In its third year, Sueños has the largest crowd yet. Nearly 70,000 people attended the Latino music festival on Saturday in Chicago’s Grant Park, bringing Latinos from all over the country together.
The headliner for Sunday, Grammy winner Peso Pluma, promised to galvanize a larger crowd, though weather kept the grounds closed after the expected noon start. The festival posted on social media it would open at 4 p.m.
What started as a festival to celebrate Latino culture and to create a unique space for reggaeton music has transformed into a festival highlighting the rise of regional Mexican music over the last years.
Artists like Pluma and young Mexican American singers like Xavi and Ivan Cornejo, who performed to a thrilling crowd on Saturday, have crossed over into a more mainstream market. Last year, Junior H and Grupo Firme performed on closing day, putting on a unique show that left the crowd wanting more.
Cornejo’s sweet melodies have made him a Gen-Z favorite. Cornejo, 19, taught himself to play the guitar by watching videos and says he began songwriting after enduring a heartbreak.
On Saturday, the young Mexican American singer passed out red roses to girls in the crowd as the strings of the guitar playing pierced a cheering crowd.
Amid sparkling and vivid outfits, hundreds wore cowboy boots and hats, honoring a genre that had long been somewhat neglected. The sounds of accordion or the guitar, which characterize regional Mexican music, now intertwine with Latin trap and reggaeton at the festival as more artists collaborate.
This year, Puerto Rican rapper Young Miko and Rauw Alejandro closed the first night to an excited crowd that danced and sang along to their lyrics. Despite the rain and thunder on Sunday that delayed the opening, festival goers lined up again to try to get a front stage view of some of the top artists, including the anticipated acts from Gabito Ballesteros, Maluma and Pluma.
Sueños has quickly become a staple of the city, recognizing the presence and economic power of Latinos in Chicago and across the nation. Though attendees vary in background, the majority are young Latinos.
Now on par with Lollapalooza and Pitchfork, some hope that organizers add more stages and create a better system to enter the festival. A line with hundreds of festival goers wrapped along Michigan Avenue as they waited to enter the festival Saturday. Several said they had been in line for more than an hour.
The two-day festival, taking place over Memorial Day weekend, is presented by the producers behind Baja Beach Fest, Chicago’s Reventon Promotion and C3 Presents, the Live Nation subsidiary that also puts together Lollapalooza. Organizers reported the festival brought in $120 million to the local economy in 2022 and created 1,000 jobs, and also contracted dozens of local food and beverage vendors.
For Latinos in Chicago, the festival is more than just a celebration of music, it’s a celebration of their identity and culture. On Saturday, Mayor Brandon Johnson and Cristina Pacione-Zayas, his chief of staff, stopped by the festival.
“This is the most amazing and fastest-growing music festival in the country. We wanted to make sure that we welcome all the patrons and make sure that folks know that we have a deep interest in this and make sure that this festival continues on and on,” Pacione-Zayas said.
Chicagoan Lisset Gamino, 27, attended the festival for the first time this year. She said she was inspired to attend because of the lineup, a mix of “good reggaeton and Mexican music.”
Gamino is a first-generation Mexican American from Michoacan and Guerrero who grew up listening to regional Mexican music.
The rise of regional Mexican music and how it is celebrated and accepted now makes her proud, she said. “But it also irritates me a little because everyone wants a bandwagon. Artists want to collaborate with the bandas. It’s annoying because they’re only doing it because it’s popular.
“I’m very proud to be Mexican,” she said, “But I love seeing so many people from different Latin American countries together listening to music together.”
Concertgoers Nikki Franco, and Juli Perez, both 19, say they met when they were children at their local church in Albany Park. Their friendship turned into romance and the two have been dating for over a year. Their love for reggaeton music took them to attend Sueños for the second time. “It makes me feel proud that all these Latin artists are here with us,” she said.
Stephanie Ramos, 29, was born and raised in Logan Square. She says she loves Young Miko and Peso Pluma, said she attended the festival after experiencing the vibe last year as she worked one of the stands.
“Everyone is proud to be Mexican nowadays,” Ramos said, which was not the case when she was in grammar school and high school. “Everyone was ashamed of their music, but Peso Pluma really brought that out of people.”
Ramos, a first-generation Mexican American, said that the festival brought a sense of dignity to the Latino community in Chicago. “Now everyone wants to wear cowboy boots and hats,” she laughed.
Alex Bejr, 27, of Cicero has attended Sueños since its 2022 inaugural festival.
“I love that it brings people from all over the United States. It’s a very Latino space and it’s so cool to experience this,” he said. Growing up, he said, he noticed the way Latinos were marginalized and the festival now dedicated to his community makes him proud.
“We’ve come a long way,” he said.
