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| Somba (Spain) |
We hung out with some of Paulo and Ana’s friends and had a couple of
beers before we decided to go eat at a local pizza place (Hamilton’s). It was
very good and interesting pizzas.
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| Audience outside listening to Somba |
After dinner we went back to the next bar (Ruivo’s) and had a Porto
beer called Noberta. I had tried a few of their beers but not this one. I
needed to stand up and get some air so we went outside in the courtyard. Acid Mess (Spain) were soundchecking
and this sounded like it was going to be really good.
They had a keyboard
player as well as guitar, bass and drums. Pledge,
we hear a bit of the soundcheck. It was about 23:15 now and Pledge had still not started. There
must have been 3-400 people waiting though. I was not feeling well and got a
bit sick and so we went back to the house we were staying at and sadly we did
not get to see any of the bands.
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| Acid Mess Soundcheck and audience |
Day 2
We are to meet up with Martin and Kate around 12:30. First band, Solar Corona are on the pool stage at
13:30. A bit more wind and cooler than
last year.
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| Solar Corona |
We arrived about 13 and got our wristbands and found a nice place to
set the blanket. It was not so hot today and anice breeze but not too strong. Solar Corona was the first band on the
pool stage and they were fantastic. They remoind me a bit of Pyramidal from
Spain. Really nice dynamics, great driving bass lines and some nice guitar. They
also had a saxophone player who used a lot of effects. Some cool music. They
have not recorded much yet.
Set List: Fire, Rebound, Gold Ray, Speed, B
Next up was a 4 piece instrumental band called Desert Smoke. They had a really good mix of heavy guitar and great
solos with cool use of effects and more dreamy stuff. A really good energy and
flow. People seem to like it a lot.
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| Desert Smoke |
At 15 I had an interview with Astrodome, a very good band from Porto.
The band was 10mins late for the interview and then had to run off to get ready
to play next. A Spanish band, Ativisomo
took too long to set up so now the festival was 15mins behind schedule. I
missed all but the very end of their concert. They started with a sort of
flamenco rock thing. The end was more percussive. Crowd seem to like them.
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| Ativismo |
Astrodome was next and
played an excellent set of new and old material. Below you can hear my interview
with the band. Anyway, this was for sure the best band for the day on the pool
stage. They are also instrumental inspired by the stoner rock scene but do
their own thing. The guitar player Kevin, also played synthesizer a little bit. Our friends Martin and Kate also really liked
them. Here is a short interview with the band. Enjoy.
Astrodome Interview
Astrodome Interview
Set List: Mirage, Into the Deepest Space (modified version with a new jam in the middle ending with the last part of Dawn Gardens), Sunrite, Coronation
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| Astrodome |
The last band on the pool stage was Electric Octopus, a very improvised band from Ireland. The tall
guitar player with a mountain of dreads on his head was very funky. The drummer
looked like Mitch Mitchell in the old days but was not as dynamic. They stayed
pretty funky for most of the concert and I did not feel like they responded
well to the energy of the crowd, which was getting smaller and smaller. They
wanted something more rocking.
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| Electric Octopus |
Conan was the first
band on the main stage but we really needed some food. We had been sitting in
the pool area for 5 hrs and needed to get up and move around. We heard Conan was intense. What do you
expect??
We did make it back after some nice tapas down at the beach to see most
of Ufomammut. I have seen the band
many times. The sound was so incredible this year on the main stage. Wow.. The band had their usual films but due to the
sun shinning directly on the band as it set, you could not really appreciate
these until the very end of the show. I thought they were great. The crowd was
really into it as well.
Set List: Babel, Warsheep, Zodiac, Fatum, Prismaze, Core
Wombdemonium, Psyrcle, Hellcore, solo guitar riffs, God
Inteview Nebula
Set List (from the drummer’s memory):
Giant/Clearlight, To the Center, Perfect Rapture, Down the Highway, Out
of your Head, Wytching Hour (new song), Smokin’ Woman, Aphrodite, Man’s Best
Friend (world debut), Let it Burn, Strange Human
Causa Sui, friends of mine,
who I only had a brief chance to talk to do were so excited to be back playing
here again. They had such amazing sound. Wow.. and the movies were incredible
to watch. Great lights. The band was in great form and played the best show of
the festival so far. They played a wide mix of songs including two from the
latest record and one from the 1st record which sounded so different
with Rasmus playing organ. This was the first time I had ever seen Causa Sui
where Rasmus was mixed equal to Jonas (guitar) and it sounded great they way
they complimented each other. Killer concert.
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| Causa Sui |
Set List: Homage, The Source, Mireille, Seven Hills, Red Valley,
El Paraiso, Dawn Passage, El Fuego, Soledad
Samsara Blues Experiment was the last
band we saw on this long day of music. I had run into Christian two times as I
have known him since 2002 when he played in Terraplane. Great guy. Anyway, they
started off with a sort of cool jam like track and then into their normal set
from these days. They did play one brand new song. They came across more heavy
and with fewer long guitar solos this time around compared to the last time we
saw them here in Portugal. The crowd
really was into it and they also had great sound.
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| Samsara Blues Experiment |
Set List: Vipassana, For the lost souls. Into the black, New
song, Hangin' on the wire. Center of the sun, One with the universe
Mantar closed the set
and our friend Paulo said it was very loud and he was too tired to get into it. Others said it was so amazing and intense and one of the best shows of the day.
Day 3
We stayed in bed til 11 so we were pretty rested and had a great
breakfast. We arrived just in time to find a place near the pool with our
friends Martin and Kate. The Spanish band, Wizards
hit the stage right on time and played a straight up NWOBHM style rock and roll
set. Great tattooed front man. Both guitar players had Gibson SG guitar and the
left one was the main lead guitar player. They rocked but the songs were not
that memorable. Crowd was really into it up in the front of the stage.
 |
| Wizards |
Talea Jacta Inteview
Greengo was a crazy bass
and drum duo with a very angry vocalist. They had a lot of force, drive and
energy and people were going a bit crazy at times. There was even a sort of
mosh pit in the pool! Never seen that before.
Musically, it was not very interesting at all but they had energy and
were fun to see and hear.
 |
| Greengo |
Purple Hill Witch from Norway
closed the pool session for the day. I had last seen them 3-4 years ago at
Heavy Days in Doom Town in Copenhagen.
Their set was in the vein of the occult doon music with some of it
reminding me of Witchfinder General.
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| Purple Hill Witch |
The main stage opened pretty soon after and the Greek band, Naxatras played. I had actually never
heard of these guys and it was amazing. What a really cool band and probably
the biggest surprise of the whole festival for me. I will for sure need to look
for some of their records. I was very
impressed.
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| Naxatras |
We were starving and went for some food so we missed the Atomic Bitchwax. I have seen the band many times and last time
was at Roadburn and they killed it..
Great show. I spoke to Jonas from Causa Sui and he said they were great. Super
intense from start to finish! Their last
records have been very intense.. Great players.
1000 Mods, I had seen at
the Athens Desertfest but today, they had such an amazing sound and energy from
the audience. Wow.. It was a killer show. This is the real deal when it comes
to classic stoner rock. I love the way the two guitar players use a variety of
effects to make their riffs and solo sounds very unique and cool. It was a
great concert. We all loved it.
 |
| Kadavar |
Set List: Creature of the Demon, Pale Blue Eyes, Skeleton Blues,
Doomsday Machine, All Our Thoughts, Into the Wormhole, Die Baby Die, Forgotten
Past, Living in Your Head, Thousand Miles Away From Home, Come Back Life
Earthless.. what can I
say. They came out and just fucking ripped for like 15mins with Uluru Rock.
Insane intense drumming and lead guitar. They had something to prove.. Wow..
They played two songs with vocals (Black Heaven, Electric Flame) from the new
record and they were great but this show was all about being intense on all
instruments and just driving out into to lead guitar heaven. Incredible. We
were all blown away. The main set was like 65mins and then they came out and
did Cherry Red (Groundhogs) and Communication Breakdown (Led Zeppelin). Both
were played fast but CM was like a punk rock version Super fast and you might
not even recognize it as the Issaih struggles to sing the vocal so fast. Far
out. Earlier in the evening I did an interview with the super cool drummer, Mario. Check it out below.
Earthless Interview
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| Earthless |
Set List: Uluru Rock, Black Heaven, Electric Flame, Gifted
by the Wind, Violence of the Red Sea, Volt Rush, Cherry Red, Communication
Breakdown
Black Wizards from Portugal
closed the show. We only hear a few songs as we left as we were so tired by
this time and Earthless just knocked us out!
BW are a 4 piece band with a charismatic female singer and lead guitar
player. I think she was inspired but Issiah and really felt like she had to go
for it. I have never heard any women play lead guitar like this. I was
impressed and they really had some good rocking songs. Wish we had heard the
whole show.
Fantastic festival and nice to see a lot more people from Denmark, Germany, France visiting the festival as well. Congrats to the organizer Ricardo and his wife Thelma. See you next year.
My favourite bands:
Causa Sui, Earthless, Astrodome, 1000 Mods, Naxatras
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