This weekend is the time for musical legends in Bilbao BBK Legends
The Biscayan capital is preparing to receive a good package of legends this weekend thanks to the celebration of the BBK Bilbao Music Legends Fest 2022. This Friday and Saturday, the Bilbao Arena in Miribilla will vibrate with the music of veteran and consecrated stars of rock music, boggie, blues, soul and heavy like Status Quo, Paul Carrack, Girlschool and Loquillo. The voucher for both days costs 90 euros plus expenses and day tickets, 55.
BBK Music Legends may not be the most modern festival, but few can boast of having managed to schedule a bunch of legends like Graham Nash, The Beach Boys, Van Morrison, Jethro Tull, Los Lobos, Steve Windwood, Georgie Fame, Got’ Mule or Wilko Johnson on his first stage at La Ola, in Sondika. After two years of absence, the festival is reactivated this Friday and Saturday, and will be held for the first time in Bilbao, thanks to the sponsorship of the Town Council and the BBK.
The Bilbao Arena in Miribilla will host this festival which has on its first day, the Friday, with Status Quo headlining. The British group presented an exclusive concert throughout the summer in the State from 9:30 p.m. The British band led by Francis Rossi will review rock and boogie classics as whatever you want or whatever you’re proposing.
Status Quo emerged in London six decades ago and only Rossi – composer, singer and guitarist – resists the founders. Bassist Alan Lancaster died in September 2021 after losing his fight against multiple sclerosis, and before that, in 2016, Rick Parfitt, guitarist and also vocalist, another of his icons since 1967, died. Although in the beginning they offer a mix of rhythm and psychedelia, became famous since the 70s for their classicist boogie rock, which brought songs like Which you want, What you’re proposed, Down down or Rockin’ all over the world to the world charts, with their identifiable guitar raka raka, and pop ballads like In the army now.
APrior to Status Quo, veteran girl group Girlschool, pioneer of heavy and hard rock performed by women in the transition from the 70s to the 80s. The group formed in its beginnings with the support of Lemmy, leader of Motörhead, and has signed classics such as race with the devil Y go Go. Friday’s lineup also includes the British band Hawkwind, a cult space rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock band formed at the end of the sixties in London, as well as the Basque rock singer-songwriter Anari and the Mallorcan Maika Malovski, who will last their last and rock record, MKMK.
Ratchet and Loquillo
Saturday was the scheduled day for the stellar performance of Alan Parsons, but a serious back injury forced the British musician and producer to undergo surgery and, therefore, to cancel his tour just 10 days before his concert in Bilbao. The organization of the festival, Dekker Events, spared no effort and veteran state rocker Loquillo was the latest star to join the lineup, which presented his latest album, Diario de una truce, starting at 11:35 p.m.
Along with Loquillo and as planned, Saturday’s lineup includes soulman Paul Carrack with the presentation of his album One by one; American bluesman Walter Trout, one of the best working blues rock guitarists in the world; the singer and soul diva Shirley Davis, who will perform with her group, The Silverbacks, and Mikel Renteria from Bilbao and his project The project band ride.
The outdoor area will be located on the esplanade outside the enclosure. Voodoo Child Terrace, where the stage will be found where the local bands of the festival will pass. This space will have direct access to the interior of the Bilbao Arena, where the main stage will be located. Four bands from the Biscayan scene will perform at Voodoo Child, two per day. In the first, it will be the turn of Micky & The Buzz and the soloist Gonzalo Portugal, former leader of , and in the second, Javi Stills & Co and Santiago Delgado and the Runaway Lovers will perform. The latter will be the last in his Bilbao disco.