Review: NOS Primavera Sound festival, Porto

The main Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona is in the golden circle of festivals nowadays – up there with Glastonbury, Reading/Leeds and Coachella as a must-do festival. But cast your attention East to Portugal the week after and you’ll find the real gem. It’s smaller and has fewer bands on the bill but it’s about half the price and takes place in one of the best cities in Europe, so y’know, swings and roundabouts.

With direct flights now available from Bristol to its twin city of Porto via Easyjet, it’s never been easier (or cheaper) to get there. And with AirBnB widespread in Porto there are no shortage of amazing places to choose from. Cabs are dirt cheap already, but now Uber’s in town they’re even more value for money. Expect to pay £5-10 for a cab from the town to the festival site; some people reported difficulties getting one but we took note of a cab number and never had a problem.

The festival site is set in the city’s biggest park – Parque da Cidade. Think a much bigger, prettier version of Eastville Park. Situated next to the beautiful beach on the Atlantic coast, many festival goers head over early to spend the afternoon on the beach and enjoy dinner in one of the seaside seafood restaurants. Most, however, enjoy the main city of Porto during the day (or sleep, depending on how heavy the night before was) and head out for the bands in the evening.

Looking at the bill, you’d be forgiven for thinking there wasn’t much on. There are only really four stages, each with up to half a dozen acts – not a parch on some of the UK big hitters, with their wealth of small stages. But this doesn’t matter. It doesn’t feel like it’s lacking in music at all. And the calibre of the lineup is great.

NYC singer/songwriter Patti Smith plays two sets – one on the Thursday night, an acoustic set with poetry readings in the Pitchfork tent; although with full band playing hits such as Because The Night and The Jackson Song it felt more like an unplugged best of. There’s a lot of love for Patti in this tent, the first 1/4 of which is laid up with seats (presumably for the anticipated older audience members). People dancing on chairs, shouting along and cheering like they’re at the Superbowl.

The second set, on Friday night is a fully plugged in performance of the seminal 1975 album ‘Horses’ and on the main stage. A beautiful sunny evening, it proves to be one big love in – with a lengthy sing-a-long to ‘Gloria’. Like her autobiography ‘Just Kids’, it crosses the self-indulgent line with ‘People Have The Power’, but the excellence far outweighs the cheese. ‘Free Money’ and ‘Redondo Beach’ proving the predictable highlights.

Local(ish) lass FKA Twigs stole the limelight on the opening night (Thursday) with a pitch perfect performance full of mesmerising dancing and stunning vocals. There’s a definite trip hop undertone, with sniffs of the Portishead/Beth Gibbons sound, accompanied by the sultry tones of Sade. All eyes are on Twigs as she slides around the stage and provides the focal point for some seriously sensual songs.

You can always rely on Caribou to put in a stellar performance and get people moving and this festival was no different, with them headlining the opening night. The earliest night of this festival they started their set at 1.10am and undoubtedly lost a few punters to jet lag. More fool them.

While there’s a notable few more Brits here than there were last year,there’s also a distinctive 90s British feel to this festival in terms of lineup. Maybe it coincides with the old 20 year anniversary market or maybe people in Portugal are mad fer it but it suited this Britpop-loving 30-something down to a T. We’re talking Spiritualized, Underworld and Ride. The latter headlined the main stage on the final night and nailed it. It’s a real trip down memory lane for a lot of people and, not due to any innovation or technical skill, was one of the weekend highlights.

Sun Kil Moon suffered from a mini exodus as people spurned him due to some bad press about being a rude misogynist at his recent London gig (see full story here). We’re undecided, but having seen him in Bristol a few days earlier (read full review here), we figured it’d be best to stick with The Replacements.

Recently reunited, USA’s The Replacements, depressingly, fall a bit flat, which is a shame as this is a hotly anticipated set for many. The people seeing Dorset doom band Electric Wizard over at the ATP stage are happy mind. Anthony and the Johnsons is pretty inconveniently placed on a Friday night as the single source of entertainment for a while, but save for a few teary fans of the band, for most people it proves little more than background music – a real shame as this is heartfelt, usually moving music. Then again, we’re hanging back by the caipirinha stall (it’s Friday night!)

Our Friday night journey demonstrates just how far-reaching this line up is as we catch a driven set from metallers Pallbearer, whose tight performance ends up a surprise highlight of the festival; before catching Killer Mike’s new project – Run The Jewels. This is accessible hip hop with the former Outkast singer owning the stage and bringing the party. 

Saturday sees another eclectic mix, with Ireland’s emotion-peddler Damien Rice demonstrating his ever-developing looping skills. He seems pretty angsty these days, more so than usual and there’s lots of feedback and screaming amidst the more gentle, recognisable songs of ‘Blowers Daughter’ and ‘Cannonball’. Look around and there’s lots of loved-up couples smooching. It feels kind of contrived. Not necessarily Damien’s fault.

Death Cab for Cutie open with their wonderfully long ‘I Will Possess Your Heart’; Ben Gibbard’s unmistakable US twang bursting out among the introverted, crescendo-building music. It’s a solid set to a large crowd and the love which DCFC have for this festival and Portugal the country, is notable.

They’re not the only ones who rave about this festival – talk to any of the punters and they’re likely to say how friendly it is, what a great size it is, how many decent bands are on the bill etc. The list goes on. And the best bit – the entire trip (ticket, flight, accommodation) could cost you the same as a Glastonbury ticket. What are you waiting for?!