Prior to the festival season kicking off in the UK, TPi turned its focus to Latin America to take a closer look at the production of Tecate Pa’l Norte – a festival that looks to redefine itself annually and create a unique experience for the hordes of music fans that descend on the site in Monterrey, Mexico.
Founded by brothers Oscar and Jesús Flores from Apodaca Music Group back in 2012, the team has continued to grow year on year, but despite this exponential growth, the festival is still a family-run operation – much to the joy of long-time Production Director, Victor Gutierrez. With the 2024 event now behind him, Gutierrez shared his thoughts on the event and what he saw as the major differentiators between Pa’l Norte and other festivals.
“Although I now live in Montreal, Québec it’s great to come down to Mexico as it’s such a vibrant region with tonnes of concerts and festivals,” began Gutierrez. “Tecate Pa’l Norte is something special. It’s such a mix of genres and it feels fresh with each passing year. Not only that but it’s still independently run, and it means whenever we have new ideas about the production, I can speak to the owners directly. It’s unique and the number of times I come to them with a crazy idea, more often than not they say, ‘go for it’.”
Gutierrez was also quick to complement his wider production team who aided in the overall creation of the festival including Stage Designer, Mauricio Del Moral; Lighting Designer, Eduardo ‘Toto’ Lopez; Video Director, Luigi Cuanda; Audio Director, Eduardo ‘Trosky’ Gonzalez, with stage management overseen by Salomon Soloveichik and site management by Sebastian Bejarano.
Words: Stew Hume
Photos: Tecate Pa’l Norte
