The first 3Cat en Viu is far from the extinct Festa dels Súpers in attendees

BarcelonaNearly 50,000 people approached the Olympic Ring of Montjuïc this weekend to attend 3Cat en Viu, the event with which the Catalan Corporation of Audiovisual Media seeks to recover the spirit of Festa dels Súpers but expanding the perimeter to adult spectators, listeners, and users as well. These are figures that fall far short of its predecessor, which disappeared in 2017, when it registered 190,000 visitors – and which had been declining, compared to 2011, when it set a record with 420,000 attendees–.

The activities were free, but each day there was a central event that was paid for and was held at the Palau Sant Jordi. Saturday's, for example, cost 26 euros and was Quim Masferrer's show to celebrate the ten seasons of El Foraster. Despite only filling half the capacity, the actor and comedian was able to warm up the entire venue with his heartwarming stories. There were representatives from the 120 small towns to which the program has dedicated an episode, and the former member of Teatre de Guerrilla wanted to name them all, one by one, in a rousing song that made an 85-year-old lady celebrate hearing the name of Sant Llorenç de la Muga as if Barça, despite not playing, had scored the winning goal in the Champions League final that took place a few hours later.

The special allowed attendees to catch up with some of the program's famous characters. Thus, we know that Pepe from Castellfollit de la Roca, who had been building a catamaran behind his house for almost forty years to go to Panama and was suffering from cancer, attempted the feat and reached the Canary Islands. There he broke his sails and had to return, but he proudly assures that he has not yet given up on his dream despite his delicate health. The spectators have met again, ten years later, with Ramon. At that time he was fourteen years old, he took care of 60 cows he knew by name and was worried because he didn't think any girl would want to share his bovine chore. But destiny has infinite resources in its pocket, and this Saturday – ten years later – a young and well-established Ramon introduced him to Clara, who has agreed to live love amidst mooing.

The Stranger knows how to touch the fiber of patriotic pride and when one of the guests exclaims “Thank you for reminding us that we live in the best country in the world!”, the ovation is instantaneous. At the same time, the script is cunning enough to avoid dangerous essentialisms. And thus we learn the story of Seny, who took a year to cross Africa from Guinea for a year to settle in Rellinars – and now speaks Catalan well – or that of an attendee at Sant Jordi, presumably chosen at random, from whom we discover that she came from Tucumán – the origin of Argentine empanadas, as we are informed – and who explains in Catalan that she is very happy to live here and that we are neither as stingy nor as closed-minded as the cliché suggests.

Mag Lari, the Company Elèctrica Dharma, and dances of giants and capgrossos push the show towards a party finale that pleases the attendees. Twenty-four hours later, Masferrer's good people have given way to the euphoric who gathered to see the participants of the fourth season of this program and how they performed some of the songs they defended during their time on the show.

Already outside, Saturday's sun is inclement and the Olympic Ring, a child of the era of hard plazas, is a bit overwhelming and makes one think that instead of symbolic wire trees, they could have installed literal trees, those with leaves and shade. The central space is supposed to be an agora for meeting and admiring the shows, but at midday on Saturday, most of the congregants occupy the climate refuges that the different filming sets on the outskirts have become, more sheltered from the sun.

Thus, people pile up at the set of Crims – but in this case seeking darkness in the blinding light – or at a piece of the set of Com si fos ahir in a beautiful metaphor for the Barcelona housing crisis, while observing from a safe distance – and protected from the sun – the spectacle on the main stage. The troupe from Polònia has brought some of its most characteristic characters. Pedro Sánchez, Oriol Junqueras, Ada Colau, Rosalía, Martínez Almeida or Ayuso create chaos in the face of the councilwoman's futile efforts. But the most frank laughter is generated by Franco, ironically enough, when he exclaims: “What a beautiful sight to see so many people facing the sun!”.

The dispersion of stages makes it difficult at times to grasp the overall meaning of the festival, especially on the upper terrace of the Olympic Ring, where the programming is more geared towards adults. On the other hand, on the lower level there is the Super section and even though children of multiple ages and different interests coexist on the SX3 channel, it is evident in these stands that this new festival format continues to make more sense for children than for adults, aside from the Sant Jordi bowling. And, therefore, even though there are also shows with the most popular characters, a large children's number that brings everyone together and helps to visualize the group's power is missing.

That said, one of the objectives of the current leadership of the Corporation is to seek new audiences who in the previous stage might have seen TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio as distant. In this sense, and caught on the fly, several conversations in Spanish suggest that this work of seduction – no matter how much it irritates part of the more essentialist parish – is beginning to work.