From the ferris wheel spinning over the festival grounds to the rock-and-roll queens commanding the microphones, Opening Day at Corona Capital 2025 felt like a technicolour carnival dropped into a pristine November night in Mexico City.
Held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, day one wrapped the crowd in neon, food stalls, dancers, tequila barrels, and a glowing blue ferris wheel that watched over the tens of thousands pouring in from around the world. But the real heartbeat, pulsing across five stages, belonged to the artists who turned the racetrack into a charged, communal, full-throttle celebration.
Rock and roll queens raise their voice
Two rock legends—each with their own crown—used their stages not only to rip through electric sets but to lay down pointed messages about the world outside the festival gates.
Linda Perry, fronting 4 Non Blondes, wasted no time setting the tone.
“We’ve been having some fun playing some shows here and there,” she said. “I hope you enjoy our show, we’re playing a lot of new songs because we’re going to release a new record. So, fuck yeah.”
One of those new songs, “Monomorphic,” was introduced with Perry’s signature candour.
“It’s about basically what is going on in the world today,” she explained. “How we have so many people trying to take people’s rights away. How we have ICE all over America right now. How we have our dreamer programs being shut down. So I wrote this song kind’ve about that.”
Hours later, Shirley Manson of Garbage took the baton—and swung it like a sledgehammer.
“We’re fucking psyched to be here tonight in this amazing city of yours,” she told the crowd. “We have been coming here for 30 years. So Mexico is a very special place for us in Garbage. It feels very exciting for us to be back here with all of you tonight.”
“These are funny days,” she added. “I couldn’t think of a better place to be.”
But Manson saved her sharpest edge for later in the set.
“The world feels like a fucking shithole right now,” she said. “I don’t know how things are in Mexico, but back where we live right now in the United States of America things are pretty fucking shocking. We wrote this next song and it is basically a rebuke to all the nonsense that we’re seeing unfold in the world right now at the hands of very, very old, very white, very rich, old men.”
Garbage then blasted into The Men Who Rule the World, a volcanic moment that felt tailor-made for 2025.
High energy, hard rock
It had been a decade since my last Mexico City concert—Pearl Jam at Foro Sol—and one thing hadn’t changed: Mexicans know how to rock, and they do it with zero restraint.
Queens of the Stone Age and Foo Fighters, the two closing acts on the main stages, tapped straight into that energy.
“I fucking love you so much,” Josh Homme told the crowd during QOTSA’s swagger-packed set. They opened with “Little Sister,” throttled through a barrage of riffs and rhythm, and closed with the monster that is “A Song for the Dead.”
“Such a beautiful fucking night,” Homme said. “This is the last night of our tour and it could not be a better fucking place than the best audience in the world in Mexico City.”
Minutes later, Dave Grohl took over the festival with his trademark full-volume greeting:
“Hey! Hey! Are you ready? Are you fuckin’ ready? Let’s go!”
Foo Fighters tore through two hours of hits, deep cuts and precision chaos. Grohl introduced “La Dee Da” with a grin—“I got one for the Foo Fighters fans… who’s a Foo Fighters fan? Let me see it. I got the deep cuts.”
The show also marked one of the first major festival sets featuring new drummer Ilan Rubin, who fit into the lineup like he’d been born behind that kit. His solo during “Monkey Wrench” was a highlight of the night.
Familiar faces return to the SWOMP universe
Two bands SWOMP crossed paths with earlier this year in Michigan resurfaced on the Corona Main Stage.
Jet delivered their first-ever Mexico City performance with the same punch they brought to their Detroit show in June. Frontman Nic Cester played with the crowd before “Look What You’ve Done,” telling them, “If you know the words… please don’t sing.” Of course, he later stopped singing, aimed the mic at the crowd and smirked, “I told you not to fucking sing.”
Franz Ferdinand—still buzzing in our memory from their electric St. Andrew’s Hall performance last month—kept the Mexico City crowd jumping for over an hour of sharp, dance-driven indie rock.
“We are very happy to be here tonight,” Alex Kapranos told the roaring audience. “You are sounding so good tonight Mexico.”
Corona Capital 2025 continues Saturday and Sunday.
SWOMP will be on the ground all weekend. Stay tuned for more coverage.