Reincarnation for Doctor Music Festival

Spanish promoter Doctor Music last night held a launch party in London for the new iteration of its Doctor Music Festival, which will return after a 19-year hiatus in summer 2019.

MCed by BBC Radio 6 Music presenter Matt Everitt, and featuring food by world-famous chef Albert Adrià, the event – held at the exclusive Groucho Club – was attended by a number of high-profile agents and managers, including representatives of Arcade Fire (CAA), Bob Dylan (ITB), Robbie Williams (ie:music), Neil Young (ITB), Muse (UTA), The Black Keys (Paradigm) and Tom Petty (ITB).

The first 6,000 tickets for the ‘Reincarnation Edition’ festival, which will run from 12 to 14 July 2019, will go on sale from www.doctormusicfestival.com in early May – more than two years before the actual event itself.

Three-day passes are €175, although those who attended any of the previous Doctor Music Festivals – 1996, 1997 and 1998 in Escalarre or 2000 in Asturias – will be offered a €50 discount.

The festival site for the 2017 event – which returns to Escalarre, in the Catalan Pyrenees – will be spread over 140 hectares (346 acres), with five stages and general and VIP camping areas, for a minimum capacity of 40,000.

“The combination of the stars right above our heads, the greatest music legends and the most outstanding young talent will create a heavenly experience”

No performers have yet been announced, although is has been confirmed Adrià will integrate his Barcelona restaurant, Tickets, into the festival, bringing over chefs and staff to cook for festivalgoers. He says he’s “really excited to close the restaurant in Barcelona for a full weekend and move it to a wonderful mountain valley”.  Albert Adrià’s ‘Tickets’ Food Experience at Doctor Music Festival can already be pre-booked through their website.

Doctor Music founder and CEO Neo Sala comments: “The Doctor Music Festival is an ecological Shangri-La, an unspoilt valley providing limitless space to roam and surrounded by mountains, where we will welcome tens of thousands of lovers of peace, music and nature.

“The combination of the stars right above our heads, the greatest music legends and the most outstanding young talent will create a heavenly experience.”

There have so far been four Doctor Music Festivals in total: in 1996 (headliners: David Bowie, Blur, Lou Reed), 1997 (Rage Against the Machine, Megadeth, Placebo), 1998 (Beastie Boys, Bob Dylan, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) and 2000 (Beck, Pet Shop Boys and the first Spanish show by Muse).

Melvin Benn’s Mean Fiddler group staged a spin-off one-day festival in Barcelona, the Metallica-headlined Doctor Music Day, in 2003, although there was no follow-up.

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