Optimus Alive 2012

A few weeks ago I had a coming of age moment...I attended my very first festival! Optimus Alive is held just outside of Lisbon, Portugal in mid July and is still new enough to be solely about the music, and not the razmataz that normally follows at many festivals now. The line up was packed full of Portuguese and British bands which resulted in an eclectic mass of people coming together for one awesome weekend.

Snow Patrol 

Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle,wiggle...YEAH!

There are 3 stages to visit: the main stage, the clubbing stage and the Heineken Stage (which was my absolute favourite!). There was also a whole load of food tents and bars...I got extremely excited about having cider at a festival. It tasted amazing!

In love with Noah and the Whale

Marcus Mumford

Lisa Hannigan. Beautiful.

The music lasted all night and so, we were free to spend our days lounging in tents, having spontaneous picnics and sunbathing until the bands struck up once again. To say I had heard a few horror stories about festival campsites would be something of an understatement! However Lisboa Campsite, although packed to bursting point with people, was actually good. There is a pool, restaurants, mini-market, tennis courts and most importantly showers (although they were freezing)! If you are truly bored of mingling with foreign music lovers and thinking of new ways to make ham and cheese sandwiches exciting then there is a shopping centre nearby. Also, there is a huge camping shop so, no need to worry about carrying your tent on as Easyjet hand-luggage. I saw so many different bands, met loads of people from all over the world and had an incredible time doing it. I even ended up with a crush on this band The Kills, they were absolutely awesome. If you ever get a chance to see them then do it as they made my last night in Portugal epic! Also, if you ever have a chance to go to Optimus Alive do that too!

So how about you? Have you been to any festivals yet this summer?

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