With the Fallas, in Valencia starts, as they say, the season of concerts, popular festivals and festivals everywhere. We are not exaggerating if we take into account that the good weather begins, spring arrives and outdoor plans multiply.
In fact, this Saturday the concerts of La Marina en la Pérgola are launched -the legendary Christina Rosenvinge and the group Nebulosa are announced on the poster- and with the Fallas come the first open-air concerts, to which will be added the dozens of festivals, disco-mobiles and performances that will dot the city. And all of them will need a sound system, which is why the companies in the union are headlong these days, balancing schedules and preparing material.
This is explained by Juan José Vila, director of Equipson Group, a Valencian company that manufactures and distributes audiovisual technology, and in turn president of the Association of manufacturers and importers of audiovisual technology in Spain (AFIAL). "The situation will be more or less the same as last year, with a lot of work and a lack of professionals, which continues to be a problem," he argues.
He also adds that this year inflation is added, which "will affect events" and material, because he points out that due to the lack of supplies, many firms will have to be forced to use old material, "and in worse conditions".
"Companies know what is coming their way and that they have to deal with these problems, subletting material to other companies to be able to push that peak of work," says the businessman. He also adds that this year there are elections and with them, a trail of political rallies and events in which audiovisual devices are not usually missing.
Vila is of the opinion that the sector plays, yes, with a certain advantage since this year could be a situation that was experienced especially in 2022, with the so-called "champagne effect" in the concert and nightlife sector after the release of the restrictions imposed by the pandemic. Even so, the containment due to the rise in prices could also affect.
It also predicts a summer with identical problems in terms of human resources. Many professionals in the sector fled to others due to the shortage of work in the pandemic and now it is difficult for them to hire new employees and the experience of new hires "is not the same", they argue.
Regarding this, last year as a result of the accidents that occurred, such as the one at the Medusa festival in Cullera, AFIA organized the first national forum on safety in events, an appointment that will be held again this year in Madrid in autumn. and that he approached with agents of the sector the management of the mass public in large events, realities that in 2020 were vetoed and that now return, once again, with force.
