Sueños Musical Festival in Chicago gets underway, despite a few bumps in the road
The first-ever Sueños Music Festival in Grant Park, dedicated to celebrating Latin culture, art and music, is running through Sunday on the lakefront.
Ambar Colón/Sun-Times
Sueños Music Festival has arrived in Grant Park, and it’s making history, too.
This Memorial Day weekend, Grant Park is hosting the first and largest outdoor reggaetón festival to ever take place downtown.
Checking in with some of the fans in attendance, people have traveled from all over the country just for this festival, making road trips from Wisconsin, Indiana and California. True festival vibes are present in everything from the music to the fans’ outfits that boast everything from glitter to fishnets to bright makeup.
Latin music fans filled Grant Park on Saturday afternoon for the first day of the Suenos Music Festival.| Kate Daly
Kate Scott/For the Sun-Times
Festivalgoers can chow down on a wide array of food from several Latin American countries. Local businesses like Tecalitlan Mexican Kitchen, Ponce Restaurant and Beat Kitchen have set up shop onsite.
Jenny López and her longtime childhood friend Adolfo López said they’ve been to all kinds of music festivals and concerts together. Sueños is right up their alley.
“The vibe, everything, everybody’s all cool — and I love it,” Adolfo Lopez said.
There were plenty of Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Dominican flags in sight as Dominican rapper Tokischa took to the stage for her music set.
The rising star delivered some of her most popular songs, “Singamo,” “Ser Perra Está De Moda” and “Perra,” which features J Balvin who sadly did not make a guest appearance but who is scheduled to close out the festival on Sunday night.
One bump in the road on Saturday came via an updated festival grounds map, which was not made available until the week before the event. Some VIP ticket holders were not too happy with the placement of the VIP viewing area (for which they paid a higher ticket price).
When Sueños was first announced in early February, the festival posted a map which showed the VIP section being directly in front of the main stage. On Saturday, about half of that viewing area had been designated for general admission ticket holders.
Many fans took to social media to express their unhappiness with the seemingly last-minute change, some saying they felt “ripped off”.
Lana Mar, a VIP ticket holder, said that the change felt “unfair” because she’d bought her ticket under the impression that the VIP area would be front-and-center.
The CÎROC Vodka Spritz bar at Suenos Music Festival is VIP-exclusive and features a variety of new seltzers, along with a backdrop for selfies.|
Ambar Colón/Sun-Times
The festival addressed the update in an Instagram post saying that it was “made with the entire VIP experience in mind ... The VIP area on the side is simply quick access to your exclusive VIP bars, food, bathrooms, water and more.” VIP ticketholders can make use of complimentary oversized, colorful bean bag chairs throughout the fest.
Ana Sorlozano traveled two and a half hours with her friends from Milwaukee to see their favorite artists. They were among the many VIP ticket holders who didn’t even about the VIP section situation.
“So far, so good,” she said, “except we didn’t like how they had two check-in lines. We thought they should’ve just had one.”
There was a glitch in the Saturday music lineup as well. Jowell & Randy, the Puerto Rican reggaetón duo composed of Joel Muñoz and Randy Ortíz, didn’t make their set. The Sun-Times has reached the festival’s public relations team for comment. .
VIP ticket holders at Suenos Music Festival can enjoy a complimentary bean bag to lounge on throughout the festival.|
Ambar Colón/Sun-Times