The 10th edition of the Acústica festival closed last night with a record 40,000 attendees

Figueres (ACN). – The 10th edition of the Acústica festival closed last night with a record 40,000 attendees. The festival was held in the town of Figures, in northeast Catalonia. It is the best year that the festival has experienced. The director, Xavi Pascual said that they were all especially pleased that they had not had to cancel any of the shows despite the bad weather over the weekend.

"More than 40,000 people attended the concerts, double the amount seen last year, despite forecasts of bad weather" said the director. "The best proof that it was a success" he said "is that we do not need to give any figures about attendance". Acts in this years festival included pop group Manel, the Pepperpots, and solo artist Beth. A special subsection of the festival, the Dalí Canta, was dedicated to the painter Salvador Dalí. "It was a massive event" said Pascual "the paid concerts recorded 100% attendance and the 'Dalí canta', which has been widely covered by the media, has helped Acústica to be promoted throughout the country." The 10th edition of the Figueres Acústica festival was popularly received this year with 40, 000 attendees. To mark the 10 year anniversary of the festival, the directors wanted to do something special. Pascual said that "after doing ten years we had to do something special so that everyone will speak about it for the next ten years. In this sense, highlighting the character of Salvador Dalí as being from Figures was special as it associated the names of Dalí and Acústica." The tribute to Dalí saw the participation of twelve Catalan and International pop singers including Gerard Quintana and Ana Torroja. Sol Picó danced a routine to the original voice of Salvador Dalí and Enric Casasses recited poetry. The Dalí Canta took place in the Plaça Gala Dalí, designed by Dalí himself, where seating was limited to 600 each day. The event was sponsored by two music legends Alice Cooper and Amanda Lear who both shared close relationships with Dalí. They read texts over a video recorded especially for the festival. "First of all we looked for artists that had something to do with Dali and had lived with him and his work. And Alice Cooper and Amanda Lear were two of the musicians closest to the painter. Unfortunately, for scheduling reasons they could not come but we were told that if we were able to go where they were recording we could film their poetry recital, as clashes of schedule or not, they wanted to be part of this tribute to Dalí. So we did this and through a video link we could have these two sponsors present" said the festival director. Dalí is one of Catalonia's most internationally recognized artists. Although he was best known for his paintings he was artistically accomplished in many creative areas including photography, sculpture and literary works. From a young age his poetry reflected his surrealist style. The Dalí Canta was the first major efforts to interpret his poems. Figueres, the birth place of Dalí, is the largest city close to the French border in northeast Catalonia and as such the festival attracted visitors from both territories as well as spectators from further a field. Finally, Pascual said that the aim of next year's festival is to make the festival even more professional so that it can continue for ten years more.