On the second day, we chose to skip the crowded pool: there was a giant entry line, which means virtually no space to lay a towel, let alone having a spot away from the sun. We took a walk in the city instead, and stumbled into The Glockenwise playing on a quiet garden near the city center, while being filmed by the Videoteca Bodyspace team.
After some 45min of waiting time, way later than expected, Tigrala finally showed up on the Milhões stage for the first concert of the day. The luso-mexican trio played a more electric and rockish set than their selftitled album would suggest; perhaps a more “contemplative” sound would be best suited in a situation where they were playing a giant stage to a few dozens of hungover people at 7pm under a burning sun. By then our camera’s batteries had already died out and we left to buy some more before the epic Chungwave conference (don’t ever think about buying batteries in a Chinese store. They didn’t last more than a hour with the camera on.) that was about to take place on the city center.
Right after 8pm, guests LSD Mossel were the first taking the “stage” at the Palha street. Playing their 9th concert in the festival, the awesome Dutch duo presented their ‘toycore’, using a small toy drumkit (carried around on a LIDL bag) and a yellow Spongebob Squarepants guitar. I was quite surprised to see that no one in the nearby buildings went to their windows to see the show. Were they afraid of a guy with long dreadlocks in a strange robe playing a yellow guitar or was it the deadly growls’ fault? Guess we’ll never know.
Special guests THE MACAQUES, the band of João Moreira, very well known in Portugal as the voice of the humorous character Bruno Aleixo were next, playing four of their instant hits. One of them was a protest song about the financial crisis, about José Mourinho, an ordinary man who had to leave his poor country to be able to provide for his family. That poor guy. But everyone was waiting for the massive hit that is “É Bairrada”, AKA the Portuguese nyan cat (Bairrada is a region of Portugal known by its wines and restaurants where the specialty is “leitão” – roast suckling pig – hence the animal in the official video). The performance was almost ruined by a couple of police officers that probably didn’t like the idea of having a couple of dozens of people blocking a narrow street, but the sense of humor prevailed. They ultimately got TFO, Chungwave wins.
Foice Humana praising Super Bock, the best beer alive!
I don’t even know what to say about Foice Humana. I just want to say that I am proud to be among the small amount of people who were actually there on 23/07/2011. I didn’t just read about it on the internet. Thank you, world. Rotten eggs for everyone.
I already wrote on early articles that in a festival like this, music isn’t everything. Before the Anti-Pop Consortium concert we crossed the bridge to Barcelinhos and headed to Xispes (or Café-Bar-Rio) to dine the almighty giant panado/panadão/I-didn’t-take-the-time-to-try-to-know-if-there’s-a-translation-for-this-word-and-I-don’t-care.
All hail the Giant Panado (Pannadum barcellensis) God. Cthulhu is dead.
The Giant Panado is an enormous piece of meat that can look like an exquisite underwater creature if you photograph it from the right angle. Yes, that’s a bun over there. Its only purpose is keeping your hands clean.
Anti-Pop Consortium
We should have stayed some more minutes eating another of those beauties (I dare you to eat a pair of those on the same meal) because, to add to the already massive delay, Anti-Pop Consortium spent an eternity doing their soundcheck. But that might have been the most rewarding wait of the festival: the NY trio gave one of the most solid shows of the entire fest, proving that even after a somewhat long hiatus, they’re still one of the most relevant hip-hop acts of today (video below by festmag)
Vivian Girls were next on the main stage. They’re sweet and everything but the music is too bland to be true. No one would care about this band if their members were random guys instead of pretty girls. Nothing much to see here, move along.
ZU
Now Zu. Zu is a real band. My ears are still bleeding from this one (jk, the show was a week ago). They were easily the loudest band in the fest (except for some moments in the Pega Monstro show in the last day of the fest when the high pitched screams of the lead singer tore apart my eardrums) and I’ve enjoyed their show much more than when I saw them perform in a seated venue. Still presenting their latest, non-aging album, Carboniferous (2009), this was, perhaps, the best concert of the second day. Great job from the sound guys and even better musicianship by the three Italians. Even guys who run jazz magazines loved this.
Secret Chiefs 3
Next was Secret Chiefs 3. While the show was still top 5 material, I had higher expectations, since I had already seen them twice and I know they’re capable of doing better. Or I could just blame the late hour they were on: at nearly 3 AM, I just can’t enjoy live music as much as I would three or four hours earlier. For me, that was the major flaw of the festival, although that’s a common problem in most Southern Europe events, this time exacerbated by the schedule disruption. The all-star lineup, which included Kayo Dot’s Toby Driver on bass guitar and Estradasphere’s Timb Harris skipped some of their best numbers (everyone missed “Renunciation”) but played a couple of new songs that will, perhaps, be on the forthcoming (delayed a thousand times) album and a gorgeous rendition of Exodus (from the Book of Horizons album), which can be seen below.
Bob Log III
Next on the Vice stage was the weird one-man band Bob Log III. How can a guy that wears a fucking helmet – with a earphone hanging near his mouth… – and wears a cannonball suit on stage play that good?
Bob Log III wants your shit on his leg. Bob Log III gets your shit on his leg.
Now add a couple of girls sitting on his legs (during the appropriately named “I Want Your Shit on My Leg”). Bob is the bomb, and like SC3 above, I just wish his show was on a little earlier so everyone could enjoy it more than the picture below suggests.
This is how you look after 16 hours of concerts and 4 of sleep.
No, I did not expect anything more bizarre than this from Man Like Me at 5 AM. I don’t even remember watching this. But I think the picture below pretty much sums it all.
Man Like Me
WORDS: Diogo S. Silva
PICS: Ana M. Bento and Amílcar Rodrigues
