The Big Bang Vintage Festival returns to Gran Canaria for a seventh time in October with power pop legend Paul Collins, Les Rencards, Trouper’s Swing Band and Titis Twister, alongside acts such as The Vinylos, Hot Vulcan Stompers, Naife, Las Arañas del Neptuno, Los Cracks, The Cavaliers and The Deadringers.
The Gran Canaria festival brings rock’n’roll to Las Palmas from the 11 October to 13 October. Taking place at San Telmo Park, the event features Paul Collins, drummer, lyricist, singer and founding member of LA trio The Nerves. Collins, who has released a dozen albums under the Paul Collins Beat or Paul Collins label, will be visiting the capital of Gran Canaria for the first time on 12 October, which will also be the first date of a European tour. After his appearance at the Big Bang Vintage, he will visit Madrid, Granada, Valladolid, Coruña and Bilbao.
Big Bang Theory
“This year we are bringing one of the great figures of power pop, Paul Collins,” says festival director Javier Viera. “We are promoting rock made here. There are few of us and we have to make a lot of noise, and rock’n’roll deserves a festival of these characteristics in the Canary Islands.”
Alongside Spanish bands Les Rencards (from Barcelona), Titis Twister (Madrid) and The Trouper Swing Band (Alicante), the line-up includes an outstanding representation of the island scene, such as The Vinylos, Los Cracks, Las Arañas de Neptuno and Hot Vulcan Stompers, and the recently formed Gran Canarian combos Naife and The Deadringers. The artistic line-up is completed by DJs: Palermo Brothers, Los Pinchadiscos del Pantano, DJ Cat and J La Fábrica DJ.
The Heart Of Power Pop
With the short-lived life of The Nerves, completed by guitarist Jack Lee and bassist Peter Case, Collins toured the US and shared stages with the Ramones. They recorded a self-titled four-song EP in 1976 which included the anthemic classic Hanging On The Telephone, famously covered by Blondie. After the dissolution of The Nerves, he would go on to front The Paul Collins Beat and the 1979 debut album, The Beat, gifted another anthem, Rock’n’Roll Girl. Other albums include Kids Are The Same (1982), To Beat Or Not To Beat (1983), Long Time Gone (1985), Live At The Universal (1986) and One Night (1987).
Further solo albums followed: From Town To Town (1993), Live In Spain (1997), Flying High (2006), King Of Power Pop (2010), Feel The Noise (2014), Out Of My Head (2018) and Stand Back And Take A Good Look (2024).
Going To The Chapel…
DJ sessions, burlesque shows, literature, comics, exhibitions, antiques and collectibles, vintage fashion market, vinyls and crafts, tattoos, barbershop and children’s activities make up an attractive and eclectic programme that this year brings back the Las Vegas-style weddings, Chappel of Rockin Love, and which will take place in the San Telmo park, Círculo Mercantil and the Ámbito Cultural hall of El Corte Inglés.
A highlight of this year’s programme is the wedding celebration. The Chappel of Rockin love opens its doors on Sunday 13 October at noon in Parque San Telmo, for couples who want to renew their engagement with the blessing of the Reverend Bluesman, the alter of Borja Viera, who also serves as master of ceremonies of the Big Bang Vintage.
A Way Of Life
From 3 October to 16 October, an exhibition will be open to the public in the Ámbito Cultural of El Corte Inglés with a collection of drawings of singers from all eras, by Emil Sánchez. While on Thursday 10 October, the day before the Big Bang Vintage is launched, Cabaret Teatro de las Vanidadex will transform the Círculo Mercantil in the capital of Gran Canaria into a celebration of burlesque and transgression.
Expressing that “rock’n’roll is a way of life,” the Gran Canaria Big Bang Vintage Festival is an invitation to “families, young and old, to discover the rhythms of rock and roll, a music from another time and another century that has never gone out of fashion,” emphasises Viera. An event that, according to the organisers, “in each new edition we want to promote sustainability, recycling, collecting, secondhand clothes and vinyl as a musical support.”
For tickets and more information on The Big Bang Vintage Festival click here
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Dan Biggane
Dan Biggane is a writer for Vintage Rock and Classic Pop magazines. A former entertainment editor at the Bath Chronicle newspaper, he’s interviewed numerous big names from the world of rock’n’roll, including Dion, Jerry Allison, and Slim Jim Phantom. He has also contributed a number of cover features for Vintage Rock including Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, Billy Fury and Bo Diddley.
