08 July 2016 (gig)
19 July 2016
Nos Alive hosted its 10th Anniversary in vibrant Lisbon last weekend with one of the best line-ups this summer.
A festival that announces some of the biggest mega acts on the planet with the added excitement of the Euro Cup Championship is always going to host be a superb weekend. The added bonus of not lugging festival kit through muddy fields in wellies and instead slapping on the factor 50 to party in guaranteed Portuguese sunshine with your mates = Wins. Sponsored by Portugal’s biggest phone network, this commercial, chill-by-day party-all-night festival is a popular choice for many British festival goers and undoubtedly one of the finest festival line-ups for 2016.
The need to knows – Festival goers can book hotels ranging from flash to budget, camp, or booking a package from the festival. Getting to the festival grounds in Alges is easy enough you can stay anywhere in Lisbon, transport is good. Nos Alive starts in the afternoon when it’s cooler and carries on into the morning, everyone is given a sun hat (nice touch). With three tents and the main stage overlooking where the Atlantic meets the Tagus river it’s a perfect spot.
Thursday kicked off with The 1975 followed by topless, tatted Biffy Clyro who took the crowd for a ride to the mountains and the sea. While John Grant, Vintage Trouble and Wolf Alive played in the Palco Heineken tent at the Main Stage, the legendary rock godfather Robert Plant and his sensational shapeshifters played his newer material and honored the past with a few Led Zeplin classics, 'Rainbow' 'Whole Lotta Love' and 'Rock and Roll’ which filled the air with 70's vibes. The Boston quartet, cult band The Pixies starting out with ‘Bone Machine’ and the rest of their tracks on biblical sex violence. Something lighter?….The English electronic duo the Chemical Brothers packed out the main stage with their bouncy ‘Hey Girls Hey Boys’, not to mention the absolutely superb (2manydj brothers) Soulwax wowed the festival crowd with electro mash up movement, what a night!!
Friday – Years and Years opened the mainstage and then….. It’s the Foals turn – doing with their moody keyboard shimmer thing before exploding into punchy rhythms that get the shoulder toppers in position. Tame Impala and then much anticipated Oxford quintet Radiohead performed a 24 song set of deep, calm and wild tunes from their new album ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’ and some classics like ‘Creep’ for the first time on this tour since 2009 and ‘Paranoid Android’ to the delighted people who were waiting for some old stuff. Over at the the Palco Heineken stage the Irish indie band Two door Cinema Club provided some well needed fun time ‘Uh Oh’s’ followed by Hotchip elevating the energy levels again and reaching a legendary status by producing a live spectacle show of unfaltering grooves, a talked about performance.
Agir, Spanish Vetusta Morla and Band of Horses got Saturday underway at the main stage and Canadian Arcade Fire started the set and pleased the crowds with some feel good belters ‘Ready to start’ and ‘The Suburbs’ ending the show with a metallic glitter storm, what a performance. M83 closed the main stage while the cute yet feisty Grimes performed a collection of phantasmal, banging electropop and dance and last but not least Ratatat, finished a weekend of musical excellence off.
This festival will continue to attract some of the best performers in the world and no doubt Nos Alive will get better and bigger, here's to many more happy birthdays!
