The festivities of the Virgen de la Paloma in Madrid, which will begin tomorrow August 14 and will last until August 17, arrive this year marked by significant last minute changes in programming. According to the Madrid City Council, the changes are due to the large influx of public and for organizational reasons, especially in the Las Vistillas Gardens, several concerts have advanced their schedules with respect to the program published at first.
It is not clear if these changes are related to the controversy about the low volume of the concerts, especially those scheduled later, after 11 pm, when the decibels have to be drastically reduced. But what is certain is that all the performances of the best known artists have been changed to before that time.
The concerts of the festival of the Virgen de la Paloma
The musical highlight starts on Thursday 14 with Antonio Carmona, whose performance begins this year at 21:45 h in Las Vistillas -an advance compared to the traditional night sessions- followed by the session of Dj Alberto Hache at 23:00. On Friday 15, Pol 3.14 takes the stage at 21:30 h, while Saturday 16 is reserved for Café Quijano (22:00 h) and then Claudio Muñiz y su Banda (23:30 h), both in Jardines de Las Vistillas. The DJs and orchestras that will liven up the early hours of the morning -such as Alberto Hache, Pulpo, Tama and Pakito- will also alternate between Las Vistillas and Plaza de la Paja, adapting to this new time frame and spaces.
The main performances in the Plaza de la Paja maintain their afternoon and evening format, highlighting the live performances of Los Invaders x Mahou on Thursday, Metropop on Friday and Malena Gracia & Locomía on Saturday, all starting at 10:00 pm. The traditional Salve a la Virgen de la Paloma is performed every night at 00:00 h, followed by DJ sessions to close the day.
On Friday 15, the big day, the traditional sequence is maintained with the floral offering at 12:30 h, solemn mass at 13:00 h, lowering of the picture of the Virgin by the Fire Brigade at 14:15 h and procession of the Virgin at 20:00 h.
