Santa Clara - Brutal Fest en la calle

Our next destination was Santa Clara. It's a city located pretty much in the center of the Island and was the last city that was conquered by the guerilleros during the revolution. We stayed at the hotel Santa Clara Libre in the center of the town. Some of the last battles of the revolution took place right there and you can still see a lot of bullet holes on the walls of the hotel. We already played in Santa Clara two years ago and so it didn't take us long to run into some friends of the local bands such as Eric from Blinder or Pollo from Adictoxs.
We were looking forward to the gig in Santa Clara for a long time because Santa Clara is kinda the Punk Rock capital of Cuba. But...to make a long story short...the gig didn't happen...just like in Bayamo it started to rain just when the first band was about to start. Even though the rain stopped after about fifteen minutes it was not possible to play because the power strips were soaked with water and the Brutal Fest crew decided that it was just too dangerous. It was a really sad moment because a big crowd was there and was eager to see the bands. We were trying to make any kind of a show happen. So we talked to Pollo the singer of the local band Adictoxs. He tried to move the show to a venue called El Mejunje which is probably the only independent cultural center in Cuba. But unfortunatly it was not possible because they already had another line-up for the night. So we figured that the only thing we could do was to do an accoustic set of some kind. We went back to the city center to the local Malecon where the local Punks and Metalheads use to hang out every night. Pollo brought his accoustic guitar and Marc started to play some Ramones covers. In no time a lot of people gathered around us and started to sing along. Every couple of songs the guitar got passed around, bottles of rum were shared... and Brutal Fest was finally happening! Not on a stage but in the street...it was a really crazy experience to do a kind of a flash mob street gig in Cuba! I think that's what Punk Rock is all about and the kids in Santa Clara really got the spirit!
It definitely was a night to remember! Even though there was no regular show, we'll never forget this night! Let's hope we can make it back to Santa Clara some day!