marc Anthony, who visited Fuengirola in previous editions.
Marenostrum and Starlite, the two big ones
Despite its short existence, the Fuengirola cycle, which is held on the beach in Sohail Castle and its hillside, has become a benchmark for the sector in the country and, especially, on the Costa del Sol, where it steps the heels of the veteran and famous Starlite festival in Marbella.
The mayoress assures that Marenostrum Fuengirola “does not compete” with Starlite, but that they are complementary, since they are two different types of festivals, with “very different styles” and a completely different audience.
“We are not entering into a rivalry”, highlights Mula, who is not concerned about which of them occupies the first place, but rather that their concert cycle continues to grow, improve and report more benefit to the city.
The Councilor for Culture, Rodrigo Romero, who together with the mayoress shaped Marenostrum Fuengirola seven years ago, points out that Starlite “is a very aspirational festival, very television and photocall, and that it has a brand for where it is located”. “It’s a ‘lifestyle’ festival and that can’t be cloned. They are the best in that and they are unique”, emphasizes the mayor.
Marenostrum was born because at that time there was no other wide-ranging musical cycle on the Costa del Sol apart from Starlite, but much smaller festivals, mainly on weekends. “We generate something different and right now what we have done we are trying to do in other municipalities,” says Romero.
Both Mula and the councilor highlight the impact that Marenostrum has in Fuengirola, and not only economically, but also in terms of branding and advertising, in addition to the fact that it has contributed to “seasonally adjust” tourism thanks to its four months of programming.
festival saturation
The councilors recognize that the proliferation of music festivals along the Costa del Sol has led to a “clear saturation” of the market, where the law of supply and demand will make “those who have management models that are not sustainable” have difficulties “continuing over time”.
This is not the case of Marenostrum Fuengirola, points out the head of Culture, who recalls that the festival maintained its activity even in the worst years of the covid pandemic and that it was the first festival in Andalusia to organize concerts with the public standing thanks to the requirement of an antigen test to enter. “We had an incidence of zero infections,” Romero remarks.
Marenostrum 2023 will kick off on May 13 with the Fulanita Fest festival, with performances by María Peláe, Ptazeta, Ginebras and Ladilla Rusa, and will say goodbye on September 2 with a concert by the Danish pop rock group TV-2.
So far some 100,000 tickets have been sold for all the shows, although the City Council believes that this “will be the year of the last hour” due to inflation and the uncertain situation that many families are experiencing. EFE