The music festival that will give everything to Acapulco

The 2023 edition of the Trópico Festival on the coast of Acapulco was designed as a great three-day party to end a complicated year and to celebrate 10 years of this event that has become one of the most anticipated in the area, and that has managed to find an identity independent of the big festivals in cities like Mexico City or Monterrey. However, at the end of October, the hurricane Otis caused enormous devastation on the coast, resulting in an estimated damage of 16 billion Mexican pesos, forcing organizers to cancel the event that expected to receive more than 7,000 people.

Archipelago, the company in charge of the festival, canceled the more than 20 invited acts, sponsors and distributors, quickly leaving behind the idea of ​​celebrating 10 years of Trópico. And in addition, Pepe Bezauri, founding partner and organizer of the event, told EL PAÍS through a call that once the event was canceled, the company opened collection centers in Acapulco. However, he points out, this did not seem like as substantial help as what they could give to a city that has welcomed his team for almost a decade. Then an idea emerged: “We said ‘Let’s try to make a festival.’ “We decided to talk to sponsors and suppliers to see if they would participate in an event in which 100% of the profits would go to the Port of Acapulco and its victims.”

The result was positive. “We talked to sponsors to see if they would stick with us and the response was extremely pleasant: seeing how so many people understood the situation and joined in.”

While the festival included more than two dozen bands, not all of them agreed to the conditions. Those who did agree to give 100% of their profits only covered “their expenses, flights, hotels and backlines,” highlights Bezauri.

A complex case was that of Underworld, the main band on the poster. Bezauri says that the British actor was skeptical about accepting the deal because the organizing company had previously canceled another event in which they were scheduled. The negotiations, points out the founding partner, were tough, but they concluded shortly before they announced this new version of the Trópico Festival.

In mid-November, Bezauri’s team broke the news: The canceled festival in Acapulco would now take place in Mexico City, inside Parque Bicentenario—a space considerably smaller than the Hotel Pierre Mundo Imperial, where it had been held 8 years in a row—which agreed to host the event and also donate its portion of the profits. Furthermore, there would no longer be three days of celebration, but only one, Saturday, December 9.

For those who had a ticket for the event in Acapulco, the organizers announced that their pass for the festival in Mexico City would be valid, with extra money in their bracelets cashless. Moreover, they also offered refund. “Many people have taken it,” says Bezauri. “But, it is understood. “Everyone donates and collaborates with what they can.”

The money generated will go to the Construyendo association. “They have been doing this type of work for 15 years. They have helped in natural disasters. They work with the community, they do research to find out what the true needs are, they support the families that need it most, and the process is carried out between volunteers and the people in the communities who are helping.” The association is non-profit and was founded in 2008 with the mission of “raising the quality of life of the most needy families” in crisis areas.

With a lineup that includes Café Tacvba, Los Eclipses, Miranda Santizo and a “surprise act” that seeks to attract more eyes to this festival, Trópico has a positive mission, leaving behind its tenth anniversary to support the place that welcomed it with arms. open. Next year he will return to the coast.

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