Our Boy Rodrigo

Rodrigo Amarante. Primavera Sound Festival Day 1.
I shot the whole week in Porto with my Pentax film camera and some color and black and white rolls of film.

So as mentioned yesterday, I hit Porto today. Why? As a gamble really, Emma suggested heading there to go to the Nos Primavera Sound three-day festival. Honestly, sounds like the best way to let go after exams. So I took the train to Stansted in the morning, expecting a dull journey where I could plan the trip a bit more. Turns out nope, of all the random things that could happen, someone walks up to me and says “I’m sorry but you look very much like someone I know called Axel.” Well hey what do you know. Turns out it was my man Caspar, from back in the days of going to school in Paris. We had a legit catch up over the next hour or so, it was cool to compare retrospectives on Paris and the present with someone who I hadn’t actually known very well back in the days. Anyway, hopefully we’ll hang again next year when living in London.
Finally, on the flight I had time to plan out Porto a bit more. Turns out no, I just slept…

Porto.
Probably around my fourth or fifth time in Portugal. I love it every time, got some excellent memories here and its got one of the most enjoyable atmospheres around Europe. Although I’d never been to Porto, it didn’t disappoint. The city is like a mixture of Barcelona’s industrial-cultural Mediterranean vibe, Brussels' random juxtaposition of different styled buildings next to each other and Lisbon’s essential Portuguese vibe. I love it. Today is not the day I really got to enjoy it though. I went straight to the hostel (which is awesome) and met up with Emma, who’d been traveling around Portugal for the last couple weeks. After grabbing some food (hello Porto eclairs) we took the tram/metro straight to the festival.

Again, the festival grounds are pretty cool, located on some grassy slopes by the sea. There’s four stages, plus everything else you’d expect from a festival. The freebies are also really cool, particularly the giant sunflowers, which added a colorful splash to the place. The weather was windy and slightly rainy, but it didn’t really stop anybody, just made the place a bit cooler. So today was the first day of the festival and featured some of the biggest acts:
- Rodrigo Amarante: a great Brazilian performer. He couldn’t have looked happier while performing! Here he is on stage. He’s one of Emma’s favorite artists, so we managed to meet him afterwards for a signature. Great guy! Hourglass.
- Spoon: one of those old school British indie rock type bands. We just chilled on the grass for their performance, but it was quite good. The Underdog.
- Caetano Veloso: I think my sister may be jealous for this one, he’s a pretty big shot Brazilian performer! Cool performance. Nine Out Of Ten.
But if anything, what I was waiting most for was what came up next… and was worth the long wait at the very front of the stage amidst all the other keenos.
- Kendrick Lamar: first off, I may as well state that he put on the single best performance I’ve ever seen. It probably helps that he’s one of my favorite artists ever. The crowd was immense and his band was great as well. Basically the perfect setting! Probably the highlight was m.a.a.d city. I never appreciated how much that song is the climax of the album until then. He pretty much performed good kid m.a.a.d city, in an altered way with a couple add-ins. Needless to say it was a highlight for both Emma and me. Intense, much love to K-Dot. m.A.A.d city.

That’s enough for today I suppose.

peace