Tsunami Xixón Festival

Tsunami Xixón Festival is the rock weekend at Parque Hermanos Castro, in Gijón. In late July 2024, Messkatalite signed the first day on 23 July. Linoleum signed the second on 25 July. The photos are by Roberto Parodi. Two stages faced each other. There was a green patch to sit on, gates that moved, toilets spread out and bars with a pace. In Madrid the heat would not let you live. In Xixón the average sat around twenty-two degrees. Messkatalite had already been four times and was back. Bad Nerves and The Mysterines dropped off: they could not fly from the United Kingdom.

Blowfuse, from Catalonia, opened the first day with the sun in their faces and a thin crowd. They were presenting The 4th Wall. Move On, Wish, Ripping Out and Radioland played, and the first circles formed. Rojo 2 was seen from far off and was hard to follow. Nova Twins split the stage. Amy Love and Georgia South, from London, played Antagonist and Choose Your Fighter to a crowd that barely knew them. Enter Shikari, on the main stage, was very visual and stayed cold: the room had arrived ready and left flat. The Last Internationale, with Delia Paz on voice, was also heard from far off, eight songs, and the voice was enough.

Descendents were back from a cancelled date. They opened with Hope. Silly Girl, Everything Sucks, I Like Food, Bikeage and I'm the One followed. When I Get Old made Messkatalite cry. The sound was not fine. Biznaga came out with a banner and shirts asking freedom for the six CNT unionists of La Suiza, in Xixón. The crowd became one voice on Contra Mi Generación, El Entusiasmo, Líneas de Sombra and Madrid nos Pertenece. Royal Blood was the best stretch of the afternoon for the person who wrote it. They threw Figure It Out, Little Monster with a drum solo, Lights Out, and closed with Pull Me Through.

Catalina Grande Piñón Pequeño closed the day. David drank from a toilet brush, from an iron, from a urinal and from a chicken waterer, and got indignant about the ice-cream sign. Los de la Capi, Arroz con Costilla and Nocilla de Dos Colores played. They left a line: the best of Madrid is when I come back to Xixón. The next morning Linoleum woke with that in the head: arroz con costilla, de postre natillas, la tortilla liquidilla.

Before the park they went to Cimadevilla. Pablo Lage had painted the skate bowl. Danny León, an Olympian, rolled with amateur skaters. Nitropollo opened there, with Jair on the mic. The most sung were You, Albañal and Pollo Song. Misconduct played a secret set in the same bowl, twelve hours before their night date. The bassist walked the whole grounds. They gave shirts to the children and picks to anyone who asked. In the park, A Wilhelm Scream sounded bad on the main stage. Nuno Pereira was loose and Brian J. Robinson was on bass. They pulled the crowd onto them with I Wipe My Ass with Showbiz and closed with The King Is Dead. Arde Bogotá drew more people than anyone up to then and roared Los Perros. It rained. Yungblud came out rolling and left the same way, with lights, and the high point was I Think I'm Okay and Parents.

Alkaline Trio, with Matt Skiba, arrived after years off the peninsula, with the hour changed and the stretch short. They played Mercy Me and Stupid Kid. The sound was fine and the push, for Linoleum, was not. Bad Religion filled the grounds. American Jesus, Suffer and Punk Rock Song, and also Only Rain and Lookin In, which Linoleum did not remember live. A third of the show was spent in tears. Misconduct, at night, on the small stage, played Closer, Solution, Punk Rock Holiday, Blood on My Hands and a cover of The Hell Song, by Sum 41, and closed with No Boundaries. Drinks at three euros. Puxa Asturies. Freedom for the six of La Suiza.