• Tweet
• Pin It

For two consecutive days (Oct. 24-25, 2015), L Festival entertained thousands of fans in its inaugural year at the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa, Calif., as Juan Gabriel, Enrique Iglesias, Julion Alvarez, La Arrolladora Banda El Limón and Gloria Trevi headlined with their respective musical sets.

Regional Mexican music superstar Julion Alvarez, worldwide pop music phenomenon Enrique Iglesias, Spanish heartthrob David Bisbal and cumbia gems Los Angeles Azules performed in front of nearly 15,000 fans on Day 1.

Day 2 featured Latin music legend Juan Gabriel, Regional Mexican music ensemble La Arrolladora Banda El Limón, Spanish EDM singer and DJ Juan Magán, pop diva Gloria Trevi and reggaeton duo Zion y Lennox.

“This was a hugely ambitious undertaking, and we tried to be thoughtful in planning an event that would celebrate our culture and have elements for every member of the family,” says Gustavo Lopez, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Universal Music Latin Entertainment who spearheaded the label’s efforts, in a prepared statement.

He adds, “We were immensely gratified to see multiple generations of families in the front row of the performances, from babies to grandmothers, and everyone in between. We also drew interest from more than 30 national brands and cultural innovators who want to reach this important audience. We look forward to building on our success as we move into plans for our second year.”

Overall, a total of 32 artists saw stage time, including 3BallMTY and Far East Movement, as over 35,000 entered the festivites.

Below is the good, the bad and the ugly of L Festival, organized by Universal Music Latin Entertainment and CMN Events.

The Good
We all know this: festivals are super hard to organize, promote and deliver (in terms of satisfying the consumer). But L Festival did it almost to perfection. While also including 20-plus restaurants, carnival rides, a curated art experience and lengthy list of national brands, L Festival truly was and is about the music.

By far some of the biggest acts in Latin music hit their sets as if each artist was there to put a full concert on display. Juan Gabriel, for example, performed for nearly two hours. No one expected that! And he closed out the festival with style, professionalism and nothing less than nonstop entertainment with the likes of “Asi Fue,” “Querida” and “El Noa Noa,” among many others.

The Bad
The only bad thing about L Festival was that as quickly as it started, that was how quickly it ended. What does that mean? It means it was too darn good and everyone in attendance, including myself, wished it just never came to a close.

A wide variety of genres of Latin music came and went, but that didn’t make for a bad thing. In fact, it was actually an uplifting aspect of the festivities to witness so many different types of music lovers interact with one another. Too bad it ended … too quickly.

The Ugly
The venue itself was confusing to navigate at first, but that was just when entering for the first time. Once up in there, it was quite comfortable. But, the scary and somewhat ugly thing was that the OC Fair & Event Center could have easily (in terms of space) hosted even more fans during L Festival. And, as a matter of fact, the already super crowded site was so packed that it oftentimes became difficult to walk through and around. While this could be categorized as ugly, it was still a beautiful thing to see … in person!

As of now, a second year of L Festival is expected. For more information and the latest updates, visit lfestival.com.

• Tweet
• Pin It