By Will Cade

On the bus ride out to the Ciudad de Rock, the other journalists and I were shown a video with a virtual tour of what the festival site for Rock in Rio Madrid should look like. As I saw an animated crowd rocking out in front of digital architecture, I thought I was watching a trailer for a new video game - some type of mix between The Sims and Guitar Hero. When we arrived and I saw the unfinished construction and patches of Spanish desert, I doubted this digital vision could be made into real life. But when the organizers began explaining what Rock in Rio will offer and how it will function, I began to change my mind.

First and foremost, it’s a music festival. The diverse line-up balances popular music with world famous DJs, upcoming talent, and veterans from the Woodstock era, even if it lacks proper rock groups. At 7:30 every night, the biggest names will start to play on the World Stage - a 100 m long and 28 m tall monument to modernist architecture. The artists will have 2,100 m2 at their disposal, and the audience will have 200 photovoltaic panels spread throughout the 2,500 m2 façade, creating a light extravaganza and intensifying the live performances during the last weekend in June and first in July.

June 27^th

The first night on the World Stage will be a relaxed but fulfilling start to the festival. With Neil Young headlining, you can expect to see lighters in the air and hear smooth, classic rock favorites like “Heart of Gold,” “Southern Man” and “Keep on Rocking in the Free World.” He may be more from our parents generation, but don’t forget that Pearl Jam and Nirvana labeled him as the godfather of grunge. Jack Johnson will also play beforehand, filling the air with head-nodding beach music just outside of landlocked Madrid.

June 28^th

The Madrid based El Canto del Loco will headline the second night. The group won best Spanish Artist in the 2005 MTV European Music Awards and will give a night of Spanish guitar infused alternative music. Tokio Hotel, the German youth sensation, will play beforehand. Their teenage appeal may have been their first claim to fame, but their melodic rock style is catchy, even if you don’t want to admit it in public.

July 4^th

Shakira will headline the third, dance-filled night. This will be the Queen of Latin Pop’s second time shaking across a Rock in Rio stage and her only concert in Spain during the summer. “Underneath Your Clothes,” will surely echo out into the crowd, with even guys shamefully getting into it. Jamiroquai will play beforehand, gracing our presence with his quirky hats and eclectic dance music. Before the dancing begins, Amy Winehouse will get us in the mood with her jazzy, soul-filled voice.

July 5^th

The fourth night will be perfect for eclectic music lovers. The Police will headline with their satisfying mix of punk and reggae, for sure blessing us with a rendition of “Every Breath you Take.” Alejandro Sanz will play beforehand and show us why his romantic voice woven between Cuban beats, hip-hop, and flamenco won him a Grammy for Best Latin Album in 1991. And for you die-hard flamencophiles, a once in a lifetime collaboration of the biggest names in flamenco called Flamenco All-Stars will hit the stage to start things off.

July 6^th

The fifth and final night will bring the perfect close to the World Stage. Bob Dylan will set the scene with his quintessential music festival aura, before Franz Ferdinand comes on and lets us jump around. Lenny Kravitz will then headline, with his smooth guitar riffs and melodic voice, but the true closer is DJ Tiesto, coming on at 2:00 a.m. The highlight of his career is when he mixed the opening ceremonies for the 2004 Olympic Games in Greece, so it is only fitting that he will begin the end of the World Stage.

If your tastes aren’t geared towards more established groups, the Hot Stage will give you a dose of experimental and upcoming artists. Starting every afternoon at 5:30 and playing until 7:50, groups from Spain and abroad will mount the 22m long and 14 m tall cubic stage. Three groups will play every night, with bands like Zucchero, Draco, The Right Ons, Mando Diao and Standard balancing out the festival with blues, latin rock, funk-soul rock, indie rock and electro rock, respectively.

If the other stages don’t do much for you, the Electronic area will get your heart pounding, even without the use of chemicals. The architecture alone could make it the 8^th Wonder of the Modern World. Based on Stonehenge, the design takes six massive gramophone speakers with projection screens and laser lights and arches them back in on the 900 m2 circular dance floor. The party starts every night at 3:00 a.m. and goes until sunrise, with world famous DJs like Carl Cox, Satoshi Tomiie, DJ Vibe and Cristian Varela brining us the best dance music from England, Japan, Portugal, and Spain, respectively. The line-up doesn’t actually have a set time for the DJs playing each night, so expect everyone to be mixing until the sun comes.

After staying the whole night, you will probably start to wonder how you’re going to get home. Alsa has arranged for a fleet of 340 buses to take ticket holders to and from the festival sight. The buses will depart every 15 minutes outside of the metro station Santiago Bernabeau, beginning at 3:30 p.m. and running until midnight. Buses returning from the festival will start at 7:00 p.m. and run every 15 minutes until 7:00 a.m.

Driving there yourself will be tricky, being that the festival site itself only has 6,000 parking spaces, which have to be purchased beforehand. Free parking is available near the Hospital del Sureste in the closest town of Arganda del Rey, but even then you would have to take a quick bus to the festival site. Especially if you’re up all night partying, your best bet will be to take the bus.

http://www.rockinriomadrid.terra.es

By Will Cade

The start of Madrid’s Rock in Rio music festival is still over a month away, but I’m more excited about how it’s going to end. The festivities during the last weekend in June and first in July have an amazing line-up, with such big name artists as Franz Ferdinand, Tokio Hotel, and Bob Dylan, but the closing act can still top them all - and it’s only one man with two turntables.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce you to DJ Tiesto, the Dutch phenom voted best DJ on the planet. The number of people in the 200,000 cubic meter festival site just outside Madrid should be astronomical, but this won’t be the first time Tiesto has played for a grand audience. He mixed the Parade of Athletes at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens (the first ever DJ to do so) not to mention he was the first solo DJ to ever sell out a stadium of over 25,000.

In the electronic music world, Tiesto has remixed the rules. He started mixing in Holland during the mid-nineties, working his way up from club to club and harnessing his skills. When his popularity sky-rocked, he traveled the world over one party at a time and molded his music into a mix of trance, house, and techno. He even pulled off mixing classical in his “Adaggio for Strings,” one of his most famous tracks. This eclectic style has allowed him to move beyond the club and rave scene to compete with major acts on the big stage, a feat previously unheard of in the business.

Even with his irrefutable success, Tiesto is still staying true to what brought him here - a love for making music. Bathed in laser-lights, Tiesto takes his music to a new level during live performances, even mixing for up to 9 hours straight. He has spent the last few months mixing the night away in Thailand and working on his long anticipated live album, “In Search of Sunrise 7.”

You may not be able to pick up a copy of “In Search of Sunrise 7″ just yet, but you can see him live July 6^th right here in Madrid. Judging by his track record, you might even watch him finally find what he has been searching for, as the sun rises up over the crowd and signals the perfect end to both the festival and the night.