Chicago Open Air Festival 2016: Day 1

Though mainstream content-makers and white metalheads might not associate Latinxs with heavy metal music, we know different. ألعاب لربح المال  My Mexicanx family is full of roqueros (“rockers”), metal-heads, and dark ass people who have terrified their parents with their kool-aid-dyed black hair, obsessions with The Crow, and collections of black t-shirts with metal band names and satanic symbols on them. In our art, entertainment and music tastes Latinxs can be stuck in no man’s land; liking metal and rock (en inglés o aún en alemán) we are not Latinx enough; in metal spaces, we’re told in not for us . But we know better. We know that the rock and metal scene is full of artists and aficionados who are Latinx and that, even if it weren’t the case, that any music can be for us. 

That is one reason why Gozamos will be covering the first Chicago Open Air festival, taking place in Toyota Park this weekend. I’m sure every roquero in Chicago at least heard of this fest, if not scrounged their dollars together to get a ticket. In my circles, even those that lament the popularity (and price) of three-day festivals put their biases aside to be amongst Their People and attend a festival that makes Riot Fest look about are hard rock as increasing pop- and EDM- focused Lollapalooza. العاب اندرويد  Rammstein, Slipknot, Disturbed, Marilyn Manson, Chevelle, Korn—need we say more? وليام هيل

Check out our photos from day 1 of Open Air Fest, and be sure to follow our festival coverage on Instagram (@gozamos), SnapChat (GozamosChi) and Facebook (Gozamos)!

All photos by Michael De Anda Muñiz