Festivals you may not know

Also gets a 5 star Guardian review

https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/aug/19/green-man-festival-review-sherelle-sets-the-tone-big-thief-are-a-big-hit-and-sampha-closes-in-style-style

Travelling to Lisbon next week for the Meo Kalorama festival. Has anyone been before? Any tips? We're staying near Sao Sebastiao station which is about 20 mins to venue by public transport.

Unfortunately The Smile had to pull out due to Johnny Greenwood's recent ill health. But still a pretty decent line up. We're only attending the first 2 days.

https://meokalorama.pt/en

Having done two Electric Picnics, I'm thinking of heading to Sziget in 2025. (Probably along with EP).

Anyone ever been to Sziget? Would you recommend it and anything to watch out for / must do over there?

Ah you're right i know. Someday i'll get to both. On an annual basis i find EOTR to be a bit more to my tastes but the lineup is weak this year imo, whereas Green Man can be a bit more hit and miss for me (best lineup of the summer this year though!).

Im sold on Geen Man anyway, was looking for a late summer festival and don't fancy EP anymore. Fingers crossed for a strong lineup next year too.

The view of Bilbao from the BBK entrance gate

that looks lovely and sounds so … civilised?

That all sounds revoltingly Blue Peter… A doff of the cap to you sir.

Thank you. Doubly sold now.

Ooft.. that's a corker!

Saw both LCD and Death Cab + The Postal Service in London last weekend!

All were on top-form.. so enjoy!!

Interesting. Looks good. Hope it goes well. Recognise a few artists there - singer-songwriter genre mainly, I think. Let us know how you get on.

Are you camping? Could be beginning to get a wee touch nipster by end of September!

Back from Meo Kalorama in Lisbon. Would definitely recommend the festival, lovely set up. Here's the review:

The Lineup - was pretty strong overall, although we only attended the Thursday and Friday, as we felt the Saturday was weak enough. You can buy day tickets which is handy. Massive Attack (as an earlier poster said) were immense, best I've seen them live. LCD were incredible as always, just a remarkable live outfit, and Murphys vocals are brilliant. Jungle put on a great show and Nation of Language won the award for best band I'd never seen before, just pipping Death Cab. Also enjoyed Vagabon, Lloyd Carner, Folamor. Its not really like an Irish festival where there are loads of bands on all day, so we usually only got in by 7pm each day.

Logistics - a 40 min Q at wristband exchange on day 1, which we hadn't anticipated. The festival attendence was much busier on Friday than Thurs , probably down to it been a weekend night and a slightly better lineup on Friday. Very easy to access Bella Vista park via metro, we stayed in a hotel 15 mins away. Although metro finishes before the festival it was handy enough to grab a taxi or uber. Ubers are reatively cheap in Lisbon.

The set up - it's in a park which is perched high above Lisbon so the main stage acts like an amphitheatre and is a big space probably fits 50k when full. You can see the river and downtown behind the main stage, which really adds to the appeal of the festival. Then there are three other stages,but no sound bleed because of good positioning but also because no act clashes with main stage except maybe the rave in Woods stage. The park is quite hilly so expect to get the steps in. Lots of bars , but on the Friday everything got busy. Some long queues for toilets, which were nearly all unisex cubicles. Only found one set of urinals on the entire site which seems a bizarre omission from the organisers, but heard it was the same last year.

Weather - Expext sunny, warm and dry (max 28) during the day, but bring an extra top layer for evening as it dips to about 16/17 with a breeze in late summer. Shorts all the way.

Prices - two day tickets were 140e. Beers were 4e for a 330/400ml. Cup deposit policy in place. Didn't buy any food so can't comment. You won't get in with beers, the search is very thorough. Lots of sponsors present so it is commercial but not overly in your face.

Lisbon - it's a great city. Hotels reasonably priced, transport is accessible and cheap with metro, uber, bikes scooters, buses. Apart from the festival, loads to do and see in Lisbon, very friendly people too.

Overall - a great little festival. Lineup is strong for headliner and sub headliners but after that you might have to get lucky depending on your taste. It could be a bit light for some people, but we were happy to chill by the pool and enjoy Lisbon during the day. The crowd are very chilled overall, mainly Portuguese into their tunes, and a good scattering of other nationalities including Irish, US and UK. No drunkenness or rowdy behaviour witnessed. For the affordability, weather, lineup, and the city of Lisbon definitely one to add to any list of future festivals.

Probably missed a bit as still recovering from the few days ,but I'll add anything if I remember or feel free to ask whatever questions.