Kim Ki O and Mkrni were meant to play in the previous day but had to postpone their gigs, so they opened the day at the pool stage. When we arrived there, Mkrni was already playing, followed by Narwhal and Nazka. All of them provided nice background music to a game of cards that I invariably lost almost all the times, but the prize goes to the drony/psychedelic outfit Narwhal. I almost got up to go see them, but figured out that losing one more round was probably a better choice. The only band playing on the pool that day that made me get up from my towel was Pega Monstro.
“B Fachada takes it up the ass.” ~ Pega Monstro, 2011″
Joined in stage by a friend, the duo of sisters from Lisbon gathered and held a decent, standing crowd in front of the stage throughout their whole set. Their straight-to-the-point lo-fi rock songs get stuck inside your head like a bullet (actually, sometimes we thought our ears were being shot, when the high pitched screams came). The set closer “Paredes de Coura” was probably the most celebrated song of the afternoon, ‘cause the pool doesn’t have salmonellae. Also, kudos for not being afraid of saying things like “B Fachada takes it up the ass” (O B Fachada leva no pacote). You go, girls.
Now back to the Vice stage, where Throes + The Shine were already playing. Having seen both bands live, I honestly thought they sucked. But alchemy has its ways and there’s something in this mixture that brings the best of each act to the surface and presents you with one of the most astonishing shows of the three days of festival. They call their strange mix of rock and roll and kuduro rockuduro and, much to my surprise, it works like a charm! Not that picking up a guitar and a drumkit and infuse it with Africa is necessarily a new thing, but this is something different and possibly precious. Take a look at the Videoteca Bodyspace video where it all started, below.
Next on the main stage was Papa Topo. The sweet boy-girl duo from the Mallorca, Spain played their first show in Portugal ever under a warm sun that was asking for an ice cream – because the best thing about the summer is being able to eat some of those.
Paulita taking a sneak peak at the camera
Turns out this was the perfect Summer concert, chilling as a 7pm show near a river should be – except for Adrià’s microphone issues, at least I just couldn’t hear his voice during his parts from where I was standing. Of course, their three singles (Lo que me gusta del verano es poder tomar helado, Oso Panda and La Chica Vampira) were the highest points of their performance (and also the last three songs to be played). We’ve been asking for the Summer to arrive (this is being one of the rainiest Summer seasons of the last couple of decades here in Portugal), weren’t we? Well, here it is.
Headlining the last day of the festival were Electrelane, perhaps the most well-known and the biggest name on the lineup, coming back after a hiatus of some long, long years. I have to admit that I didn’t like the show they gave at Paredes de Coura four years ago. At all. Maybe that’s why they broke up then: their live show just wasn’t living up to their reputation and peoples’ expectations. Well, that was 4 years ago.
2011 seems to be treating the four girls from Brighton just great, and they look and sound way better than when they broke up. Finally, they sound like what people told me they sounded before that boring festival show in 2007: Sonic Youth drowning in a bucket of honey. Oneida on a cute summer dress. Half sweet [via ‘To the East’] half manly [their rendition of the Bruce Springsteen song ‘I’m on Fire’, on the encore, rocked out way more than most of the beardful bands on the lineup], the British group easily gave one of the best shows of the festival and wiped away the snoring idea I had of them. Brilliant!
you better Washed Out
After skipping Star Slinger (not really in the mood for those soundz after Electrelane, sorry!) Washed Out was next on the main stage. With a richer, fuller sound than the lol-fi stuff on his studio (err, bedroom?) recordings, the chillwaver improves his music with the help of a backing live band.
Still, and although his live show is way more bearable than the records, I can’t say I’m impressed by his 80s-inspired sound. As I usually say about other lame 80s revivalists, if you like the 80s so much, why don’t you just crawl back into your mother’s womb? Just kidding, this Washed Out guy seems like a nice bro. I’m just not into his music.
Foot Village was the last concert we saw in its entirety, ending (our) festival with a blast. Four drummers, lots of noise and a raging female vocalist. Like Boredoms turned Riot Grrrrrrrrrrrrl. It would be perfect if people could join them on stage and turn the concert into a drumming workshop or something. Rad!
I really wish I still had energy left to properly enjoy both Radio Moscow and Comanechi. But as I said earlier, 16 hours of music a day and an average of 5 hours of (sloppy) sleep in a tent, and dozens of concerts on more than 5 stages in just three days aren’t for everyone.
Comanechi
It’s impossible to cover everything, but I hope you enjoyed reading all we wrote about the festival as much as we did researching, writing and photographing it. See you next year?
WORDS: Diogo S. Silva
PICS: Ana M. Bento, Amílcar Rodrigues
