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Festival Rock y Ruedas de Avándaro

Festival Rock y Ruedas de Avándaro (also known as Festival de Avándaro) was a rock concert that took place on the night of Saturday, September 11, 1971 and became known as a milestone in the history of Mexican rock music. On that night, several major rock groups performed at an outdoor festival in front of an audience of over 200,000 people.

The event was named Festival Rock y Ruedas de Avándaro (Festival of Rock and Wheels) because the event was originally supposed to be a sponsored car race with rock bands. Somebody advised the car racer Eduardo Lopez Negrete to include ambient music. The organizers decided to consult Armando Molina for further advice. Molina suggested including twelve bands and helped organize the event.

The concert occurred in the Valle de Bravo, a lakeside resort in Avándaro, near the city of Toluca, Estado de Mexico, two-hours from Mexico City. The concert brought thousands of young people together in peace to share and enjoy the music. The Festival took place in the aftermath of the 1968 massacre of Tlatelolco, and was under the threat of government repression. At the end of what became known as the "Mexican Woodstock", the government helped evacuate stranded attendees en masse. As a result of the festival, rock music was suppressed in Mexico for several decades.

Some events were filmed by Telesistema Mexicano (today Televisa) but the footage remains missing.