Iggy Pop live in San Sebastián for 2022 summer festival

ROCK legend Iggy Pop will be the star of the show at next year's Jazzaldía Festival in San Sebastián, a whole 31 years after he last performed in the Basque coastal city.

And according to event director Miguel Martín, it was the globally-acclaimed artist known as James Newell Osterberg himself who mentioned he was keen to return there.

After his previous appearance in 1991 at the Anoeta stadium, Iggy Pop (Muskegon, Michigan, USA, April 1947) will be in the Guipúzcoa-province capital on July 23, 2022, treating generations of fans to a combination of his rock classics and his newest studio album.

This latest work, titled Free, is described by Miguel Martín as being 'distanced from [Iggy Pop]'s wilder days' and 'closer to the later works of Lou Reed'.

Iggy, 74, and his show will hit the stage at 18.30 in the Kursaal stadium, one of two – along with the main arena in the Plaza de la Trinidad – hosting the festival, and his will be the third main act of the event.

It kicks off on July 21 with Calexico, the Gregory Porter on July 22.

After Iggy, July 24 features Yann Tiersen, and the final day, July 25, Herbie Hancock takes centre stage.

These will all perform in the Kursaal, whilst the focal event in the Plaza de la Trinidad opens on July 22 with two famous Japanese female pianists – Miho Hazama, accompanying Big Band students from the Musikene academy, and Hiromi, one of the biggest jazz stars on earth at present.

The next day, the square will host a session Miguel Martín refers to as 'super-adrenalin charged', with the 'festival favourite', saxophonist Steve Coleman, and the 'eccentric and original' Louis Cole, on the drums, keyboard and as vocalist.

Singer Kurt Elling and jazz musician Claudine Myers take their place on the scene on July 24, and the final day, July 25, brings saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin and singer Diana Krall into the Plaza.

Tickets – which are now on sale – are numbered for the concerts in the Plaza de la Trinidad, to help keep tabs on how many people are at the venue, and the audience will be sitting, with seats kept two metres apart.

This will be the case 'at least until Louis Cole's show', says Miguel Martín, after which 'we'll see how it goes'.

Jazzaldía, or Jazz al Día – which can translate as either 'jazz in the daytime' or 'jazz brought up to date' and, in this case, means both, as the festival will be largely during daylight – is one of the most nationally- and internationally-famous music events and draws in fans from all over Spain and abroad.

You book your place online by running an internet search for Jazzaldía entradas ('entries' or 'tickets'), which will take you to the festival site, Jazzaldia.eus, San Sebastián (known in the Basque language, euskera, as 'Donostia') city council's arts, entertainment and heritage website – Donostiakultura.eus – and to authorised ticket sales agencies such as viagogo.