The ViñaRock audience debacle is no longer a secret: the clear highlight of the edition, the Sex Pistols (or the group that today bears that name, without the band’s classic vocalist, Johnny Rotten, at the helm), played in front of around 100,000 people. A year earlier, the same event had brought together 240,000 attendees. ViñaRock is the main victim of the crisis unleashed by the financing of several Spanish festivals by Israeli investment funds.
The vindication, part of its DNA. ViñaRock was born in Villarrobledo in 1996 with a very specific profile: combative rock, affordable prices and alternative spirit. This differentiated it from other macro events and also favored the approach of the public and bands with very explicit political positions leaning to the left. It did not take long for it to grow until it became one of the main festivals in Spain under the motto ‘Neither God, nor country, nor king’, becoming the largest of its kind. In 2025 it brought together 240,000 people and generated 22 million euros economic impact in the region.
The numbers of 2026. The public number of attendees was 100,000 in three days, less than half that in 2025. The organization presented it as a relative successalthough the economic impact falls: of the 22 million generated in 2025, around 11 million will remain. To compensate for the lower external influx, the festival allowed access by the residents of Villarrobledo through its registration program, a formula that for years reserve tickets at starting price for residents of the municipality before the general sale. In the 2026 edition, this preferential access had more weight than ever, and the result was something that in networks It has been closer to the classic image of a patron saint festival, more than a classic rock festival.
How it started. In May 2025. El Salto published an investigationrevealing that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), an American venture capital fund, had acquired in 2024 the promoter Superstruct Entertainment for around 1,400 million euros. Superstruct manages nearly 80 festivals around the world and, in Spain, it has more than twenty events under its umbrella, such as Sónar, Arenal Sound, FIB, Resurrection Fest, O Son do Camiño, Monegros Desert Festival or ViñaRock.
The crisis came when it became known that KKR maintains positions in Israeli cybersecurity companiesis the main investor of the German media group Axel Springer (which has real estate activity in occupied Palestinian territoriessomething contrary to international law) and its president for the Middle East moved in May 2025 to the Civil-Military Coordination Center run by US army officials in Israel. For many regular bands on the circuit, it was a very difficult issue to ignore.
Cancellations begin. The rap-metal group Sons of Aguirre & Scila was among the first to formalize the boycott: in a statement announced that he would not participate in any festival in the KKR orbit again until the owners changed. They were soon joined by Fermín Muguruza, Los de Marras, Sinkope, No Konforme, Residente, Judeline and Samantha Hudson, among others. The ViñaRock tried to do damage controlreaffirming their artistic independence, condemning the situation in Palestine and announcing legal action against what they considered a smear campaign.
New poster. In February 2026 It was made public that the festival had been acquired by Orange Alive, and an attempt was made to rebuild the 2026 edition practically from scratch. It didn’t help much, because that same month it was made public that They were still linked to Superconstruct. The poster featured groups such as the Sex Pistols with Frank Carter, Turbonegro, Skindred, Celtas Cortos, Medina Azahara, Kiko Veneno and Barón Rojo. The tickets started at 39.99 euros, notably lower than previous editions, and the videos on social networks left images of the events for posterity. half empty stages.
He’s not the only one. The ViñaRock crisis is far from being the only one: the concentration of festivals in the hands of large financial groups is a consolidated trend in the live entertainment industry. Other festivals in the Superstruct orbit may face similar reactions from the public and groups, although Resurrection Fest, similar in nature to ViñaRock, broke attendance record shortly after the controversy broke out. Quite possibly, ViñaRock has been affected by both the boycott and the little time it had to restructure its lineup after the defections.
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