{"id":706,"date":"2014-08-27T22:37:04","date_gmt":"2014-08-27T21:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/testes\/?p=706"},"modified":"2020-09-14T22:00:40","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T21:00:40","slug":"vodafone-paredes-de-coura-2014-the-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/?p=706","title":{"rendered":"Vodafone Paredes de Coura 2014 – the review"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"image\"<\/figure>\n
\n

Photo by Hugo Lima [Vodafone Paredes de Coura]<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In 2014, whenever we think
\nabout blurred lines \u2013 other than that<\/i>
\ninfamous song \u2013 we think about that ever diluting line that separates work and
\nleisure, especially when you get to work on something that\u2019s just too much fun
\nand sounds more like a hobby than a real job. Covering a festival is usually
\none of those situations, except when you have to endure really bad or
\nunbalanced lineups. Now imagine you\u2019re not only covering a festival with a good
\nlineup, but you\u2019re surrounded by people who are passionate about it and are having
\nthe best week of their year, in a land immersed in green and drenched by the
\nsun, with good (and cheap) food and drink awaiting on every corner of a small
\nbut welcoming village. That\u2019s Paredes de Coura for you, folks. And we can hardly
\nwait until next years\u2019 festival.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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\n

Janelle Mon\u00e1e. Photo by Hugo Lima [Vodafone Paredes de Coura]<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The first day of the
\nfestival was dominated by the Q.U.E.E.N. Janelle
\nMon\u00e1e<\/b>. Accompanied by a big band all dressed in white, the Kansas singer
\npulled up a flawless show where hits like \u201cTightrope\u201d, \u201cCold War\u201d, \u201cPrimeTime\u201d
\nor even a version of \u201cI Feel Good\u201d were celebrated like no other moments in
\nthat day. Earlier on, Porto-based female rapper Capicua<\/b> had enchanted the still smallish crowd that forgot about
\nthe Champions League game and went to the festival site early. Public Service Broadcasting<\/b> and their thinking person\u2019s music <\/i>closed the first
\nday of the festival on a high note, although the Britons could have benefitted from
\nbeing scheduled before 1 am.<\/p>\n

\n
\"image\"<\/figure>\n
\n

Seasick Steve. Photo by Hugo Lima [Vodafone Paredes de Coura]<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Thursday, the first day of
\nthe festival in full force, with concerts in both stages, began earlier, with one
\nof southern Portugal\u2019s best rock musicians of the last couple of years, Fast Eddie Nelson <\/b>warming up for what
\nwould be one of the best concerts of the festival. Seasick Steve<\/b>, a late bloomer who didn\u2019t record an album until he
\nwas in his late 50s, brought his rocking delta blues to the main stage in the
\ngreatest of fashions, and doing what Portuguese audiences love the most: talking
\na lot and bringing people to the stage. Lucky girl. You\u2019ve shared a stage with
\na soon-to-be-legend. Meanwhile, on the smaller stage, Thurston Moore<\/b> played yet another lukewarm show (good to see Steve
\nShelley on drums, though) that screams \u201cplease, let\u2019s sort out our problems and
\nreform Sonic Youth, can we?\u201d We know, wishful thinking. They\u2019re never, ever,
\never getting back together.<\/p>\n

Another artist whose music
\ndoesn\u2019t quite translate well to a big stage is Mac DeMarco<\/b>\u2019s, tailor of a handful of gems spread across three
\nrecords (\u2018Chamber of Reflection\u2019, \u2018Ode to Viceroy\u2019, \u2018Cooking Up Something Good\u2019,
\n\u2018The Stars Keep On Calling My Name\u2019) but who needs to resort to crazy stage
\nantics to grab people\u2019s attention. It works. Mac\u2019s a crowd-pleaser and there
\nwas still time to roll one with a Bob Marley cover (\u2018Jamming\u2019). That would probably
\nthe best way to keep his music interesting after a few minutes.<\/p>\n

But the best moment of the
\nwhole festival (spoilers!) came in the form of a San Francisco trio. Presenting
\ntheir latest album, Drop<\/i>, Thee Oh Sees <\/b>brought memories of past
\ntriumphant concerts in the smaller stage (right on the top of my head, No Age \u201911,
\nDeer Tick \u201912 and Iceage \u201913). John Dwyer\u2019s violent garage-y, vaguely
\npsychedelic riffs (thank God for \u2018Toe Cutter\/Thumb Buster\u2019) brought the tent to
\na boil, with yours truly\u2019s nose fortunately saved one inch from the cold ground
\nby a kind stranger after a crowdsurf went bad. Thank you.<\/p>\n

The rest of the night was
\ndominated by the hit machine that is Franz
\nFerdinand<\/b>; making people who don\u2019t even like them tap their feet since
\n2002. Festivals around Europe, you already know it: if you\u2019re short of
\nheadliners, Franz Ferdinand are your guys. You know the drill: \u2018Tell Her
\nTonight\u2019, \u2018Take Me Out\u2019, \u2018Jacqueline\u2019, \u2018Walk Away\u2019, \u2018Do You Want To\u2019 and \u2018This
\nFire\u2019 as the closer and nobody is going to complain. Pretty effective, even in
\nautopilot.<\/p>\n

\n
\"image\"<\/figure>\n
\n

Conor Oberst w\/Dawes. Photo by Hugo Lima [Vodafone Paredes de Coura]<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Day 3 began with one of
\nBolachas\u2019 favorites, Dawes<\/b>. The Californian
\nroots-rockers, playing their last European show before coming back to the US,
\nplayed a heat-defeating laidback set which included fan-favorites \u2018That Western
\nSkyline\u2019 or \u2018When My Time Comes\u2019, coupled with songs off their latest two
\nrecords, Nothing is Wrong <\/i>and Stories Don\u2019t End<\/i>, including the
\nbeautiful set-closer \u2018Fire Away\u2019. There was still time for a brand new song to
\nbe included in a forthcoming record, coming up in early 2015. We would meet
\nagain later on the main stage though: Conor
\nOberst<\/b>, in his first ever appearance in Portugal, used the Goldsmiths\u2019 act
\nas his backing band, playing some songs off his latest solo record, Upside Down Mountain<\/i>, and revisiting
\nsome of Bright Eyes\u2019 material, which included three fan favorites \u2018Old Soul
\nSong\u2019, \u2018Another Travelin\u2019 Song\u2019 (both off I\u2019m
\nWide Awake It\u2019s Morning<\/i>) and the oldie \u2018Lover I Don\u2019t Have To Love\u2019. The
\nhighlight of their set, however, was the beautiful rendition of \u2018I Got the
\nReason #2\u2019. There\u2019s a good reason that a song off a record that didn\u2019t get much
\nattention is a constant on his live set, and you can (and should) check YouTube
\nto know why. Taylor Goldsmith really shines on this one, and Oberst can
\nconsider himself lucky he got to pick such a talented band to support them on a
\ntour.<\/p>\n

Between the two
\nAmericana-infused sets we had plenty of reasons to be entertained though, from
\nthe sludgy rock and roll of the young almost-locals Killimanjaro<\/b>, tearing the main stage apart and Linda Martini<\/b>\u2019s more intricate and sonically expansive endeavors to
\nBuke and Gase<\/b>\u2019s experimentalism (and
\nby experimentalism we don\u2019t mean \u2018weirdness\u2019, we mean invented instruments and
\nshit). Before Oberst took the stage, Yuck<\/b>
\nwere playing a surprisingly good show on the Vodafone FM stage, considering
\nthey had just lost what arguably was their most creative band member (and
\nfrontman) Daniel Blumberg. It helped that the band decided that playing some of
\nthe most powerful songs off the first record, such as \u2018Holing Out\u2019, \u2018Georgia\u2019
\nor \u2018Get Away\u2019, during the first half of the set, was a good idea \u2013 and they
\ntopped it off with the single off their sophomore album, \u2018Middle Sea\u2019. If
\nOberst wasn\u2019t calling from the other side of the festival side we would\u2019ve happily
\nstayed there until the end.<\/p>\n

The rest of the day was
\nless than memorable, though: Black Lips<\/b>
\nare always fun and it\u2019s a pleasure to see kids having the time of their lives,
\nsinging along, moshing and crowdsurfing to \u2018O Katrina!\u2019 or \u2018Bad Kids\u2019, but the
\nmain stage is too big for them; Cut Copy<\/b>
\nare, generally, a waste of time.<\/p>\n

\n

After another memorable
\nhours-long DJ set by Gin Party
\nSoundsystem<\/b> at the mystical Xapas Bar, memories of the sublime Sensible Soccers<\/b> concert, opening the
\nlast day of the festival, are still a bit blurry. The Portuguese band\u2019s soft
\nand beautifully crafted kraut-something rhythms and melodies brought us back to
\nEarth just in time for two absolute disappointments: The Dodos<\/b> are not what they used to be (really bland show at the
\nVodafone FM stage, such lack of flame) and Kurt
\nVile<\/b>\u2019s concert was a shadow of the one he gave back in 2011 on the smaller
\nstage, when a powerful and aptly named \u2018Freak Train\u2019 teared the stage apart
\njust before dinner. Fortunately, The
\nGrowlers<\/b> saved the night with the most cheerful and energized show of the
\nlast day of concerts, featuring some fans dressed up as animals (seriously, how
\ndo they endure hot afternoons on those suits?) and high doses of surf\u2019n\u2019roll. The
\nlast concert of the Vodafone FM stage was also one of the best of the whole festival,
\nwith Goat<\/b>\u2019s psychedelic freakiness
\n(nice dancers and visuals, guys) making everyone dance, although we felt the
\nsmall stage was, indeed, too small for them.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/figure>\n
\n

James Blake. Photo by Hugo Lima [Vodafone Paredes de Coura]<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Back to \u2018serious business\u2019
\nconcerts: Beirut<\/b>, against all odds
\n(the cool kids don\u2019t think Zach Condon is hip anymore), did an amazing job,
\neven if sometimes the sound of people talking prevailed over the band\u2019s sound. \u2018Nantes\u2019,
\n\u2018Elephant Gun\u2019 or \u2018A Sunday Smile\u2019 brought them some extra cheers, though. But,
\nin the end, what the average music fan brought home as their best memory from
\nParedes de Coura was a sublime James
\nBlake<\/b> show that would only be better if people who didn\u2019t want to see him learnt
\nto shut the fuck up or go talk somewhere else. Blake
\nstarted by shaking things off with the brilliant \u2018CMYK\u2019 but quickly moved on to
\nmore introspective areas (such as Feist and Joni Mitchell\u2019s \u2018Limit to Your Love\u2019
\nand \u2018A Case of You\u2019), meddling between his latest album Overgrown <\/i>(\u2018Life Round Here\u2019, \u2018Overgrown\u2019, \u2018Retrograde\u2019) and his breakthrough
\nself-titled debut (both \u2018Lindisfarnes\u2019 or the show\u2019s highlight \u2018The Wilhelm
\nScream\u2019). Some might argue that his music wasn\u2019t suited to wrap up the last
\nnight of concerts at Paredes de Coura, but ultimately everyone else\u2019s smiles seemed
\nto outshine their torches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo by Hugo Lima [Vodafone Paredes de Coura] In 2014, whenever we think about blurred lines \u2013 other than that infamous song \u2013 we think about that ever diluting line that separates work and leisure, especially when you get to work on something that\u2019s just too much fun and sounds more like a hobby than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[134],"tags":[217,892,359,1832,358],"class_list":["post-706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live","tag-festival","tag-festival-paredes-de-coura","tag-paredes-de-coura","tag-paredes-de-coura-2014","tag-vodafone-paredes-de-coura"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=706"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1820,"href":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/706\/revisions\/1820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}