I have told my Monegros 2012 story many times but never get tired of it…

Never heard of Monegros festival ? 

Monegros is a Spanish festival that takes place in the desert in Fraga, located between Barcelona and Saragossa.

The official festival starts at 5pm on the Saturday and goes until 1pm on the Saturday – the catch is, if you leave before 2am on the Saturday night you cannot reenter the next morning. Easy right?

No… It goes from 30°C in the afternoon to freezing at night, and there is barely any place to take cover so you have to keep going, dancing in the crowd to keep you warm. It is sandy, dusty, windy and EXPENSIVE.

Having struggled but succeeded in 2011, I was determined to go back, prepared.

About two weeks before heading to the festival, I sprained my ankle but chose to ignore it and go anyway. I’m still paying for it now, but I do not regret it for one second.

2011 Edition was an unforgettable experience, I thought difficult to top.

2011- My Colombian friend Juan drove a couple of friends and I to the festival. Wearing nothing but a summer dress, unaware of the temperature drop, I luckily managed to find an ACDC hoody that saved my life. I met up with my good friend Nina, her boyfriend Jimmy and friend Ryan – who sadly passed in 2016 saving another’s life and who we miss dearly -huddled together to keep warm. I later met up with my Barcelona, Kabul Hostel, friends, Brian, Matt, Rob, Gabi and one of my now closest friends Sofia.

Sofia had a month back had one of her most memorable nights, riding Steve Aoki’s boat at Sonar Festival, aking it back to the stage and spending the rest of the festival chilling backstage. Epic as she is, Sofi had managed to get herself on the VIP guestlist for Monegros thanks to Aoki’s manager. Steve Aoki was one the last acts to play at I think 11am. The sun was back out, we headed to the front of the crowd. The manager recognized Sofi and whisked us up on stage. Extra plus, we got to meet Carl Cox who was the following act.

I had accepted that there was no way I could top 2011, but Monegros being such an incredible experience, decided to head back with some new friends, Georgia, Marcela Amy and a guy called Ray.

The night before the festival we had all decided to head home and get some rest. This plan backfired for me as it was my friend Andrea’s birthday. To make it special, her boyfriend Brendan bought a few bottles and we sat in the VIP area of  Factory club (it has since shut down). Behind us some girls were taking pictures with two guys behind us. I was back to back to a third man and asked him what was going on. We got to talking, he told me he worked as a sound engineer for a group called Pyscho Realm who were playing at 9pm at Monegros! I proudly mentioned by dad was also a sound engineer (that’s  He told me they were worth checking out and that we could find him there, he also offered to get my friend Holly who did not have a ticket on his guest list, sweet guy I thought. I told him he could find me in the crowd, that I would be wearing an “I ❤ Pussy” t-shirt I was 19. His name was Frank, we assumed he was actually just a roadie or something.

Fully prepared for the 2012 edition, complete with a hoodie, some leggings to go under my tutu and my ankle strapped we set off for the festival.

Panic n°1: We  got to Sants Station and headed to the ticket machine to purchase our tickets. The train sold out, all of us had a ticket but Georgia… Selflessly Ray gave his ticket to Georgia and off we went

Panic n°2: Us and our bags had to go through airport like xray security.  no further comments 

Panic n°3: We got on the wrong train, managed to switch just as the doors were closing

We were en route !!

After a train, followed by looonngg hot sweeatyy bus ride, we made it to the festival.

This bit is a bit of a blur but I believe we pre-partied with some people on the carpark…then headed to the entrance.

Marcela had cleverly packed us water pistols…unfortunately security was cruel and we only managed to sneak one in. They also confiscated our sandwiches and water.. oh dear

Anyway we arrived for The Prodigy which is to date one of the best acts I have ever seen Live, followed by Wu Tang Clan omg yes .  Pyscho Realm was the next act up. We headed to the front of the stage and I turned to the crowd holding up my t-shirt looking for Frank. The group made their way on to stage, the two at the front, were the guys from the club , and there was a man wearing a mask on the xxxxxx.

“I love Pussy too Daisy” WTF?????? 

It was Frank, he was not some roadie, or one of the sound engineers, he was the third member of the group, DJ FM aka Frank Moreno, who prefers to remain incognito.

Queue screaming and some child-like jumping up and down.

Before we knew it, the gig was over, and out popped Frank, with two VIP bracelets.

Georgia and Marcela humbly let Amy take the second bracelet and we headed backstage. Frank took Amy to meet Wu Tang Clan (only one of us could go), then took us to enjoy their supply of alcohol. We were backstage with The Prodigy, Paul Kalkbrenner, Two many DJs, Sub Focus, etc. We couldn’t quite get our heads around what was happening.

Then we hear a voice me recognise and out pop the other members of Pyscho Realm with Marcela and Georgia who had managed to bribe their was past security and get to us! #legends.

I remember Frank’s face when Marcela downed his icantrememberwhichexpensive bottle of Whisky.

Unfortunatley, Frank and Pyscho Realm had to leave to catch (the helicopter) back to Barcelona…

We however continued our journey through the backstage of Monegros. We somehow ended up in South Central’s trailer. Enjoying the warmth as the freezing has started, along with their booze and party favors.

 

Somewhere along the way Georgia and Marcela got kicked out. Amy and I continued on our free drink tour, and even managed to get some free food which was most needed.

We headed in and out of VIP to catch up with the others. Spending most of the time enjoying the concerts from backstage, met up with SubFocus, snuck up behind Two Many DJs and had one of the most – if not the- most amazing night of our lives.

Luckily for us whilst on stage we bumped into a friend from Barcelona, Bertie, who was an official photographer for the event. He was driving back with a colleague and offered us a ride back to the city.

If that wasn’t enough, I headed to the after party at El Row with some friends.. and was kicked out but that is a whole other story… 

I met up with Frank a few times after that in BCN, notably spent a night in a tatoo parlor watching him get his forearm tatooed and we still stay in touch.