Meet the 19-year-old Spaniard who crowd surfed in a wheelchair

Álex Domínguez, was one of more than 100,000 people to attend Resurrection Fest, in Viveiro, Galicia, but it was his crowd-surfing picture that took the internet by storm, going viral for all the right reasons. 

Domínguez, a law student from Baños de Río Tobía (La Rioja), travelled almost 365 miles by bus with his  mother, to attend the festival.

The young 'metal head', who uses a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy, was raised above the crowd by his fellow attendees during a performance of his favourite band, Arch Enemy, proving that, if everyone chips in, music festivals really can be accessible to all. 

Several videos of the elated youngster crowd-surfing over the sea of fans spread across social media, but one photo, taken by one of the official photographers of the festival, Daniel Cruz, went viral.

“With this type of music it’s common for people to be lifted up in the air,” Cruz told the Spanish edition of the Huff Post. “It’s a way of taking part, of doing the same things that everyone else does.”

Domínguez described how he felt “like God” as he flew above the crowd. “It’s a feeling of adrenaline, of freedom, that there are no limits or barriers and that you can achieve anything if what you wish for is true,” he told NueveCuartoUno.

The band Arch Enemy also shared the video of their young fan surfing above the crowd.

The 19-year-old, a student of the University of La Rioja, is used to breaking down barriers, having being told when he was younger that he would not be able to learn to write. “Believe in yourself, not in other people’s old-fashioned prejudices” is Álex’s message, “If you want to, you can.”

By Alice Huseyinoglu