The curtain does not come down at Paredes de Coura. Instead, as Saturday’s headliner Franz Ferdinand plays their last couple of songs — unlike in their national debut back in 2006, they do not shy away from performing crowd pleaser “This Fire”, even though, one more time, forest fires wreck havoc across the country — an arsenal of colorful balls is being pulled from the very top of the natural amphitheater. They’re launched at the audience as the festival’s aftermovie is shown to a sold-out crowd immediately after the end of the show, to the tune of the unofficial anthem of the festival. And we can’t help but feel nostalgic already.
For our 12th consecutive edition: it’s that time of the year again! Vodafone Paredes de Coura 2025 takes place from August13 to 16, at the usual spot: the Taboão river beach, right off the village of Paredes de Coura. Daily tickets (€60) and full festival passes (€130) are still available; between August 10-12 there are free shows at the town centre, too.
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 theVodafone Paredes de Courafestival: 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?
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.
Well, it’s that time of the year again. First things first. Let’s start with what 99% of the people want from us every single summer: our printable blocky timetable, which you can download below, in a variety of formats:
And, while you dream about the current weather predictions actually happening…
…keep reading to find out about our top 10 picks for this year’s festival, as always mostly focused on the smaller names of the lineup. And scroll to the bottom for a Spotify playlist featuring not only the artists featured below, but also acts like Dry Cleaning, Jessie Ware, THUS LOVE, or Crack Cloud.
