Revival of La Semana Alegre music to the ears of Fiesta goers
La Semana Alegre, the legendary Fiesta music festival that folded in 1995, is being revived.
The new event, now dubbed La Semana Alegre at Hemisfair, debuts April 25-26. That means it will fall during Fiesta, which runs April 18-28.
The lineup won’t be announced until March, but bargain hunters who want to take a chance on the new event might want to try to snap up some of the limited number of $10 tickets on sale at lasemanaalegre.com. The cost is a nod to the price at the end of the festival’s run.
The new event is a joint project of Hemisfair and Galaxy Productions, which produced the Maverick Music Festival and Muertos Fest, the annual Día de los Muertos celebration in Hemisfair.
The new fest has big shoes to fill by taking on the mantle of La Semana Alegre. The original, which started in the mid-’70s, drew such names as Peter Frampton, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, who appeared with his band Double Trouble in 1990 four months before his death.
San Antonio favorite Legs Diamond recorded its album “Captured Live” at the festival in 1990.
A late edition of the festival in 1993 featured 10 days of rock, Tejano and R&B concerts on the Freeman Coliseum grounds, including appearances by April Wine, Triumph, “Weird” Al Yankovic, TLC, Mazz, the Turtles, the Tragically Hip and David Lee Garza.
The revived festival will include food and drink vendors, artisanal craft stalls highlighting the work of local artists and children’s activities in Yanaguana Garden.
Regular-priced and VIP tickets will go on sale in March. Proceeds will benefit Hemisfair, the nonprofit that has been working to revitalize the site of Hemisfair ’68.