On a beautiful Sunday, September 3rd, Viva Tu Musica presented Escandalo Fest at Chicago’s Plaza Garibaldi. This outdoor venue is more known for its jaripeos and musica regional events. It was to be Ruido Fests home for 2023, but sadly, it was cancelled for reasons described on their social media pages. Escandalo came about shortly after the news of the cancellation of Ruido Fest 2023. Featuring bands: Panteon Roco, Enanitos Verdes, El Haragan, El Gran Silencio and many more. The Festival presented the bands on two stages. The main stage hosted international bands, and the second stage hosted all local bands.
Nunca Jamas kicked off the festival in front of a huge early crowd. The band from Sonora Mexico currently on their tour, Agropatas Anonimos, with Chicago being their 4th stop. Switchover on the main stage between bands was filled with the start of the second stage featuring Chicago Local bands, Kronovox, Evolution, Riesgo Colectivo, Robot Consciente, and La Mor.
The concept of two stages at such close proximity to each other worked well, but with a few things lacking on the second stage. The settings for stage 2 was open air with a backdrop of CCJ and no lighting provided as the sun set. Placement of this stage could have been better as it was located between a beer tent and food venders. All bands that performed on stage 2 made the most of their limited set times and rocked out!
The Festival also featured Lucha Libre. There were a few matches that took place early on during the festival. Kids in lucha masks were very enthusiastic watching the luchadores in action. It was a nice surprise to see how many families attended as it was a very kid friendly event.
The new incarnation of the Argentinian band, Los Enanitos Verdes, were received with a great applause and cheers from their fans. After the passing of singer/bass player, Marciano Cantero, almost one year ago, the band continued with Felipe Staiti taking over on vocals. They came out and performed all of their hit songs that had all of Plaza Garibaldi singing along with them.
Panteon Roco headlined the festival that seemed to be at capacity toward the end of the night. Panteon hailing from Mexico City, is a Ska band that started around 1995 fronted by Dr Shenka. They came out with explosive energy and had the crowd forming multiple mosh pits scattered throughout. There were timing issues that caused a late start for them, but Shenka had his band moving through their set list playing all the fan favorites.
The festival came to a close at 10pm and it was an overall successful event. In talking to some of the event goers, they are very excited to see if Escandalo returns next year and what lineup it will bring.
Click event poster for full photo gallery
