Tag: festival

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Vodafone Paredes de Coura 2024

Post author By bolachas
Post date August 24, 2024

Perfect weather? On my festival? You gotta be kidding me. This lineup, on these green, masterfully crafted festival grounds, with a large but respectful (and mostly silent during shows) crowd, with zero rain and mild night temperatures is an automatic 10/10. And that wasn’t even the main change for the 2024 edition of the Vodafone Paredes de Coura festival: for the first time since the introduction of a second stage in 2011 – previously, the smaller stage only worked before and after the main stage shows – there were no overlaps between bands. This meant everyone could see every single show of the festival if they really wanted. It also meant there was barely a moment where there wasn’t any music playing. It also meant that every day of the festival, not including the side programme, went on for 12 hours, with some very late shows in the mix. Obviously, there were still choices to be made: do I miss an entire show to go home and pick up the earplugs I left there? Should I eat anything at all tonight, or regret it tomorrow? Do we get any sleep at all tonight?

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Vodafone Paredes de Coura 2024: our picks

Post author By bolachas
Post date August 4, 2024

Our favorite festival is back! Online ‘pundits’ have complained about a lack of strong headliners whose names capable of pulling large crowds, and they’re right. Usual rock suspects Idles and Fontaines DC are unlikely to draw Pixies or Tame Impala levels of people with daily tickets; Killer Mike might be one of the biggest names in the more ‘tasteful’ international hip hop scene, but he’s no Kendrick Lamar; and Thursday doesn’t have a single artist worthy of headliner status on a 20-30k people festival.

But the question is: does it really matter? The festival is at its most pleasant whenever it’s 20% below capacity, anyway. The drift away from the ‘mega headliner’ format that Primavera Sound Porto is now adopting was a winning formula in 2023, and we’re glad to see it stick – even if it was not intentional. To make up for it, the undercard of the lineup is phenomenal, probably its best ever, to the point that there’s an additional band each day playing the secondary Yorn stage, even taking some of the usual DJ set spots. Sure, maybe staying up until 6 am every day isn’t the best thing a thirty-something should do with their life, but we’re not saying no to bands like Sextile or Tramhaus. Read on to find out which ten artists – only one of them plays the main stage – we decided to write about this year, download our classic printable/mobile timetables, and listen to our playlist.

Vodafone Paredes de Coura runs from 14 to 17 August 2024 (but there’s music from the 11th); daily tickets are available for €60 and 4-day passes for €120. Camping is free for ticket holders. Check their website for all info.

PDF | PDF mobile, wed/thu | PDF mobile, fri/sat | XLS

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Primavera Sound Porto 2024: a preview

Post author By bolachas
Post date May 31, 2024

PRIMAVERA SOUND PORTO 2023 _ DAY 4 / 10JUN _ © Hugo Lima | hugolima.com | www.fb.me/hugolimaphotography | instagram.com/hugolimaphoto

On Saturday, June 8th 2024 I was supposed to see my 15th Shellac show. Three weeks after Steve Albini’s sudden passing, it’s still hard to imagine we’re not seeing their name on Primavera’s lineup ever again. Shellac is an impossible band to replace, and the organisation knows it well: it was either silence or a celebration, and we got a Shellac Listening Party instead, where their first album in ten years, To All Trains, will be played in its entirety.

In 2024 we also mourn the loss of the Bits stage, which is unavailable for this year’s edition. We lose the clubbing part and a nice shelter from the rain, but there are good news, too. Music starts earlier, with the first shows starting around 16:30, and it stops earlier, too: expect to be home before 3 am. What a dream.

Expect the best food court of any music festival, maybe a little bit of rain, stunning headliner sets by Pulp, Mitski and Lana del Rey, and the greenest the park has been in recent years, as per the festival’s director. Read on to know about our top ten non-headliner sets for this year, and listen to our special Spotify playlist.

Primavera Sound Porto 2024 runs from June 7 to 9 and full festival tickets (plus day tickets for Thursday and Saturday) are still available on the festival’s website. As usual, you can download our printable timetables here (Excel/3-day view) and the mobile PDF version here.

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MENT Ljubljana 2024

Post author By bolachas
Post date March 4, 2024

*Los Bitchos. Photo by Tina Stariha (MENT)*

Don’t get me wrong, I love all the festivals I made a habit of visiting every year, both in my home and my adopted countries. You know the ones: festivals where 90% of the acts either sing in English, and/or come from the Anglosphere. Just like I’m writing these lines in the current lingua franca instead of my own language so you can understand me. But there was something refreshing about my first trip to MENT Ljubljana, and that had to do with the variety of latitudes and, most importantly, languages and regional traditions you get acquainted with on stage, without any pretence of the whole thing being labeled a world music festival.

Because it isn’t – it is a showcase festival, with mainly 30-40min long shows, aimed at discovering new-ish artists from all over Europe, where you’re surrounded by professionals from the music industry – around 700, according to MENT – but also music lovers from all around the region (7000 across 4 days). Except for the odd loud conversation at one of the shows of the opening night, this was probably the nicest and most polite audience I’ve been surrounded by, and that’s something.

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Preview: MENT Ljubljana 2024

Post author By bolachas
Post date February 13, 2024

Showcase festival MENT Ljubljana‘s tenth edition kicks off next week (21-24 February), and we’re going to be there for the first time. Tipped by industry insiders as one of the best events in Europe to discover new talent, we were drawn to it by the focus on European artists (not exclusively, from all over the Balkans, Central, and Eastern Europe), the iconic venues, and, of course, the charming capital of Slovenia. Labels, collectives and other entities (public radio station Val 202, legendary local label Moonlee, or Belgrade-based tastemakers Hali Gali) curate stages during the two main days of the festival, and are the best way to get a sense of regional scenes. To top it off, this year’s edition boasts an extra segment (and an extra day), CE/MENT, focused on clubbing and electronic music, and features an extensive three-day conference, the largest in the region, with over 120 industry representatives spread by 33 panels.

Our thirteen artists to watch all come from different European countries, and most sing in their native languages. A breath of fresh air from your typical anglocentric festival. (Yes, I’m writing this in English so we can understand each other, I’m aware.) We’ll be posting on our Instagram throughout the festival, so make sure you follow us there, too. MENT Ljubljana 2024 runs from 21 to 24 February, and both day tickets and passes are still available.

We have created a Spotify playlist with our top picks (see below), but the festival was kind enough to put together a playlist with all the artists on your favorite streaming service.