Foo Fighters gave their first concert of the year on Saturday (Jan. 10) in the city of León, located in the central state of Guanajuato, Mexico, in a new setting for the iconic American band: a state fair. The result was a success, drawing more than 25,000 attendees, according to organizers, and meeting the challenge of bringing the stadium-filling rock band outside the major festival circuit in Mexico City and Monterrey.
The achievement is the result of a strategy that the Patronato, a citizens’ council, began several years ago to make the annual Feria Estatal de León, which has been held for 150 years, a key destination, with major performances that place the city and state on both national and international maps.
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“When a traditional fair like the Feria de León offers high-level content, it generates significant tourism revenue that ensures a safe return on investment,” Alonso Limón Rode, general director of the Feria de León and Parque Urbano, tells Billboard Español. “The fair thus becomes an economic driver for the city and the state in the first weeks of the year.”
Organizers expect the 2026 Feria de León, which began Friday (Jan. 9) and will run through Feb. 4, to attract 6.7 million visitors — more than 30% of whom are from outside the region — over 27 days of activities, generating economic revenue of 9 billion pesos ($504 million USD).
In addition to Foo Fighters, this year’s lineup includes artists such as Zoé, DJ Tiësto, Los Ángeles Azules, and Banda Machos in a venue known as Foro de la Gente Mazda. Meanwhile, in the city’s Palenque — promoted as “the largest in the country” with a capacity for 7,500 people — the headlining act is Mexican star Carín León, followed by other major regional Mexican music acts, including Julión Álvarez and Christian Nodal. (A palenque is an indoor space popular as a performance venue for Latin artists that often boasts a central or 360-degree stage.)
Limón Rode explains that in 2024, the Feria de León set a precedent for attracting international talent to the annual event in the livestock-oriented city, located 360 kilometers (about 224 miles) from Mexico City and home to 1.7 million residents, according to official data. A year later, British acts Sam Smith and Def Leppard performed.
“The first big task was convincing the agencies representing those artists. First, we had to put the state on the map, then the city, and then explain that it’s a local fair,” Limón Rode recalls. “Then we gave them the certainty and security that we are prepared to host this type of artist.”
This year, the Patronato of the Feria Estatal de León joined forces with Mexico’s leading promoter, Ocesa — part of the global entertainment giant Live Nation — to organize and produce the concerts at Foro de la Gente Mazda, as well as to secure the artists performing there.
“We carried out a process to select the company providing the entire integrated service. The company tasked with organizing and producing the venue had to provide comprehensive services in terms of production, catering and travel,” Limón Rode says, adding that more than 13 Mexican promoters participated in the selection process this year. “We evaluated technical and operational capacity, financial solvency, and economic stability, and we were thrilled to find in Ocesa a very serious, thoroughly proven company.”
One unique feature of the Feria de León is that most of its events are free to the public. “Eighty-five percent of the capacity is free. We aim to bring this kind of content closer to the people, ensuring accessibility, and we’ve developed an entire strategy to generate revenue to sustain this investment,” says Limón Rode.
Digital tickets are distributed free of charge to attendees through an online registration process. “Users enter a random virtual queue through this digital system, with no fees, and a QR code is issued, which is activated hours before the concert,” he explains. The remaining 15% of the Foro de la Gente Mazda’s capacity is sold to the public under a concept called Fila Cero (Zero Line), guaranteeing access to those attendees.
The announcement that Foo Fighters and Zoé would perform at this year’s event led to approximately 500,000 and 650,000 people, respectively, to try to secure free tickets, according to organizers.
“The Feria de León began 150 years ago as a fair that commemorated the foundation of the city in two aspects: allegorical floats and a livestock exhibition,” Limón Rode says. “But now, it has taken a very significant turn, and we are being viewed from an international perspective. That excites us greatly.”
For more information, visit the Feria de León’s official website.
