Robbie Williams, The Chemical Brothers and Ivete Sangalo are the great highlights of the North Music Festival, which returns to the Alfândega do Porto, starting Friday, for three days of “riverside partying” in a larger venue.
For Jorge Veloso, president of Vibes & Beats, the promoter that organizes the North Music Festival, the headliners are the highlight of this edition of the festival, which promises “three distinct days, three lively days and, therefore, three days of riverside partying.
The promoter stressed that the organization made “a point of having the celebration of the 45th anniversary [of their career] of Jáfumega, as well as the Trade Workers.”
“It is always part of the DNA of the North Music Festival to have artists from Porto, from the Porto area,” said Jorge Veloso, speaking to Lusa, giving as examples Pedro Abrunhosa and Tiago Nacarato, who are also part of the program this year.
The first day is dedicated “to electronica and rock”, with The Chemical Brothers, Bomba Estéreo, The Legendary Tigerman, Trabalhadores do Comércio, and Jáfumega.
“On the second day we have more of the hot rhythms of Brazil, but also Nininho Vaz Maia, who is Portuguese, but also quite lively,” said Jorge Veloso about the May 27 lineup, which includes Ivete Sangalo, Ana Castela, Gustavo Mioto, and Nininho Vaz Maia.
The third and last day is “more ‘pop rock'”, with Robbie Williams, Pedro Abrunhosa, The Black Mamba and Tiago Nacarato.
“So we have a differentiated lineup each day,” the promoter pointed out, stressing that “the festival is not just a main stage.”
Besides this, there is also “a ‘sunset’, a stage on the boat, another ‘indoor’ [indoors], which is the ‘clubbing'”. It is on these stages that Djeff, King Kami, Progressivu, Francisco Gil (May 26), Batalá, Rich & Mendes, Switchdance (May 27), Shaka Lion and Yen Sung (May 28) will perform.
Besides the music, there will be “lots of parallel activities, such as the ‘Wine Garden’, the famous boat rides, and entertainment in the space: barbers, ‘makeup’ and ‘tattoos’,” as in previous editions.
Although the number of stages is the same, the venue space has “doubled.
“The space has doubled, since we have very strong headliners. We have practically sold out days, we needed more space. We managed to increase the space and we will also, namely in terms of cabin structures, double what we had,” said the promoter.
This year, the organization expects “15 to 18 thousand people per day”. “Our big goal is to have 50 thousand people in the three days”, said Jorge Veloso, pointing out that among the tickets already sold, “20% to 30% are for people outside” Portugal.
“We have 85 people coming from Argentina to see Robbie Williams and 50 people from Israel, but most of the people are right here from neighboring Spain, of course, France and England. From the countries here in Europe, pretty much everybody,” he said.
The three-day passes for the North Music Festival are sold out, but there are still daily tickets, which cost €55, for May 26 and 27, and €95 for the 28th.
The schedule of performances and other information about the festival can be found online at https://www.northmusicfestival.com/2023.
