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Last Tour's Eva Castillo shares her thoughts on the festival's recent 2024 edition and looks to the future in an interview with IQ
By James Hanley on 22 Jul 2024
Bilbao BBK Live organisers have stressed the importance of festivals carving out their own identity after pulling 110,000 fans to its 2024 incarnation.
The Last Tour-promoted festival, which takes place in two mountains – Kobetamendi and Arraiz – averaged more than 35,000 fans per day from 11-13 July, with 26% travelling to the Basque capital from abroad.
“We are very satisfied and happy because we have made some improvements in terms of structures to improve comfort, visibility and we know that they have worked due to the positive comments received by the attendees,” Eva Castillo, director of communications at Last Tour, tells IQ.
“We continue to be attractive to new audiences – seven out of 10 attendees are between 18 and 39 years old – as well as keeping those who have been coming since the first edition. We also maintain the balance between the international public travelling from more than 50 countries, and the national-local public.”
Acts included Massive Attack, Grace Jones, The Prodigy, Jungle, Mulatu Astatke, Air, Ezra Collective, Los Planetas, MEUTE, Slowdive, Sen Senra, Maria José Llergo and Orbital.
“Every year it is more difficult to find headliners because there are so many festivals and so many artists are doing headline shows,” notes Castillo. “Even so, Bilbao BBK Live is an established and internationally recognised festival, which makes it easier.
“Our focus is always on maintaining the identity of the festival, which makes us unique and is the reason the public chooses us and decides to come to Bilbao for three days from any part of the world. We are working hard to minimise the environmental impact of the festival and increase its social impact.”
“The trend is to create festivals with a strong identity of their own: medium-sized, sustainable and committed to the territory where they are held”
Spain’s Last Tour provided shuttle services for ticket-holders to travel between the campsite and festival site, and also sought to reduce the Bilbao BBK Live’s carbon footprint by organising a walking tour, accompanied by a brass band. The festival also featured plastic-free, eco-friendly stage designs with wood linings and biomaterial compositions, while the BALORE (Basque for “values”) space highlighted its commitment to environmental and social causes.
“This year we have conducted several measurements to improve sustainability regarding the mobility of people attending the festival, which will help us improve this aspect in the next edition,” says Castillo. “Likewise, we hope to be able to apply the previously mentioned prototype with wind and solar energy in new scenarios. Similarly, we remain very attentive and closely follow all new talents, not only in music but also in other disciplines, especially those from the region, to give them visibility and continue reinforcing our identity.”
Furthermore, promoters adapted the site in an effort to improve the visitor experience.
“We have reduced visual noise by repositioning some structures and we have implemented the American FOH to improve the visibility of the San Miguel stage,” she says. “We already did this on the main stage in the previous edition with very good results.
“On the other hand, we are implementing different actions to reduce our environmental impact and increase our social impact. We have set up a prototype to measure the wind and solar energy we can generate for the stages. We are doing this project in collaboration with Repsol and have implemented it on the Txiki Stage.”
With Bilbao BBK set to return from 10-12 July 2025, Castillo also reflects on the common thread in the growth of the European sector in recent years.
“We believe that the trend is to create festivals with a strong identity of their own: medium-sized, sustainable and committed to the territory where they are held,” she finishes. “It is very important to think about all the parties involved: attendees, artists, brands, etc. We have been working in this way for years and we will continue along these lines.”
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