San Jose stadium to host first live music festival

For more than a decade, PayPal Park has drawn fans for soccer matches, championship games and international tournaments. Next month, the San Jose stadium will welcome a different crowd when thousands of música mexicana fans gather for its first-ever concert.

BelicoFest, a festival featuring artists including Tito Double P, Gerardo Ortiz and Santa Fe Klan, is coming to PayPal Park on Aug. 29. Organizers said they chose San Jose because of the city’s strong support for regional Mexican music. They see the event as a way to expand the festival’s footprint while bringing a major Latino cultural event to the South Bay.

The festival marks a milestone for the home of the San Jose Earthquakes, which has never hosted a concert since opening in 2015. Event organizer Andres Charvel, CEO of 515 Entertainment hopes the event will draw fans from across Northern California and help establish PayPal Park as a destination for future live music events.

“We’ve seen San Jose really embrace música mexicana whenever artists like Peso Pluma, Fuerza Regida and Junior H come through,” Omar Serrano, spokesperson for BelicoFest, told San José Spotlight. “That showed us there was a strong market here and made San Jose a natural place to bring the festival.”

Serrano said there’s an opportunity to build on the momentum created by recent major events in the South Bay, including local World Cup matches, while offering a large-scale festival centered on a genre that continues to grow in popularity across the U.S.

“People have wanted PayPal Park to host concerts for a long time, and now it’s here,” Serrano said. “We think this could open the door for more live music events in the future.”

District 6 Councilmember Michael Mulcahy, who represents where PayPal Park is located, said BelicoFest represents an opportunity to showcase San Jose while supporting local businesses.

“PayPal Park’s first concert is an exciting milestone for District 6 and for San Jose,” Mulcahy told San José Spotlight.  “It’s another opportunity to build on the momentum of SJ26 by welcoming more visitors to our city and showcasing everything San Jose has to offer.”

SJ26 is a collaboration between the city and local groups to promote concerts and other live events taking place around this year’s major sports games, such as Super Bowl 60 and the World Cup.

Mulcahy said events like BelicoFest create opportunities for hotels, restaurants and small businesses while introducing new visitors to the city. He added the city worked with nearby residents, PayPal Park and the San Jose Earthquakes to address neighborhood concerns before approving concerts at the venue, including strengthening noise reporting requirements.

Resident Zenaida Muñoz, a fan of Santa Fe Klan who is performing at BelicoFest, said her youngest son bought her tickets to attend.

“I have been in the United States for so many years and to hear music that comes from Mexico brings me life,” she told San José Spotlight. “I feel less stressed when I can hear music from my country.”

Contact Maryanne Casas-Perez at [email protected] or @CasasPerezRed on X.