Guieldu Live at the Hops and Beer Festival

Carrizo de la Ribera

Our music sounds loud and clear along the banks of the Órbigo

Car­ri­zo de la Rib­era is locat­ed in the province of León, in north­west­ern Spain, just south of the Asturi­an moun­tains. Set along the Órbi­go Riv­er about 25 km from the cap­i­tal city of León, it is a region deeply root­ed in agri­cul­tur­al her­itage and renowned as one of the coun­try’s main hop-grow­ing hubs—a crop that has shaped the local land­scape and econ­o­my for generations.

Often referred to as “green gold,” hops are an essen­tial ingre­di­ent in brew­ing, and the fer­tile soils of the Órbi­go val­ley offer ide­al grow­ing con­di­tions. Out of this brew­ing tra­di­tion grew the annu­al Hops and Beer Fes­ti­val (Feria del Lúpu­lo y la Cerveza), a vibrant sum­mer event that fills Car­ri­zo with craft beers, region­al gas­tron­o­my, arti­san mar­kets, cul­tur­al activ­i­ties, and live out­door concerts.

The fes­ti­val draws vis­i­tors from all across the province of León, as well as hol­i­day­mak­ers spend­ing their sum­mer in the sur­round­ing countryside.

For decades, Car­ri­zo has also been a clas­sic get­away for fam­i­lies from Asturias—especially those from the north­ern min­ing valleys—seeking a warm, sun­ny refuge away from the coastal damp and clouds. That tra­di­tion remains strong today, with many Asturi­ans con­tin­u­ing to vis­it Car­ri­zo to enjoy its famous out­door swim­ming areas and the live­ly fes­ti­val atmosphere.

On July 31, 2025, Guiel­du joined the line­up for the 18^th edi­tion of the fes­ti­val. We per­formed at Espa­cio Lúpu­lo, the main stage of the venue, bring­ing to life many of the tracks from our debut album, Mem­o­ries de Deva.

For us, per­form­ing in León always holds a spe­cial mean­ing, as two of Guiel­d­u’s musi­cians hail from the region. The crowd’s recep­tion was fantastic—and as you can imag­ine, spir­its were high after an after­noon spent explor­ing the craft beer stalls! It was an unfor­get­table night filled with great ener­gy, cama­raderie, and a shared love for live music.

Adding a unique high­light to the show, our band­mate Jorge took to the stage wear­ing the tra­di­tion­al cos­tume of the guir­rio—an icon­ic char­ac­ter from Car­ri­zo’s win­ter mas­quer­ades and tra­di­tion­al car­ni­val cel­e­bra­tions. This ances­tral folk­lore is one of the town’s most dis­tinc­tive cul­tur­al trea­sures, fea­tur­ing strik­ing masks, vibrant cos­tumes, and leg­endary local figures.

Merg­ing our con­tem­po­rary Celtic folk melodies with local car­ni­val iconog­ra­phy made the per­for­mance feel tru­ly res­o­nant. As the con­cert wrapped up and we chat­ted with peo­ple near the stage, we were remind­ed once again of how music bridges ter­ri­to­ries and com­mu­ni­ties, keep­ing cen­turies-old tra­di­tions alive as they shared, evolved, and cel­e­brat­ed together.

The con­cert in Car­ri­zo was part of a par­tic­u­lar­ly intense sum­mer tour for Guiel­du. Just hours after step­ping off the stage, we began pack­ing for France, where we were sched­uled to per­form on August 3 at the Fes­ti­val Inter­cel­tique de Lori­ent in Brittany—one of the world’s pre­mier cel­e­bra­tions of Celtic culture.

From the banks of the Órbi­go to the heart of Brit­tany: a new stage, a new coun­try, and bare­ly two days in between. Guiel­d­u’s sum­mer jour­ney kept rolling on.