The Waterboys have never been particularly interested in staying in their lane. Folk? Rock? Celtic psychedelia? Americana? A bit of everything, usually played loudly and with enough conviction to make genre classifications look increasingly ridiculous. At Roig Arena in Valencia last night, Mike Scott and his travelling band of musical renegades turned their Fisherman’s Blues Revue into something considerably more entertaining than a trip down memory lane: a rowdy, beautiful, gloriously unpredictable celebration of what happens when great songs refuse to grow old. The opening was anything but tentative. “Don’t Bang The Drum” kicked the doors open before “A Girl Called Johnny” sent the volume north. Then came “The Whole Of The Moon” and the arena erupted into one gigantic chorus. It is one of those songs that has somehow escaped its own era completely; remove the eighties production gloss and it still stands there, enormous and slightly unhinged, while several thousand people happily scream every word back at Mike Scott. And Scott looked like he was having a bloody good time. There is something wonderfully contrary about The Waterboys. At an age when many artists of their vintage are carefully polishing the family silver, Scott continues to rummage around in the attic, pull out old songs, shake the dust off them and throw them back into the room. “The Raggle Taggle Gypsy” brought the first real taste of the band's Celtic side, followed by the magnificent “Sweet Thing / Blackbird / Wild Jig”, where violin, keyboards and guitars collided in precisely the sort of glorious mess that has always made The Waterboys so difficult — and so rewarding — to categorise. The centre of gravity, though, was inevitably Fisherman’s Blues. Released in 1988, the album represented Scott's great escape from conventional rock and into Irish folk, traditional music and the deep well of roots Americana. Nearly four decades later, those songs haven't become museum pieces. They still feel loose around the edges, still capable of taking a left turn without warning, still alive enough to make an arena full of people forget they're sitting in an arena. Then Steve Earle walked on. Suddenly this was less Celtic folk-rock revue and more a meeting of two musical universes that have always been closer than they first appear. Earle and Scott tore through “Copperhead Road”, “Guitar Town” and “My Old Friend The Blues”, with the Waterboys providing a suitably muscular backing band. Earle's battered Americana and Scott's Celtic romanticism made surprisingly perfect bedfellows, while Steve Wickham's violin provided the thread connecting the whole strange, sprawling operation. There were quieter moments, naturally. “The Stolen Child” pulled the room down into something more intimate, while newer material such as “Come Back To Galway” showed that Scott isn't simply touring the past. The old songs may be the reason people bought the tickets, but the musical conversation is still happening in the present. Then the party started again. “Bang On The Ear” was all swagger and mischief. “Galway Girl” pushed the Roig Arena further towards full-blown Celtic knees-up territory, and suddenly the idea of this being a carefully curated legacy show became laughable. This was a band still capable of making a large room feel gloriously out of control. And then, inevitably, came “Fisherman’s Blues”. You could almost feel the song arriving before the first notes landed. The reaction was huge, but what made it work wasn't simply nostalgia. The song still possesses that peculiar Waterboys magic: romantic without becoming sentimental, earthy without losing its grandeur, and just scruffy enough around the edges to avoid becoming a stadium anthem by committee. The entire arena sang it back to Scott, and for once the cliché about communal concert moments actually seemed justified. The final move — “Will The Circle Be Unbroken”, with Scott and Earle together — brought the evening neatly back to its roots. A traditional song, two veteran musicians, one very large room and a crowd that had spent the night travelling from Scotland and Ireland to Nashville and back again without ever leaving Valencia. The Waterboys don't sound like a band preserving its past. They sound like a band still arguing with it. That distinction matters. Because while Fisherman’s Blues may have provided the headline, Thursday night's show wasn't really about 1988. It was about the strange, stubborn life these songs have acquired since then — and the fact that Mike Scott still knows exactly how to let them off the leash. The Roig Arena may be built for massive modern spectacles, but last night it belonged to fiddles, battered guitars, Celtic melodies, American highways and a roomful of people singing “The Whole Of The Moon” at the top of their lungs. Not bad for a Thursday night. Words and photos: Rhyan Paul You can read our recent exclusive interview with Mike Scott here.

Canadian singer-songwriter Luca Fogale has built his reputation around intimate, emotionally direct indie folk, combining reflective songwriting with a quietly expansive musical approach. The British Columbia-based artist is a two-time JUNO Award nominee, with his previous albums Nothing is Lost (2020) and Run Where the Light Calls (2023) both nominated for Adult Contemporary Album of the Year. Challenger, released in January 2025, is his fourth studio album. What makes Challenger particularly revealing is the degree to which Fogale turns the songwriting inward. Rather than simply documenting the world around him, the album is built around questions of identity, personal history and the things we inherit — emotionally, socially and culturally — before deciding what we actually want to carry forward. Fogale describes the record as an attempt to examine who he has become and what has shaped him, while questioning which parts of his past still serve him and which need to be challenged or left behind. That gives Challenger a sense of movement: this isn't an album about having all the answers, but about being willing to ask uncomfortable questions. The emotional landscape is more personal and raw than his previous work. Fogale confronts subjects including mental health, self-esteem, generational patterns, masculine expectations and wider social unrest. Yet Challenger isn't presented as an exercise in despair. Fogale acknowledges that there is plenty in the modern world to be cynical about, but the album represents an attempt to move in the opposite direction — towards confidence, hope and a greater sense of personal responsibility. The songs were largely written during quiet periods between tours, with Fogale retreating to a secluded cabin deep in the British Columbia interior. Away from the demands of everyday life, that isolation became part of the creative process, allowing him to confront his doubts and reconsider his direction. The album's opening single, 'Begin', captures that idea particularly well, focusing on the struggle against apathy and the difficult process of starting again. Elsewhere, 'Horizon' provides a lighter counterpoint: an unabashed love song about surrendering to something rather than attempting to control it. 'Lost Without You' similarly explores love through gratitude, focusing on the sense of security another person can provide. One of the album's most striking tracks is 'Ashes', a folk-inflected meditation on masculinity and grief. Inspired in part by the death of a friend, the song challenges the traditional expectation that men should remain strong and silent. Fogale connects the song to his own upbringing and describes the experience of rediscovering the ability to cry after a long period of emotional restraint. 'Daniel's Theme' takes another route into similar territory. Built around a deliberately simple harmonic structure, it portrays a man damaged by his past but still capable of kindness. Fogale describes Daniel as slow, gentle, troubled and tempted, yet ultimately someone whose goodness survives everything that has happened to him. The song had remained with Fogale for around five years before finally finding its place on the album. Fogale also produced Challenger himself, reinforcing the album's sense of personal ownership. His evolving view of songwriting is central to that process. Whereas he once thought of songwriting as something almost cosmic — ideas arriving from outside and passing through the artist — he now sees artistic expression as something originating much deeper within ourselves, particularly from the parts of us that are most ready, or most necessary, to emerge. The result is a twelve-track album that moves between introspection, love, grief, identity and hope. Its tracklist runs from 'Everything', 'Begin' and 'For' through 'Lost Without You', 'Hymn', 'Ashes', 'Define You', 'Horizon', 'Relief', 'Daniel's Theme', the title track and 'Yours'. The album has also found a sizeable audience. According to the supplied release information, its singles had accumulated more than five million streams since the beginning of the album campaign, alongside editorial support from Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music. 'Ashes' also received more than 300 plays on SiriusXM's North American stations. Fogale has continued to support the record on the road, with headline shows across North America and Europe. His European tour includes dates in Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Munich, Zürich, Cologne, Antwerp, Paris, Utrecht and London, underlining the growing international reach of an artist whose music remains rooted in deeply personal songwriting. At its heart, Challenger is an album about questioning the person you have become and deciding what kind of person you want to be next. Fogale doesn't present transformation as a grand gesture; instead, it emerges through small acts of honesty — confronting grief, questioning inherited ideas of masculinity, recognising the value of love and choosing hope over cynicism. That combination of vulnerability and restraint is what gives the record its identity. That journey now reaches Spain, with Luca Fogale beginning his Spanish dates today, September 3, at Wurlitzer Ballroom in Madrid, before heading to Club Sauvage in Barcelona on September 4. The two intimate dates offer Spanish audiences the chance to experience Challenger in the kind of close-up setting that suits Fogale's music: songs built around emotional detail, vulnerability and the quieter spaces between the big moments. The Spanish shows form part of his wider European campaign behind Challenger, bringing an album that was born in the solitude of the British Columbia wilderness into two very different urban settings. For an artist whose work is ultimately about connection, there is something fitting about that transition — private thoughts written in isolation now becoming shared experiences in small rooms thousands of kilometres from where they began. For Spanish audiences discovering Fogale for the first time, these dates provide a particularly good introduction to an artist whose music doesn't demand attention through volume or spectacle. Instead, Challenger asks listeners to lean in — and, once they do, there is plenty there to discover. We recently caught up with Luca to chat about his new album and his spanish tour: Thanks for taking time out of your schedule to chat with me and I am going to dive straight into the questions: It is your first Spanish tour, what has drawn you to want to perform in Spain? Well, I have only been the one time and that was with my bass player – we took a little vacation after our last tour. We didn’t have any shows, but I have always heard so much about Spain and the way it Parallels Italian culture – the celebration of art and music and food. After the trip, I decided any reason to come back would be good. So, we ended up with shows in Madrid and Barcelona, so this will be my first step into Spanish music and venues. It’s going to be an interesting experience! How do think the audience are going to react to your performance compared to those in Canada? I think I am coming with an open mind, but also, I am hoping for a level of excitement and engagement. England and Germany are very polite crowds, but Italy they are a lot more involved and raucous - I’m hoping for more of that! A new fan discovers your music for the first time; is there one particular song from your back catalogue you would really want them to remember? I think my newest music always reflects how I am feeling at the present and there is a short track on my new album called “Daniels Theme” and it captures the version of a person we all try to be. When I play it, it feels like an interlude in the show or on the album, buts it’s an important piece of music – so that’s the one I would like them to take away. The title of the new album is “Challenger” and that a really powerful title and message. So, what does it mean to you personally? It means a lot to me – over the past couple of years I have thought a lot about the parts of myself that have made me and the things that have shaped me into who I am. And thinking about what parts of myself should I leave behind and what parts should I carry forwards. So, embodying a character that isn’t afraid to challenger every part of oneself and being very honest at looking at oneself and saying “is this the best that I can be”? I am able to experience hurt, apathy, pain and frustration, all the most difficult elements and then reflect strength, grace and patience. So, the character born out the album is someone who is unafraid to change. As will all of my music, the songs shape me and I shape the songs in parallel, I have the last few years trying to embody that in a way that is representative of just how important these songs are too me. I want to grow and change alongside my music. Is there one song that seeded the creative process for the rest of the album? The first song I wrote, which is the second song on the album – “Begin” is very much about starting over and leaving the past behind. In writing that song, it felt like I was pushing myself toward something different. We all understand times of frustration or stagnation and realising our full potential. For me it was a question about - as someone who cares and so many things matter to me a lot – how much you can begin again and how much can you really leave behind. So that song felt like I was shoving myself forwards into a new way of how to grow and how do you grow when you are carrying all of this on your shoulders. And you can find out more about Luca here: Luca Fogale Luca Fogale begins his Spanish tour tonight, September 3, at Madrid’s Wurlitzer Ballroom, before heading to Barcelona’s Club Sauvage tomorrow night, September 4. Two intimate dates, two chances to get close to an artist who has built his career on emotional honesty rather than grand gestures. After spending years turning inward to make this record, Fogale is finally taking Challenger out into the world — and Spanish audiences get their first taste tonight. For Spanish Tour Tickets: Last Tour

Competition can do funny things to musicians. It can sharpen them, focus them, push them into the red — or, occasionally, get inside their heads before they have even walked through the door. That was the slightly surreal starting point for Round One of Hard Rock Rising at Hard Rock Cafe Valencia last night, with Nohe and Sita Rizzi eventually taking to the stage after Jhay Onex, scheduled as part of the opening battle, was unable to make it. The pressure had got to him before the first note was played and he didn't turn up, leaving the night with an unexpected twist before the competition had properly begun. And perhaps that's the first lesson of Hard Rock Rising: this isn't just another gig. There is something very different about walking onto a stage knowing that the people standing in front of you aren't simply there to listen — they're there to judge. Every note, every vocal, every move and every moment of connection counts, with the audience given the final say through the public voting system. Thankfully, Nohe and Sita Rizzi looked more than ready for the fight... Nohe delivered a confident performance that showed exactly why artists like this belong in a competition designed to put emerging talent under the spotlight. There was plenty of personality in the set, but more importantly there was the sense that this was an artist who understood the value of the moment. No hiding behind the band, no waiting for the audience to come to them — the performance demanded attention. Then came Sita Rizzi, who ultimately walked away with the biggest prize of the night: the public vote and a place in the final. The bands performance had the combination that these competitions are built around — musicianship, presence, personality and that indefinable quality that makes people in a room decide they want to see you again. The audience clearly agreed, and when the votes were counted, Sita Rizzi emerged as the winner of Round One. The atmosphere throughout the night was one of the best parts of the whole thing. Fans had clearly come out in force for their respective artists, creating the kind of partisan but good-natured energy that makes a battle of the bands genuinely entertaining. Every cheer mattered. Every vote mattered. And suddenly the room wasn't just a venue — it was part gig, part competition arena, part very noisy democracy. That's what makes Hard Rock Rising interesting. The audience isn't simply there to clap politely at the end. They're the jury. The voting system scores artists across areas including musicianship, vocal talent, originality, stage presence and fan support, meaning the bands have to bring considerably more to the table than a couple of decent songs. For Sita Rizzi, that equation worked. They now moves forward to the Hard Rock Rising Final, carrying the momentum of Round One with her and knowing that the stakes will only get higher. For Nohe, there is plenty to take away from a strong performance, while Jhay Onex is left with the rather brutal reality that sometimes the toughest opponent isn't standing on the other side of the stage — it's the pressure in your own head. Round One, then, belonged to Sita Rizzi. But more importantly, it showed that Hard Rock Rising has the potential to be something genuinely worthwhile for Valencia's emerging music scene. Give hungry artists a proper stage, put their fans directly into the equation and make the result depend on what happens in the room rather than what happens on a streaming platform. Suddenly, things get interesting. Round One is over. Sita Rizzi is through. The microphone is now officially a weapon. Check out Sita Rizzi here: Sita Rizzi And for more information: Hard Rock Cafe Valencia Words and photos: Rhyan Paul

Love of Lesbian are heading to Valencia for what promises to be one of the biggest shows of their career in the city — and there’s a rather important detail attached to it: 11 December 2026 will be their first and only appearance at Roig Arena before the band takes an indefinite break. The Barcelona indie-pop institution will bring their latest chapter to the city’s biggest indoor venue as part of Piñata Valencia, with the concert landing among the final dates of a tour that concludes later that same month. For a band with almost three decades of history behind them, it is an appropriately huge setting for what could be a very significant night. And yet, this isn't being sold as some miserable final curtain. Love of Lesbian describe the coming pause as “un hasta luego de largo aliento” — a long, drawn-out see-you-later rather than goodbye. The emphasis is on celebration: the songs, the stories, the strange emotional chemistry that has connected the band with audiences across Spain and Latin America for years. Right now, Love of Lesbian are hardly winding down creatively. Quite the opposite. The band have just sold out Mexico City's Auditorio Nacional for the third time, while continuing to unveil new material from Nouvelle Cuisine Caníbal Vol. 3. Recent singles ‘Ojalá’, featuring Judit Neddermann, and ‘Ámame lindo’, featuring Andie Gago and produced by Camilo Lara, show a group still pushing forward even as the clock ticks towards December. That contradiction makes the Valencia date particularly intriguing. This isn't a band limping towards the finish line; it is Love of Lesbian arriving at one of their biggest moments with plenty of momentum behind them, before deliberately stepping away. For nearly 30 years, Santi Balmes and company have carved out a singular corner of Spanish alternative pop, building songs where poetry, irony, melancholy and huge melodic hooks can happily occupy the same room. Their catalogue has grown into a collection of modern Spanish-language indie anthems, while their live shows have become a major part of the band's identity. Now the stage gets considerably bigger. Roig Arena can accommodate up to an estimated 20,000 people in concert configuration, making this Love of Lesbian's largest venue appearance in Valencia. That scale matters, particularly for a band whose songs have always had an unusually intimate relationship with their audience. Expect the big songs, the new material, the emotional left turns and the kind of communal singing that comes when thousands of people know precisely where a lyric is going before Balmes gets there. But there will be something else hanging in the air: this is one of the last times. Not forever, apparently. Not a breakup. Not a dramatic farewell. Just a band reaching the end of one enormous chapter, stepping off the road for an indefinite period and giving Valencia one last colossal night before they do it. For tickets and more information: Roig Arena

Forget the talent-show clichés. Hard Rock Rising is putting Valencia’s emerging musicians on stage and offering something considerably more useful than a trophy: a genuine shot at going global. The global Hard Rock Rising competition arrives in the city this month, bringing four nights of live music, competition and audience voting as local bands battle for the chance to represent Valencia on an international stage. And this isn't going to be a quiet evening of polite musical networking. The first round kicks off on 2 September with Nohe, Sita Rizzi and Jhay Onex. Then, on 9 September, Moscow, City Of Fury and Horrorwolf take over. Protocol Shift, Santonegro and Reprise follow on 16 September, before everything comes down to the Final Brawl on 23 September. Nine acts. Four rounds. One local winner. May the most memorable, original, technically accomplished and impossible-to-ignore artist win. Because this is where things get interesting: the audience is the jury. Fans will vote in real time using a mobile app, scoring the artists on Musicianship, Fan Support, Vocal Talent, Originality and Stage Presence. So if your friend's band is playing, don't just stand at the back and watch. Get involved. Your vote could help send them through. And unlike the usual battle-of-the-bands circuit, where victory can mean little more than bragging rights and another poster on Instagram, Hard Rock Rising has some serious international muscle behind it. The competition is being staged across 34 countries and 64 Hard Rock Cafes, with Hard Rock International and Coca-Cola joining forces to search for emerging singer-songwriters, bands and DJs. The Valencia winner progresses to the global round, where the recorded performances of all 64 local champions will be judged by the Coke Studio team. The global winner gets a professional recording session at Coke Studio L.A. Live, with flights and accommodation included, plus music distribution across major streaming platforms. Then comes a performance at Hard Rock Orlando, a two-night stay at Hard Rock Hotel Orlando, passes to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, a $10,000 cash prize and an assortment of Marshall amplifiers and accessories. The recording opportunity could be particularly significant. Rather than simply handing the winner a cheque and sending them home, the competition connects them with Coke Studio's professional recording operation, led by multi-platinum, GRAMMY- and Juno-nominated executive producer Rob Rettberg. That's a serious platform for an artist who might currently be recording in a bedroom and wondering when the wider world is finally going to take notice. For Hard Rock Cafe Valencia, meanwhile, there's an obvious sense of pride in putting local talent under the spotlight. “Hard Rock Rising gives us the opportunity to showcase the incredible musical talent right here in Valencia,” says Vittorio Dugarte, Sales & Marketing Manager at Hard Rock Cafe Valencia, describing it as a genuine opportunity for local artists to be discovered on a global stage.And that's ultimately what makes the whole thing worth watching. Valencia has musicians everywhere. Bands rehearsing in garages, bedrooms and borrowed spaces; singers writing songs nobody has heard yet; DJs building sets and audiences one night at a time. The difficult part isn't necessarily making music. It's getting people to listen. Hard Rock Rising at least gives artists a serious opportunity to do exactly that. There will be a stage. There will be an audience. There will be competition. There will be votes. And, for one Valencia act, there will be a route into the global final. The surrounding celebration is suitably Hard Rock, too, with a limited-time menu, Coca-Cola cocktails, collectible merchandise and a limited-edition Hard Rock Rising collaboration with streetwear label Cult of Individuality. But none of that matters when the lights go down. What matters is what happens when the first band walks out. Who owns the room? Who has the songs? Who can really play? Who looks completely at home on stage? And who leaves you thinking, “Where did they come from?” That's the beauty of live music. You can polish a Spotify profile. You can build a social-media following. You can spend hours perfecting your online presence. You can't fake a room reacting to a great band. So Valencia, pay attention. Four nights. Nine acts. One winner. And somewhere inside that line-up could be the next artist Valencia starts claiming it discovered first. For more information: Hard Rock Cafe Valencia

September has barely got its shoes on and Loco Club is already coming out swinging. Valencia’s famously dependable little temple of live music has put together a September programme that refuses to sit still, cramming the month with everything from Mexican psychedelic tropicalia and New York art-rock to British soul, Spanish indie, rock’n’roll, Americana and a five-band Visor Fest Club spectacular. The month kicks off on 4 September with Buena Pregunta + Native Nomads, before Saturday brings the Fira Trovam 2026 presentation party, featuring Rumores, Bajo 79 and Malditas Gaviotas, followed by MVP DJs until 3am. It’s a particularly good showcase for Valencia’s emerging scene, with all three bands having been part of the Cànter artist accelerator supporting musicians affected by the DANA. On 6 September, Mexican outfit Sonido Gallo Negro arrive with their gloriously unhinged cocktail of psychedelic tropical music, eccentric guitars, analogue synths, organ and theremin, accompanied by live visuals from Dr. Alderete. This is music designed less for standing politely at the back and more for surrendering to the rhythm. Two days later, Bodega bring their New York take on alternative rock to the room, supported by Mallorca’s BAF. Bodega’s new album All Inside Aquarium moves beyond their earlier post-punk tag towards a more melodic and eclectic sound drawing on late-80s and 90s alternative rock. And then comes Tyla’s Dogs D’Amour on 11 September. If your idea of rock’n’roll involves battered leather, romantic disaster, dirty guitars and absolutely no interest in behaving sensibly, this is the one. Tyla returns to the stage with the legacy of The Dogs D’Amour firmly behind him and a promise of old-school rock’n’roll swagger. The following night, Mamá bring nearly half a century of Spanish pop songwriting to Loco Club, before British soul outfit Stone Foundation take over on 13 September. The latter arrive with their 11th album, The Revival of Survival, continuing their long-running mission to keep British soul sounding vital, energetic and danceable. Then, on 15 September, Sweden’s Diamond Dogs celebrate 35 years in the business. Their 17th album, Similar Shakes Different Distortion, draws heavily on early-70s British R&B, while their live reputation is built around frontman Sören “Sulo” Karlsson and a seriously energetic performance style. La Bien Querida arrives on 18 September as part of the Directos Vibra Mahou series, before the weekend gets a particularly interesting twist. Visor Fest Club returns to Loco Club on 19 September, bringing Apolo, Danny Mellow, Ghost Transmission, Iris a Secas and Los Belushi together for a night built around some of the great songs of recent musical history. The concept is simple and bloody good fun: five bands, four versions each and a trip through songs associated with artists ranging from Extremoduro and The Breeders to Foo Fighters and beyond. Apolo represent Valencia’s new alternative-rock generation, Danny Mellow return after more than two decades, Xàtiva’s Ghost Transmission bring their noise-rock-meets-pop approach, Los Belushi promise their trademark “elegantly dirty” sound, while Iris a Secas add a playful dose of English and Spanish pop-rock covers. Sunday brings Guillem Roma, whose music mixes Mediterranean influences, Latin American traditions and singer-songwriter sensibilities, before the month heads into its final stretch. The Speedways hit the club on 23 September, followed by Robert Grayd + André Urban on 24 September as part of the Cicle Cànter. Luke Winslow-King then brings his rootsy, soulful Americana to Loco Club on the 25th. On 30 September, The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band arrive with their ferocious take on country-blues and roots music. Led by Reverend Peyton, widely recognised for his fingerpicking, the band have built their reputation around old-school American blues traditions and an intensely physical live show. There is, incidentally, one cancellation on the published September calendar: Stone Senate’s 27 September show is listed as cancelled, so don't accidentally turn up expecting that one. What makes the Loco Club programme work is the complete absence of musical snobbery. You can come for the punk, stay for the soul, discover a Mexican psychedelic band you didn't know existed, stumble into an Americana show the following week and somehow it all makes sense. That’s the Loco Club trick. It remains one of those rooms where the emphasis is firmly on the music rather than the machinery surrounding it. No giant production required, no need for fireworks or video walls — just a good stage, a sweaty room and bands that actually want to play. And judging by September’s calendar, Valencia is going to get plenty of that. For tickets and more information: Loco Club You can see the full September programme on Loco Club’s official events calendar.

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

Some things become part of a city without anyone quite noticing it happen. Concerts de la Pèrgola is one of those things. For almost a decade, the modernist structure overlooking Valencia’s Marina has been the unlikely headquarters of Saturday-morning music: guitars, beers, sunshine, families, friends and the kind of crowd that understands there’s absolutely nothing wrong with starting the weekend before lunchtime. Now it’s back. And frankly, Valencia has been waiting. The Pèrgola isn’t just another outdoor stage. Its whole appeal has always been the slightly ridiculous but completely brilliant idea of putting live music on Saturday mornings, often outside the traditional summer concert season and even through the winter. What initially looked like a gamble gradually became one of the city’s most distinctive musical rituals. Across its history, the project has hosted close to 200 concerts, more than 300 artists and around 250,000 spectators. And the comeback is sticking firmly to the formula that made it work: matinal concerts at La Marina de València, with the music starting at midday after doors open at 11am. The first run of announced dates already looks seriously tasty: 14 November: Nacho Vegas + Ela Vin. 21 November: Sex Museum + Los Bengalas. 28 November: Quique González + Mendizabal. 12 December: La Habitación Roja + Salvana. 19 December: Joe Crepúsculo + Seconds DJ’s. It’s a typically eclectic Pèrgola bill, moving comfortably between established Spanish songwriting, indie, rock’n’roll, local talent and artists with enough personality to make the whole thing feel like something more than a standard gig series. The Pèrgola sits where the city meets the sea, its modernist architecture providing a backdrop that is about as far removed from the anonymous black-box concert hall as you can get. You can arrive in the morning, grab an esmorzaret, listen to a band while the Marina wakes up around you and still have most of Saturday stretching ahead afterwards. The official food offering runs from 10am to 12.30pm, because apparently Valencia has decided that a rock gig without a bocadillo is simply unacceptable. That sense of community has always been central to the Pèrgola. It was never really about standing in a dark room watching a band from a distance. It became a meeting point — a place where different generations and different corners of Valencia’s music scene could collide. The history makes its return even more significant. During the pandemic, when much of the live-music world was forced into silence, the Pèrgola’s open-air format allowed it to become the first proposal of its kind in Spain to return to making music, with distancing measures in place. Now the world is considerably less weird, but the basic idea remains wonderfully intact. There’s also a social conscience running underneath the party. The project’s reusable cup initiative supports Associació Àmbit and its Eolus and Papallona supported-housing projects, meaning the humble gig cup contributes towards social housing and psychosocial rehabilitation projects. So yes, the Pèrgola is returning. But calling it a comeback almost undersells what’s happening. This is one of Valencia’s most recognisable musical traditions reopening its doors, putting some serious names on the stage and inviting the city to do what it does best: eat, drink, listen to music and turn a Saturday morning into a full-blown social occasion. For tickets and more information: Concerts De La Pèrgola

Forget the sweaty club, forget the four black walls and a ceiling covered in cables. On Saturday 5 September, the stage is going green. Músiques i Art al Botànic brings live music to the spectacular Botànic Cullera, with Smoke J. Lawrence and Claptonians taking over the garden from 8pm. Doors open at 7pm, giving you plenty of time to settle into one of the region’s most distinctive settings before the music starts. Botànic Cullera is the kind of place that makes the standard gig environment look a little depressing by comparison: greenery, open air and the unmistakable feeling that someone has had the rather brilliant idea of putting guitars somewhere they can actually breathe. Botànic Cullera Smoke J. Lawrence headline a bill alongside Claptonians, bringing a blues-soaked edge to an evening designed around music, art and the atmosphere of the Botànic. Rather than another anonymous night of live music in another anonymous room, Músiques i Art al Botànic has the makings of something considerably more memorable: guitars, open skies and Cullera’s botanical surroundings providing the backdrop. It’s also the sort of event that makes perfect sense for a late-summer Saturday. The heat of the afternoon has started to fade, the garden takes on a different character and the first notes of the evening get to drift through something considerably more interesting than a concrete venue. And you don't need to remortgage the house to get in. Tickets are €8 plus booking fee in advance, €10 on the door, with under-12s admitted free. There’s something pleasingly simple about the whole idea: good music, a beautiful place and a Saturday night that doesn’t require fluorescent lights or a sticky floor. If you like your blues with a little breathing space, your guitars under the stars and your gigs somewhere slightly out of the ordinary, Músiques i Art al Botànic looks like a very good way to spend a September evening. Smoke J. Lawrence. Claptonians. Botànic Cullera. Saturday night. Sometimes the best venue is the one nature built first. For tickets and more information: Moving Tickets

There’s a point in ‘Sacrosaint’ where Slowly Slowly stop sounding merely pissed off and start sounding genuinely worried. It’s an important distinction. Anger is cheap; existential dread with a massive chorus is considerably harder to pull off. The Melbourne trio manage it. Their first new track since 2025’s ARIA No.1 Forgiving Spree, ‘Sacrosaint’ finds Slowly Slowly taking everything they do well — big melodies, bruised introspection, emotional honesty — and dragging it somewhere considerably darker. It’s restless, tense and gloriously unpolished around the edges, like a song being held together by sheer force of will. Frontman Ben Stewart sounds like he’s having an existential crisis in real time. His voice strains, cracks and climbs, deliberately refusing the safety of a clean, comfortable performance. There’s a sense that the whole thing could fall apart at any second, which is precisely why it works. The further ‘Sacrosaint’ goes, the more desperate it becomes, finally arriving at its blunt-force conclusion: “we’re running out of time.” Cheery stuff, then. But Slowly Slowly have always understood that misery is considerably more effective when you can sing along to it. The song’s target is bigger this time. Stewart moves away from the purely personal and looks at the wider mess: the erosion of the things we assume will always be there, the foundations we stop maintaining until suddenly they’re wobbling beneath us. The idea of billions of lonely people competing for something that increasingly feels finite gives ‘Sacrosaint’ its bleak centre, but the band never disappear up their own lyrical backside. Instead, they turn the anxiety into a fucking good rock song. That’s the trick. However grim the subject matter gets, Slowly Slowly remain obsessed with melody. The track keeps reaching for something you can grab onto, building tension until the inevitable release feels less like a conventional climax and more like somebody finally losing their shit. It also feels like a logical next move for a band who have spent the past decade refusing to sit still. Five albums into their career, with Race Car Blues and Daisy Chain both cracking the ARIA Top 10 before Forgiving Spree went all the way to No.1, Slowly Slowly have already established themselves as one of Australia’s more interesting propositions. ‘Sacrosaint’ suggests they’re less interested in consolidating that position than fucking with it. There’s a pleasing lack of caution here. The production allows the song to breathe before steadily tightening the screws, while Stewart’s performance provides the emotional chaos at its centre. It’s not subtle, and it isn’t supposed to be. This is a band taking the temperature of the world and discovering that somebody has left the thermometer in the microwave. Come December, they’ll be taking this new material to Good Things Festival alongside Limp Bizkit, Spiritbox, Simple Plan, Neck Deep and a sizeable chunk of the Australian alternative-rock establishment. ‘Sacrosaint’ already sounds built for that environment: huge enough for the festival field, damaged enough to make sense when the sun goes down. Slowly Slowly have spent ten years turning personal pain into songs that other people can recognise themselves in. With ‘Sacrosaint’, they’ve widened the lens and discovered there’s plenty of pain to go around. Bleak? Absolutely. Melodic? Fucking hell, yes.Worth turning up loud? Obviously. Slowly Slowly are back, and this time they’re looking at the wreckage rather than looking away. Check them out here: Slowly Slowly

Wendy James, Dave Parsons and a seriously heavyweight new-look Transvision Vamp hit Sala Moon on October 3rdThere are comebacks. There are reunions. And then there are the kind of returns that make you stop, turn up the volume and wonder how the hell it took this long. Transvision Vamp are back! And on Saturday October 3rd, 2026, one of the most gloriously provocative, hook-heavy and attitude-packed bands to explode out of late-80s Britain will bring their long-awaited return to Sala Moon in Valencia. This isn't just another retro-rock package wheeled out to cash in on memories of a particular decade. Transvision Vamp are returning after more than three decades away from the touring circuit, with original members Wendy James and Dave Parsons at the heart of a new six-piece lineup. Valencia is the final Spanish date of a run that takes in Barcelona, Madrid and Bilbao before the band head to the UK for their first British tour since 1991. Back in the late 1980s, Transvision Vamp didn't exactly arrive quietly. Fronted by the unmistakable Wendy James, the band smashed together punk attitude, glam-rock swagger, pop hooks and a healthy disregard for behaving themselves. They were loud, colourful, sexy, confrontational and — crucially — they wrote bloody great songs. Their debut album, Pop Art, arrived in 1988 and delivered a string of tracks that still sound tailor-made for a packed, sweaty club: “I Want Your Love”, “Tell That Girl to Shut Up” and “Revolution Baby” among them. Then came Velveteen in 1989, and suddenly Transvision Vamp weren't simply an exciting alternative band — they were massive. The album hit No.1 in the UK, while the single “Baby I Don’t Care” became one of their signature songs and remains an instantly recognisable slice of late-80s pop-rock. The band's appeal was never simply about what they wore, what year it was or which magazine put Wendy James on the cover. It was about energy. It was about the collision of pop melody and punk attitude. It was about songs that could be blasted from a car stereo, screamed back from a crowd and played with enough guitars to make the walls shake. 30-plus years later… here we go again Transvision Vamp officially called time on the band in 1992, after three studio albums: Pop Art, Velveteen and Little Magnets Versus The Bubble of Babble. For decades, the idea of a full-scale Transvision Vamp return seemed unlikely. Then came 2025. Wendy James and bassist Dave Parsons reunited the Transvision Vamp name, with a new musical lineup built around them. Joining them are Alex Ward on guitar, Pip Stakem on guitar, Matt Millership on keyboards and James Sclavunos on drums — a musician whose CV includes his work with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, while Ward has collaborated with Thurston Moore. And the early evidence from their 2026 comeback shows suggests the chemistry is very real. James has never been particularly interested in pretending that the past is the only thing that matters. After Transvision Vamp's original run, she continued to make music as a solo artist, working with musicians including Lenny Kaye, James Williamson and — once again — James Sclavunos. Her most recent studio album, The Shape of History, was released in 2024. That matters because this isn't simply an attempt to recreate 1989. There is history here, certainly. But there is also a musician who has continued developing, writing and performing for decades. And when she steps onto that Valencia stage, there is every reason to expect the attitude that made Transvision Vamp such an irresistible proposition in the first place. Valencia has always had an appetite for loud guitars, British indie, punk, glam, new wave and the glorious crossover territory where all of those things collide. A Transvision Vamp show isn't going to feel like a history lesson. After Spain, Transvision Vamp head into a major UK and Ireland tour, their first such tour since 1991. The run begins in Newcastle on October 6th and includes Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Oxford, Cardiff, Manchester, London, Brighton, Birmingham, Bristol, Dublin and Belfast. Three decades after Transvision Vamp disappeared from the touring map, Wendy James and Dave Parsons will walk onto stages across the UK with a new generation of musicians beside them — and with a catalogue that has stubbornly refused to disappear. Why this comeback matters There is a temptation whenever a band from the 1980s returns to describe it as a trip down memory lane. But Transvision Vamp were never particularly good at staying in their lane. They emerged from the London alternative scene with a sound that was simultaneously punky, poppy, trashy, melodic and rebellious. They were too loud for some pop fans, too pop for some rock fans and far too stylishly dangerous for anyone who thought they could be neatly categorised. That refusal to fit comfortably is probably why the songs still work. ered in the first place. And for everyone in between, it promises something even better: a room full of people who know every word, a band with something to prove, and a catalogue packed with songs that were built for the live environment. Transvision Vamp are back — and Valencia gets the last word before they take Britain by storm. For tickets and more information: Moon Valencia

If there was any doubt that Valencia has its own answer to the great British indie-rock tradition, City Of Fury put it firmly to bed on Friday night. The Valencian-based Britpop outfit stormed into Loco Club and found exactly the kind of audience they were built for: a packed room of indie devotees, Oasis fans and guitar-loving diehards, all ready for a night of swaggering riffs, big melodies and unapologetic British-inspired rock. From the first chord, City Of Fury looked completely at home. There’s a familiar flavour running through their sound — echoes of the golden age of UK indie and Britpop — but this is no nostalgia trip. The band have been steadily carving out their own identity, combining driving guitars, punchy rhythms and atmospheric synth textures with the kind of live energy that demands to be played loud. The real excitement came when the band unleashed their new material. “Somewhere We Belong” landed like a ready-made indie anthem, its soaring melody and optimistic message perfectly suited to a room full of people singing along and looking for the next big chorus. The track has already been described as an uplifting step forward for the band, and live it has the potential to become a serious crowd favourite. Then came “Let You Know”, adding another glimpse of where City Of Fury are heading next. Together, the new tracks suggest a band increasingly confident in their songwriting — polished enough to hit hard, but retaining the rawness and immediacy that makes a club show like this work. And the crowd? Absolutely bought in. Loco Club was heaving, with the atmosphere bouncing somewhere between a sweaty indie night and an Oasis singalong. For a band still building their name, City Of Fury already have something many emerging acts spend years chasing: an audience that believes in them and a live show that makes people want to come back. That momentum is only going one way. With more new music on the horizon and a forthcoming UK tour, City Of Fury are beginning to look less like Valencia's best-kept indie secret and more like a band ready to take their sound beyond Spain. Check them out on Spotify: City Of Fury