Locos Por La Música

The Locos Por La Música festival is coming back to Roig Arena on 19 December, bringing with it a seriously heavyweight slice of Spanish pop and rock history — and more than seven hours of live music to get through.

Headlining duties come courtesy of M Clan, Duncan Dhu and Despistaos, with Ella Baila Sola adding another major name to a bill clearly designed for anyone who thinks a great song should come with a chorus big enough for an entire arena. And that's only the beginning....

The festival has packed its seven-hour marathon with Los Toreros Muertos, Alejo Stivel, Guaraná, Melocos and Javier Ojeda, alongside La Banda del Pop, plus DJ El Pulpo and DJ Theo keeping things moving between the live sets.

It’s a ridiculously broad musical cocktail, jumping between rock, pop, singer-songwriter territory and dancefloor-friendly anthems, with enough familiar names to make the whole thing feel less like a conventional festival and more like somebody has raided several decades of Spanish music history and put the highlights under one roof.

For M Clan, it’s another opportunity to bring their big, swaggering rock sound to one of Valencia’s biggest indoor stages. Duncan Dhu bring an entirely different flavour, with their distinctive place in Spanish pop-rock history making them one of the most intriguing names on the bill, while Despistaos represent the more contemporary side of the festival’s guitar-driven sound.

Then there's Ella Baila Sola, whose enormous catalogue of emotionally charged pop songs should provide plenty of ammunition for a crowd that knows every bloody word.

The supporting line-up is equally loaded. Los Toreros Muertos bring their irreverent pop-punk spirit; Alejo Stivel arrives with decades of rock'n'roll history behind him; Javier Ojeda brings the legacy of Danza Invisible; while Guaraná and Melocos add further doses of Spanish pop nostalgia.

And because seven hours is a long time to stand still, DJ El Pulpo and DJ Theo will be on hand to make sure the party doesn't lose momentum.

This isn't really the kind of festival where you turn up for one band and disappear afterwards. The appeal is the whole sprawling package — different generations of Spanish music, multiple generations of fans and a huge indoor arena providing the setting for what should be one hell of a Saturday night.

There’s also a genuinely worthwhile element to the event, with Asindown returning as the festival's charitable partner, continuing the connection established during the first Locos por la Música edition at Roig Arena.

And the timing couldn't be better. With Christmas looming, Valencia's winter nights getting longer and the end-of-year calendar filling up, Locos por la Música offers seven-plus hours of big choruses, guitars, pop hooks and dancefloor classics without having to worry about what the weather is doing outside.

The venue itself is perfectly suited to the job. Roig Arena is Valencia's major new indoor multi-purpose venue, capable of holding up to 20,000 people in concert configuration, meaning this is a festival that can think big without depending on sunshine. The only thing you need to remember is the date!

For tickets and more information: Roig Arena