MEO Kalorama Lisboa 2024

[flowernigiri]

2 minutes ago, BOBBY_FIRMINO said:

f**king state of that. Been to plenty of festivals but this is easily the worst. 1000s left on a highway for hours 

No words. Shameful

[bluenova]

14 minutes ago, BOBBY_FIRMINO said:

f**king state of that. Been to plenty of festivals but this is easily the worst. 1000s left on a highway for hours 

938665a2328b427296e81c44fef0e9b5.mov

 

You've been waiting hours? That's a nightmare.

 

I arrived earlier and walked straight in. Just watched the gossip and five mins before Massive Attack are due on you can walk up to ten metres from the stage! 

[Yokai]

I also arrived early. Inside, the festival improved alot from last year. Less dust, the san miguel stage is much better than last year (rip my Metronomy experience) and the wristband chip is working fine until now. 

[Rico_Pliskin]

This on the same site as Nos Alive?

[Yokai]

Nop. Old Rock in Rio site. Parque da Belavista. 

[Rico_Pliskin]

17 minutes ago, Yokai said:

Nop. Old Rock in Rio site. Parque da Belavista. 

Ah I thought the video was of the bridge you exit with at the end of the night in NOS

[WFD]

Ridiculous queues to get to the wristband exchange, not helped by it bring a free for all once you got close to it (hundreds of people coming from the other direction and joining the queue at the front).  And then unnecessary pinch point to do a cursory wristband check, amd the another queue to check that, God forbid, you weren't trying to bring a bottle of water in, and then a fourth queue to actually get scanned in to the festival that you actually paid to get into.

 

Massive Attack *almost* made it all worthwhile (even if it was touch and go whether we'd make the start of their set).

[Cw91]

What time does the collection start

[chilirocker]

Soulwax have pulled out tonight. Literally nothing else to grab me. Might skip. 

[WFD]

We're back safely after doing the weekend.

 

As mentioned earlier, Thursday was a fiasco getting in.  I know every festival has this issue, but some manage it better than others and they could learn a lot from how BBK in Bilbao does it (city centre wristband exchange).  We arrived in what we thought would be good time for Gossip and nearly missed the start of Massive Attack.  Caught some of Loyle Carner and left (there were lots coming in for Sam Smith even then).

 

Friday was much better.  We did have issues on the way in at the security check when the security guards confiscated my daughter's hairbrush on the grounds that it would injure the artists if she threw it onto the stage (they must have thought she was an athlete on a post-Olympics holiday if they thought she could launch it that far and accurately).  But once inside the run of English Teacher - Jungle - Death Cab / Postal Service - LCD was a great run of artists for our tastes.

 

In contrast there was very little on Saturday for us - we did deus, Raye and Overmono (for me) / Yard Act (or daughter) but it was fairly bleak offerings for us.  It was by far the quietest night on the site overall, nowhere near as many people as on the Friday.

 

Overall a bit mixed really, the location is great, the layout is ok once you get used to it (a lot of calf busting slopes if you're not careful), but the line up was such a mixed bag that I wouldn't consider buying blind again  (particularly committing to all three nights).  Feels like it needs to work out what blend of acts it is aiming for and stick to it - much like Super Bock Super Rock which similarly seems to be put together at random.  I don't mind mixed-genre line ups, it is one of the advantages of European festivals compared to UK ones, but if they are not done carefully then you can end up with some empty stretches or even, like the Saturday here, an entire night without even a medium sized draw for your tastes.  They were unlucky with the withdrawals of course, and all three of those weakened the line up for us.

[MeMeMeM]

3 hours ago, WFD said:

We're back safely after doing the weekend.

 

As mentioned earlier, Thursday was a fiasco getting in.  I know every festival has this issue, but some manage it better than others and they could learn a lot from how BBK in Bilbao does it (city centre wristband exchange).  We arrived in what we thought would be good time for Gossip and nearly missed the start of Massive Attack.  Caught some of Loyle Carner and left (there were lots coming in for Sam Smith even then).

 

Friday was much better.  We did have issues on the way in at the security check when the security guards confiscated my daughter's hairbrush on the grounds that it would injure the artists if she threw it onto the stage (they must have thought she was an athlete on a post-Olympics holiday if they thought she could launch it that far and accurately).  But once inside the run of English Teacher - Jungle - Death Cab / Postal Service - LCD was a great run of artists for our tastes.

 

In contrast there was very little on Saturday for us - we did deus, Raye and Overmono (for me) / Yard Act (or daughter) but it was fairly bleak offerings for us.  It was by far the quietest night on the site overall, nowhere near as many people as on the Friday.

 

Overall a bit mixed really, the location is great, the layout is ok once you get used to it (a lot of calf busting slopes if you're not careful), but the line up was such a mixed bag that I wouldn't consider buying blind again  (particularly committing to all three nights).  Feels like it needs to work out what blend of acts it is aiming for and stick to it - much like Super Bock Super Rock which similarly seems to be put together at random.  I don't mind mixed-genre line ups, it is one of the advantages of European festivals compared to UK ones, but if they are not done carefully then you can end up with some empty stretches or even, like the Saturday here, an entire night without even a medium sized draw for your tastes.  They were unlucky with the withdrawals of course, and all three of those weakened the line up for us.

Thank you for putting my opinion here too 😛 I totally agree with you. I even almost have been at the same shows (except Overmono, I also went to Yard Act).

 

Have you checked dEUS? They were great too. 

[Tigane]

"Friday was much better.  We did have issues on the way in at the security check when the security guards confiscated my daughter's hairbrush on the grounds that it would injure the artists if she threw it onto the stage (they must have thought she was an athlete on a post-Olympics holiday if they thought she could launch it that far and accurately).  But once inside the run of English Teacher - Jungle - Death Cab / Postal Service - LCD was a great run of artists for our tastes."

And the best part is that in some of the stages,  there a lot of small rocks on the ground, that if you wanted you could throw them to the stage and cause more harm

 

Edited September 2 by Tigane

[flowernigiri]

It was my first time attending this festival and I basically only went with the intent of seeing The Smile and LCD Soundsystem live. Of course, only got to fulfill half of that wish.

Overall, it was an okay experience, festival wise. 

Negative points:

- Too bothersome of a security check (I'm sure they're just following orders, but to grope me when there's nothing bulging in my shorts is too much)

- The virtual wallet is a stupid and cumbersome idea, especially when you the minimum deposit is of 20 euros. Yeah, you get them back, but to even have to think about this process is just too much. If you want to go contactless, go for it without any of these shenanigans 

- Sound quality was inconsistent

- Not enough toilets

- Horrendous indication of points of entry and ticket / wristband exchange signs. I saw way too many people (understandably) confused as to what to do and where to go to in order to get into the venue

Positive points:

- I had a sort of feel that it was a "no bs" festival in the sense that it was really focused on the artists' performance. No big sponsor area, no redundant stages with few artists (looking at you, Primavera Sound Porto!! even with the pitiful lineups you now have). It felt like a focused experience, gig wise

- I was positively baffled by how magnificent the transport was to leave the venue, bus wise. Never have I had such a great experience leaving a festival without depending on uber or walking just a bit too much. 10/10 on that regard for me

- Venue is ok. This could also be a negative point as I think it was too dirty, but I did like the layout. Granted, I spent the day in the barrier, having just spent like 25 minutes wandering about, seeing what the festival really is like, but it did feel like a good place to be. 

- Ticket price was fair. Not great value, but fair. There's only one other festival in Portugal that currently deserves that comment of mine, and that is Paredes de Coura. Sometimes NOS Alive.


Overall

Having been heavily disappointed with the current festival landscape here in Portugal, I am slightly happy to see that Kalorama isn't a bad experience. It still edges on the risk of being "yet another summer festival", but at least it doesn't leave me wondering if I'm getting tired of live music (again, shame on you Primavera Sound Porto, shame on you)

 

[Yokai]

Well, I'll go against the crowd and say I had an amazing experience, but since I'm portuguese, I guess enjoying many of the portuguese acts helped.

 

I arrived early on thursday so had no problems with the wristband change. 

 

Negative:

- the cashless system was terrible. Caused the big queues on the first day and for two times I couldn't recharge the wristband online.

- DCFC was a bad experience for me. I tried to change places two times but people were talking alot.

- Its ok to go after other styles like Burna Boy (that crowd was empty af, so... guess it was a bad bet) but give alternatives to the public that are looking for going the three days, on other stages.

- Some sets you could listen San Miguel stage at Lisboa Stage.

 

Positives:

- the portuguese acts on the two first days were awesome (Unsafe Space Garden, Filipe Sambado, Glockenwise, Ana Lua Caiano)

- The second day was amazing... English Teacher + Nation of Language + LCD Soundsystem + the portuguese acts.

- Massive Attack was a great show and I said it was probably gonna be my favorite of the festival until....

- RAYE... I told a friend: gonna listen to two songs and I'm gonna rest a bit and get a good spot for Yard Act... and then... I stayed the whole show. 10 out of 10.

- The sequence of dEUS - Raye - Yard Act - an awesome burrito for dinner - Yves Tumor made the day for me... what an awesome way to finish the festival.

 

Went to every Kalorama since it was created and this was my favorite year.

 

[MeMeMeM]

3 hours ago, Yokai said:

Well, I'll go against the crowd and say I had an amazing experience, but since I'm portuguese, I guess enjoying many of the portuguese acts helped.

 

I arrived early on thursday so had no problems with the wristband change. 

 

Negative:

- the cashless system was terrible. Caused the big queues on the first day and for two times I couldn't recharge the wristband online.

- DCFC was a bad experience for me. I tried to change places two times but people were talking alot.

- Its ok to go after other styles like Burna Boy (that crowd was empty af, so... guess it was a bad bet) but give alternatives to the public that are looking for going the three days, on other stages.

- Some sets you could listen San Miguel stage at Lisboa Stage.

 

Positives:

- the portuguese acts on the two first days were awesome (Unsafe Space Garden, Filipe Sambado, Glockenwise, Ana Lua Caiano)

- The second day was amazing... English Teacher + Nation of Language + LCD Soundsystem + the portuguese acts.

- Massive Attack was a great show and I said it was probably gonna be my favorite of the festival until....

- RAYE... I told a friend: gonna listen to two songs and I'm gonna rest a bit and get a good spot for Yard Act... and then... I stayed the whole show. 10 out of 10.

- The sequence of dEUS - Raye - Yard Act - an awesome burrito for dinner - Yves Tumor made the day for me... what an awesome way to finish the festival.

 

Went to every Kalorama since it was created and this was my favorite year.

 

I disagree with you regarding Raye. I felt the show inconstant, too much talking when you just have 1h15 for the show, and it seems that she hasn't decided yet what type of show she wants, if soul, pop, EDM or so. She has everything to be a star, she sings a lot, but it wasn't, in my opinion, something overwhelming.

[BOBBY_FIRMINO]

Got back yesterday afternoon. The entrance situation on the Thursday was appalling but luckily made it into the festival to catch the majority of Massive Attack. Friday entrance was much easier, albeit we got there a lot earlier (5PM). Seeing Jungle, Nation of Language and LCD all for the first time and in the space of a few hours was absolutely superb. LCD are one of my favourite ever bands so it was unbelievable to sign off the summer watching them, but Nation of Language might have just pipped it as the highlight for me. They were incredible. 
 

Didn’t bother with the Saturday due to the dismal lineup but all in all enjoyed the two days. Would attend again but there’s a couple of European festivals I’d probably want to tick off first before I return. 
 

Easyjet Summer 2025 flights released tomorrow, so hopefully be able to beat some of the blues by planning next years festivals 🍺🕺☀️

[joselito]

We didn't have any problems with entry as I already put the bracelets on on Tuesday when I went to a MEO store. But we also arrived early to see Monobloc and I almost left after the show that was Massive Attack, one of the best I've seen in recent times.

I managed to charge the bracelet very quickly online on Thursday, then on Friday on the metro, and on Saturday I topped it off with 2.50 euros at the cash register for the last beer.
I found the queues to be very long, both at the bar and in the bathrooms, at times on the first day and on the Friday they were quite long. As others have said, Saturday was ridiculously empty, so everything worked out well.

The area was good, comfortable, just the occasional climb. I also thought there were too many brand stands, but someone has to pay for the cheapest ticket...

Ana Lua Caiano was the big surprise for me, much better live than on record. Yard Act destroyed it too.
And the big disappointment for me was the cancellation of Soulwax, perhaps the most anticipated show for me this summer... but the balance was very positive, I saw an LCD show again after 6 years, and I managed to have a good time.

[Yokai]

1 hour ago, joselito said:

We didn't have any problems with entry as I already put the bracelets on on Tuesday when I went to a MEO store. But we also arrived early to see Monobloc and I almost left after the show that was Massive Attack, one of the best I've seen in recent times.

I managed to charge the bracelet very quickly online on Thursday, then on Friday on the metro, and on Saturday I topped it off with 2.50 euros at the cash register for the last beer.
I found the queues to be very long, both at the bar and in the bathrooms, at times on the first day and on the Friday they were quite long. As others have said, Saturday was ridiculously empty, so everything worked out well.

The area was good, comfortable, just the occasional climb. I also thought there were too many brand stands, but someone has to pay for the cheapest ticket...

Ana Lua Caiano was the big surprise for me, much better live than on record. Yard Act destroyed it too.
And the big disappointment for me was the cancellation of Soulwax, perhaps the most anticipated show for me this summer... but the balance was very positive, I saw an LCD show again after 6 years, and I managed to have a good time.

I've watched Ana Lua at Alive'23, Primavera Porto'24 and now Kalorama and she has improved her act alot. Was kinda worried that the main stage was too big for a One Girl Show, but she nailed it again. Also she is having some recognition abroad, which is surprising since her music is so "tranditional portuguese".

 

Kinda happy Soulwax cancelled because Yves Tumor was great, as usual.

 

2 hours ago, MeMeMeM said:

I disagree with you regarding Raye. I felt the show inconstant, too much talking when you just have 1h15 for the show, and it seems that she hasn't decided yet what type of show she wants, if soul, pop, EDM or so. She has everything to be a star, she sings a lot, but it wasn't, in my opinion, something overwhelming.

 

I understand it is not for everyone but I think in her case, it makes sense to make that connection with the public and talk alot.

[bluenova]

I feel like I got a bit lucky as I didn't have any problems.

 

Wristband worked fine, didn't even queue for five minutes to get in on any day (although was there early as the first day is often rammed, so missed the queue), never queued for a toilet for more than a minute, never queued for food, and only once had to wait to be served at the bar - and that was because the bar man was distracted by someone far younger and prettier than myself. Getting home was a breeze, with the metro running late, and I was able to walk on without any trouble each night.

 

Not sure how close to capacity it was, but even with LCD I was able to watch all but the last Postal Service song, and then simply walked to maybe 20 metres from the main stage, and I'm definitely not someone who pushes past people, so was impressed with all the space. That was the busiest set by far, with everything else even easier to get a good spot for.

 

The music was brilliant - Massive Attack exceeded all expectations, while LCD and Postal Service are two of my all time favourites. But so many bands were much better than expected. English Teacher sounded so good, and their version of New York I Love You was amazing- The Kills were great, but I'm glad I left to see English Teacher. Monobloc sounded great, and the Gossip were a lot of fun. Yard Act were stunning - a real surprise, and one of the best live acts I've seen recently. As with @Yokai I was unexpectedly blown away by Raye. I'd listened to her set on spotify and though it was so-so, but live I thought her voice was amazing, and I was glad I saw the whole set.

 

I only caught five minutes of Nation of Language, as I doubt I'll ever get to see Postal Service again, and thought they sounded great, so I can see why people have that as a highlight. Yves Tumor was such a wonderful way to round things, off too. I'd heard suggestions that the band was about to implode, but they sounded brilliant, and were such a great way to finish the festival.

 

All in all, it's one of the best festivals I've been to - although I think it luckily aligned with many of my own tastes - and that's even with being a big fan of Soulwax and The Smile. And let's face it - it sounds like we were all lucky to have gone to Lisbon instead of Madrid!

[Big Kahuna]

My experience in this Kalorama 2024 was way far from discontent

 

I changed wristband in 2 minutes at 17, 15 thursday and was in in another five.

 

Venue was less dusty this time and think you could move easily between stages, cheap beer , good range of food, good weather...

 

All OK for me, then.

 

Lineup was clearly weaker than last year but I enjoyed, at less, 6 acts top notch

 

MASSIVE ATTACK superb , one of my best experiences in festival music, LCD in shape, also great sound, dEUS solid rock engrossing concert, THE KILLS  a bold surpriose, very metal version with awesome Mosshart  and DEATH  CAB moving and charismatic act

 

The other surprise was RAYE, i feel as otherr said, went to see and go 20 minutes, and stayed all concert thar truly enjoyed, that girl knows how to handle audience and got great voice.,

 

I enjoyed so much and keep looking forward next year

Edited September 4 by Big Kahuna

[gfa]

On 8/31/2024 at 2:06 PM, chilirocker said:

Soulwax have pulled out tonight. Literally nothing else to grab me. Might skip. 

Soulwax again is a pain

 

They got canned in 2022 as well!