Latin Rock and Mexican Pride Combine at Rock Fiesta Sarah Bennett - Phoenix New Times
go to original March 22, 2016

At the same time that clashes between supporters and haters dominated news coverage of Donald Trump’s weekend rallies in Fountain Hills and Tucson, thousands of Mexican rock fans gathered in the Arizona desert for a protest of a different sort.

In reality, Rock Fiesta — which we called “the Coachella of Latin Rock” for its two-day campout premise and impressive lineup of seminal Mexican acts — was never meant to be anything political. But how could the largest rock en español concert on American soil not take on greater significance when it’s happening in a state that has historically passed and enforced some of the strictest anti-immigration laws that have only served to make life miserable (if not hostile) for its Latino population?

And who on Rock Fiesta’s organizing team could have predicted that after two years of planning, their festival would fall right in the middle of a racially charged election season, one in which the front-runner for the Republican party has repeatedly called Mexicans “rapists” and is campaigning with rhetoric that calls for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and the construction of a border wall?

Driving from places like Phoenix, Mexicali, L.A., Las Vegas, and Texas, the mixed-status crowd of Mexicans, Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans descended upon Quartzite’s Desert Gardens RV Park and Showgrounds Friday and Saturday with these issues top of mind. Some came armed with “Fuck Trump” posters and Trump piñatas; others with traditional pre-Columbian headgear and Mexican flags. Despite 100-plus-degree temperatures, everyone came ready to dance, mosh and celebrate Mexico’s contributions to Latin rock on a level never before seen stateside.

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Photo: Sarah Bennett

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