Bilbao bbk live

exilec

Anyone ever do this festival , looks fantastic up on a mountain and early bird tickets for next year only €85 for the 3 day . Any info from anyone who went would be great .. Thanks

Fran1979

Hi. I went to it this summer and I highly recommend it. Bilbao is a beautiful city and easy to navigate too. I stayed at a hotel for the duration of the festival and some days before it. There are buses every 10 minutes to and from the festival each day and they go from beside the main bus terminal in Bilbao. You have the option to camp at the festival too and I think it is an extra 10 euros. I paid 85 euros for this year`s ticket. I could have bought an early bird for next year for 75 euros but I am holding off until I know better what I will be doing next summer. The festival itself was completely cashless this year. Your wrist band has a plastic tag on it which is read by card readers at point of entry and when you pay for beer/wine, food etc. It worked perfectly I have to say and I had no issues. The day before the festival started we got notification that a pop up shop was in the city centre where we could get our wrist bands and top up in advance. It saved us on queues the next day. I spent 100 euros over 3 days. You can spend less especially if you are drinking before hand. You had to buy a reusable cup which cost 2.50 euros. You then used this cup for all drinks that you buy. They rinsed the cup for you too each time you bought a new drink. Beer came in two sizes. I believe the biggest size cost 8 euros which I thought was a bit steep but it was definitely more than a pint possibly a litre. I drank wine instead. I was able to purchase a cup of wine which was equivalent to half a bottle of red wine for 5 euros. Obviously with cost of alcohol you had a lot of younger people drinking outside the entrance before going in as no alcohol is allowed to be brought in to main area. But it was never messy. I didn`t see any trouble at the festival either and everyone was easy going. The locals are friendly too. The layout of the festival is smaller size than Body and soul. It is all grass too which is nice. There is a beautiful view of Bilbao at the entrance. There are 3 main stages. The main stage would have the main acts obviously but the Heineken stage would have relatively big acts too, this year it had Royal Blood, Explosions in the sky and Primal scream to name a few. When music is on the main stage there is no music on the Heineken stage and vice versa so there is no mixing of music between stages. There was a tent stage which was made out of perspex and was a bit hot to be honest..but saw some good acts like Cabbage and Blonde redhead there. Again there was no drifting of music from other stages to interfere. There was a 4th stage near the entrance but I never went there..it had Spanish acts mostly or acts I had no interest in. There was a dance stage also but it was a small area. I think this years lineup for Bilbao was better than Nos alive..just my opinion though..more acts that interested me were at Bilbao. The festival was really clean because there was nobody ****ing cups away. The age group was a good mixture too. Acts like Depeche Mode and Brian wilson ensured there was an older crowd at it but then you had acts aimed at the younger audience too like Two door cinema club and The Killers. Justice and Trentemoller were great at it too and another reason why I believe the lineup at Bilbao was better than Nos alive. Accomodation in Bilbao seems to be more expensive than Lisbon though but you can do it cheap by camping. The bus from the airport to centre of Bilbao costs around 1.45 There seemed to be a few Irish at the festival this year too. The city of Bilbao has a lot to offer too like the Guggenheim and various nice bars and restaurants. Athletic Bilbao`s stadium is near the bus terminal too but was closed to tours for the summer..you could however drink in the bar in the stadium which allowed you look into the inside of it. For convenience of the festival I would suggest getting a hotel close to the bus terminal or Athletic bilbao`s stadium as it would mean a short walk to and from the buses to the festival each day. The festival starts around 5pm each day and goes on until around 7am.

exilec

Thanks for the reply Fran1979 . Can't make up my mind between that and Nos alive. Too old for than camping carry on , think you have sold Bilbao to me :cool:

Fran1979

The ticket price is so cheap that really you can`t go wrong whichever festival you choose. I am considering Lisbon next year but would happily return to Bilbao too. Considering how many of the acts that played both festivals this year went on to play Ireland or will play later this year and how much it would cost to see them here. Yeah I know a festival is different to a standalone gig but I was able to get a good vantage point for any of the big acts on the main stage. I think they say capacity was 45 thousand each day but it didn`t feel that big to me to be honest. I never felt uncomfortable and it was easy to go from one stage to another and not be squashed among others. Carlton hotel was where Depeche Mode stayed and rooms for there are not as expensive as you would think. Hotel Melia and Hotel Ilunion would be very convenient and nice hotels for getting to and from festival plus both are within walking distance of Guggenheim. There is a tram system in the city and a metro, i used neither. I walked everywhere. A taxi from the airport to whatever hotel you may book in the city centre will set you back around 26 euros. The bus is a lot cheaper and actually easy to use. A really cool and nice restaurant that i recommend is called Coppola Bilbao Restaurant. Really cool music playing in the background, the owner has great English and the food is delicious. A basque restaurant I recommend is Casa Rufa Restaurant. It has a really great interior..none of the staff or owner speak English but it doesn`t matter really as you can get your order across ok