Festival Ceremonia


Ceremonia, known for sponsorship reasons as AXE Ceremonia, is a music festival that takes place in Mexico City. Once a one day-festival, it became a multi-day festival showcasing major international and local alternative acts. Throughout the years since its inception in 2013, attendance has rapidly increased and Ceremonia is now one of Mexico's biggest music festivals, and one of the most important alternative music festivals in Latin America. The musical style of Ceremonia is similar to European festivals such as Primavera Sound and Roskilde, focusing on alternative rock, electronica, contemporary R&B, neo soul and hip hop, with prominent figures of alt-reggaeton and corridos tumbados being featured as well.
Among the headliners that have played at Ceremonia are Tyler, the Creator, Snoop Dogg, Björk, Beck, Massive Attack, ASAP Rocky, Travis Scott, LCD Soundsystem and Kendrick Lamar, alongside many of the major acts of the Spanish-speaking music scene, such as Natanael Cano, Rosalía, Julieta Venegas, C. Tangana, Tainy and Fuerza Regida. The festival has also featured sets from DJs and alternative dance acts like Gesaffelstein, Underworld, Aphex Twin, Kaytranada, Arca and Peggy Gou.

History

The festival was created by Diego Jiménez Labora, who came up with the idea of holding a festival of alternative music with inclusive activities and spaces. The name Ceremonia comes from the Joy Division-written song "Ceremony", which Jiménez considered as a "reference to alternative music". After being originally planned to be held at Parque Ecológico de Xochimilco in Mexico City, the first edition of the festival was held on 14 September 2013, at Centro Dinámico Pegaso in Toluca.
Following seven editions and a two years absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the site of Ceremonia was moved further to the Parque Bicentenario in Mexico City for the eighth edition in 2022. Additionally, the 2023 edition became the first year of the festival to take place over two days.

Line-ups by year

2013

The first edition of the festival took place on 14 September 2013.

2014

The second edition of the festival took place on 16 August 2014.
Cerveza León Stage:
Ceremonia Stage:
Vans Off the Wall Stage:
  • L-Vis 1990 vs Kingdom
  • Toy Selectah
  • Daniel Maloso
  • Erick Rincón
  • Sanfuentes
  • Teen Flirt
  • Lao
  • Los Mekanikos

2015

The third edition of the festival took place on 9 May 2015.
Corona Stage:
Vans Off the Wall Stage:
Camp Roswell Stage:
  • Zombies in Miami
  • Royal Highness
  • Zutzut and Ezekiel
  • AAAA
  • Mate
  • Trillones
  • Raido

2016

The fourth edition of the festival took place on 9 April 2016.
Corona Stage:
Vans Off the Wall Stage:
Absolut Camp Roswell Stage:

2017

The fifth edition of the festival took place on 2 April 2017. It was originally scheduled to take place the day before, but it was rescheduled due to weather conditions.
Vans Off the Wall Stage:
Corona Stage:
Camp Roswell Stage:

2018

The sixth edition of the festival took place on 7 April 2018.
Ceremonia Stage:
Corona Stage:
Camp Roswell Stage:
Traición Dome:

2019

The seventh edition of the festival took place on 6 April 2019.
Vivir es increíble Stage:
Corona Stage:
Absolut Stage:
Traición Tent:

2020

The 2020 edition of the festival was due to take place on 25 April with The Chemical Brothers, Thom Yorke and FKA Twigs announced as headliners. The site for the festival this year was planned to be moved to Campo Marte in Mexico City. However, on 16 March 2020, it was announced that Ceremonia had been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and had been rescheduled for the second half of the year. On 1 October, it was announced that the 2020 event would not take place, and had been rescheduled for 2021. Nevertheless, the festival had to be wrapped up until the eighth edition in 2022.

2022

The eighth edition of the festival took place on 2 April 2022. For the first time, the festival was held in Mexico City, specifically at the Parque Bicentenario.
Ceremonia Stage:
Corona Stage:
Traición Stage:

2023

The ninth edition of the festival took place on 1 and 2 April 2023. It was the first edition of the festival to take place over more than one day.

2024

The tenth edition of the festival took place on 23 and 24 March 2024.

2025

The eleventh edition of the festival was set to take place on 5 and 6 April 2025. On 5 April, amid strong winds around 5 p.m, a scissor lift collapsed, killing Berenice Giles and Miguel Ángel Rojas, both photographers. The festival was not suspended until after midnight, and the concert the following day was canceled.