Europe-an rock royalty kick off iconic Costa del Sol music festival

Europe-an rock royalty kicked off Torre del Mar’s Weekend Beach festival on Thursday 4 July. The Swedish band with frontman Joey Tempest burst onto the stage with as much energy and zeal as they might have done when their biggest hit The Final Countdown was released in 1986.

Engaging with the audience in English and Spanish they provided a spectacular start to this year’s festival, with songs including Rock the Night, Cherokee and Carrie. Tempest even broke into a bit of Bob Marley’s ‘No Woman, No Cry’ at one point to the delight of the crowd.

A slight technical hitch which saw the band having to leave the stage for 10 minutes while a problem with the lighting was fixed made the countdown even longer for their final number and the song that everyone was waiting to hear.

The legends certainly attracted a slightly older crowd on Thursday night who ticked all the boxes for a good old-fashioned rock concert: original rock band tour t-shirts and a good show of bandanas. There was air guitar playing and headbanging, although there was arguably more hair in beards than on heads these days for many of the fans.

Europe were followed by Spanish ska group La Pegatina whose fun, vibrant set had the crowd jumping and down and dancing into the early hours on Friday morning.

The group, whose appearance was their eighth in nine years of the Weekend Beach festival, are firm favourites in Torre del Mar and with their colourful audiovisuals that accompany an energetic set with songs in Spanish, French, Italian and English it’s clear to see why they keep getting invited back.

On the Weekend Victoria Stage, the winners of the DJ contest, Pinkmans Brothers, and Luis Muriel's set got the dance and electronic music fans going in the early hours of Friday morning.

Today, Friday 5 July, the party gets under way on the Weekend Victoria Stage at 8pm with Lia Kali, followed by Coque Malla, who will be performing for the first time at the festival. The urban flamenco fusion sounds of Maka from Granada and Madrid-based Cano, will also be on the stage.

The Torremar Victoria will begin an hour later, at 9pm with another festival favourite, El Canijo de Jerez, who will be followed by Lola Índigo, Seville singer Beret and the British drum and bass duo Hybrid Minds.

The Sunrise Stage is also preparing a long night with Emm, Oliver Gil, Dubtiger, The Yellowheads and Nusha, followed by Cristian Varela B2B Marco Bailey at 2.30am. Space 92 and Popof will end the proceedings for Friday night

The last day of the festival, Saturday 6 July, will feature performances by Carlos Sadness, Tarque y la Asociación del Riff, Álvaro de Luna, Rayden, Melendi, Mora and Steve Aoki. Click here for full lineup and tickets