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23 / 09 / 2004
Loquillo: If a society only mobilizes itself when they sack a football trainer, things are in a bad way
The singer and his band, Los Trogloditas, will perform at the Marina Stage on Friday and Saturday, closing the nighttime musical line up at the Forum
More information about Loquillo y los Trogloditas
 Video of the press conference
For Loquillo, it is a real privilege to play at the Forum in his hometown, just when he celebrates 25 years of success with the band with a platinum record in recognition for a million copies of his music sold over the years.
Loquillo said that the band was desperate to play at the Forum. They have turned down playing in other venues that could have been more lucrative for them to come and play at the Forum Site in the Besós district of Barcelona, "because the Forum is not something that is going to be repeated and we had to find out what it was all about for ourselves". The singer sees it as logical that they should have been asked to close the musical line up for the event, as representatives of Spanish rock culture: "Who are the most important rock & roll band in the country? Who is proud of coming from Barcelona? I am!" he exclaimed, adding that the performance at the Forum will be a unique opportunity to see the band at its best.
In terms of the content of the Forum 2004 Dialogues, Loquillo said, "there have been too many well-known faces at them" and that there should have been more "street debate". For the singer, Barcelona has always been a racially mixed city and after the Forum it is up to every citizen to set an example for every European city. "The most important thing about a country is its civil society. If this society only mobilizes itself when they sack a football trainer, things are in a bad way", he pointed out. In spite of hearing a certain amount of criticism on the subject, he does not think that the Forum is too repetitive, because there are people who need things to be repeated to them more often than others. "I have no faith in the songs I like the first time I hear them", he argued.
The repertoire that the group will play on the two nights of concerts will be a mixture between classics from the band and themes taken from the last decade, with special attention to their latest CD, Arte y Ensayo.
The band has been negotiating its participation in the Forum since the month of May, setting the condition for a drop in the entrance ticket price for their concerts. Their intention was to have tickets priced between 9 and 15 euros, "half of what a rock concert usually costs", since they understood that the Forum was to be a cultural event and that they wanted to perform in the Catalan capital free of charge. With the introduction of the cheaper priced nighttime tickers, the requirements of the band were fulfilled, albeit indirectly, and they finally accepted to perform at the Forum. "Now we are trying to get the organizers to let tickets go for free", they said.
Loquillo also announced their next film project, "Mujeres en Guerra", which narrates the story of six women from the Spanish Civil War to the founding of the Spanish trades union, Comisiones Obreras. The sound track has been composed in collaboration between Loquillo and the poet Gabriel Sopeña.
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