Pa'l Norte Music Festival 2024
monterrey , mexico - march 29th - march 31st 2024
The three day music festival started in 2012, gathering only national acts from Mexico, but over the years, it has managed to become one of the biggest and most important music festivals in Latin America. Becoming an environment where Mexican music and international sounds are celebrated, gathering around 120,000 people per day. The festival contains the biggest concert screens in the Latin America continent and is seen as an outstanding event compared to others. Tickets went on sale last November and the entirety of the festival was sold out in twenty minutes making it the fastest selling festival in Latin America.
The variety of artists that were in the lineup varied from Peso Pluma to Men I Trust, which brought together a different variety of music lovers to the event taking place in Fundidora Park. Along with a day full of music, the festival also offers merchandise tents for each of the 175 artists in the lineup, so fans can get items to commemorate their experience.
For the first day of the beloved festival, The Snuts made up part of the lineup for the first day of the festival and were received with love and gave electric and passionate live performances of their songs, including newly released single “Millionaires”. Later in the day, Keane took the stage and gave a heartfull performance of the hit song “Somewhere Only We Know.” The band’s lead singer, Tom Chaplin, introduced the song “This Is The Last Time” in Spanish and dedicated the song to all of the people watching their set. The audience was filled with people who felt every lyric and the band was able to connect in a meaningful way with them offering an emotional experience.
Photo Courtesy of Rebeca Flores
Kendrick Lamar was meant to be the first day’s headliner but was not able to attend the event and cancelled his performance which left fans distraught. Luckily, Peso Pluma offered himself to perform for an extra hour and a half to give fans all of his energy. He invited guests such as Jasiel Nuñez, Yng Lucas and Luis Vega that dueted with the Mexican singer. He sang his greatest hits such as “LADY GAGA” and “LA PEOPLE” and gave a performance that became the highlight of the night and made up for the cancellation of the night’s most anticipated performance and turned it into a full of passion and memorable show full of outstanding production.
Photo Courtesy of Rebeca Flores
After an eventful first day of this festival, fans looked forward to seeing Louis Tomlinson and Blink 182 headline the second day of Pa’l Norte. Being Louis’ first festival show in his entire career, fans from all over the country travelled to see the star perform his biggest hits. Tomlinson delivered an energetic performance that made everyone feel his passion for his music . His setlist included his biggest hits such as “Bigger Than Me” , “Just Hold On” and nostalgic performances of One Direction’s biggest and most iconic songs such as “Drag Me Down”, “Night Changes” and “Where Do Broken Hearts Go?” His performance gathered around 90,000 people to witness his pop rock stage presence in the main stage of the event and the singer often expressed his appreciation for the country saying “It’s the world’s most beautiful country, with the most beautiful culture and people, thank you for having me in Mexico. I have been coming here for over a decade and everytime it gets better.”
As Louis ended his set, the band Blink 182, took the stage, the band was scheduled to be headlining last year’s edition of this same festival, but cancelled due to personal reasons. The audience was hooked from the first song to the ending drums of the set, and the band made sure we ended the second day of the festival with their 90s hits such as “All The Small Things” and “What’s My Age Again?” and gave a show that was worth waiting one year for. With Travis’ thunderous drumming to the mesmerising guitar riffs of Matt Skiba, their headlining performance made everyone watching them travel back to the early 2000s and scream along their all time favourite lyrics.
The third day of the event felt calmer and more relaxing but still had electric energy that could be felt throughout the nine stages , as bands such as The Aces, Men I Trust and local Monterrey band, The Warning performed on different stages as people waited for the main headliners, Imagine Dragons. The Aces gave an unforgivable performance with loving energy for their Mexican fans, they formed a strong connection with the audience that could be felt from the first moment they stepped on stage to their final moments on stage and constantly showed appreciation for the country, mentioning it was one of the funnest shows they have ever played.
Maná, a rock band based in Guadalajara was considered the best act from the final day of this festival. The passion they have for their music could be felt as in how they connected with the fans, having sing alongs and even bringing one lucky fan up to the main stage. The famous rock band also spoke up for change in Mexico, speaking up against violence and promoting voting for change in the upcoming elections that will take place for the country this summer.
Shortly after Maná went off stage, popular rock band, The Warning were greeted with a lot of love and excitement from fans, as they are cherished for being Monterrey based singers who have achieved stardom success in the rock industry all over the world. Performing songs such as “MORE” and “S1CK” they were the most captivating and memorable performances of the night. Their undeniable chemistry and raging rock ballads allowed the sister band to connect with the audience. They delivered a performance that was visually captivating as it was musically enthralling
Photo Courtesy of Rebeca Flores
What makes this festival so unique is that even after the enormous amount of artists that preform on these stages, there are six surprise performers throughout the weekend that give fans a sense of curiosity as they try to figure out who they are before they go on the “Surprise Guests'' stage. With genres varying from regional to rock music, the festival succeeded in bringing artists that everyone loves and sang along to. Some surprise guests that performed were Capital Cities, La Factoria and Bobby Pulido.
The three days of this festival were so perfectly crafted with a mix of genres that everyone listens to, from regional Mexican music to indie rock, this edition of Pa’l Norte festival made sure everyone had at least an artist to look forward to watching. It is clear why this festival has become what it is today and what it is known for, as it makes sure everyone has a good time with their family or friends in Monterrey’s biggest festival venue.