Seven years and counting. In its lucky seventh edition Milhões de Festa is really steping up its game: from the fluffiest of pop to the heaviest and grooviest riffs of rock and metal, Barcelos, in northern Portugal, gets it all between the the 24th and the 27th of July.
Since 2006 the festival has been ensuring its position as the main alternative event in the iberian music scene. With risky line-ups presenting names from the ridges of South America to the depths of Africa with a sure foot in the European-American axis of up and coming artists, Milhões de Festa is one of the last strongholds of true alternative culture, appealing to european audiences with a straight forward and relaxed environment — and there is an open air pool with concerts and dj sets involved. The past editions featured The Fall, Electric Wizard, Anti Pop Consortium, Liars, EyeHateGod, Orange Goblin and Electrelane as main acts, with talents such as Alt-J, El Guincho, Graveyard, Washed Out, Mikal Cronin, Jacco Gardner and Black Bombaim revealing themselves.
For this year's edition Milhões de Festa as taken a sure step towards one of the most uniquely diverse and defying line-ups of this summer: performance from the heavy metal monsters High On Fire and psych rock gods Earthless, alongside concerts from up and comming artists as Chelsea Wolfe, Boogarins, Night Beats, Melt Yourself Down, Teeth of the Sea, The Cult of Dom Keller, Sequin and Fumaça Preta, will mark their way into our hearts and memories.
To be fair, we must assume that Milhões de Festa, as its audience, is a one of a kind event — a summertime music festival that has to be experienced, from dusk to dawn. There’s only one way of enjoying Milhões de Festa: watching it, eating it, drinking it and most of all living it.