Travel & Events | Optimus Alive/Nos Alive - Portugal

Losing my festival virginity was not as scary, messy or as expensive as I thought it would be.
Yes, My first festival was abroad, on holiday, with my boyfriend (which may explain why I left with 300 Euros, and still managed to come back with some money), and yes there were SEVERE hangovers on some days, and sunstroke on others but I loved that we combined a festival with a holiday, it made it so much more fun and meant we could combine two things we love into one, which was great, PLUS the festival was really cheap at £98 for all three days (I think) which, considering the acts, was amazing value for money (AND it's even cheaper this year!)

I hadn't heard of Nos Alive (previously known as Optimus Alive) before last year, I just happened to stumble across it via an advertisement online. The lineup was INSANE, seriously, the acts attending produced the kind of music everyone loved, but there was also a lot of variety in genre, so it seemed like the perfect first festival, plus it was a great excuse for a holiday.

Some of my favourite acts included: Ben Howard, Sam Smith, The Vicious Five, The 1975, Bastille and The Lumineers. 

I was so surprised at how amazing The 1975 were live, Matthew Healy's voice is lovely, and I honestly think I fell in love with him a little bit. 

The Vicious Five were a Portuguese group I had never heard of before until I went to Optimus, they were the first act on (on the main stage) so didn't have many people crowding around them, but they had so much energy, despite it being quite early in the morning and they really got me buzzed for the rest of the day!
SAM SMITH! What can I even say to justify Sam Smith's voice! It really was beautiful, I almost cried (could have been something to do with Whiskey being thrown in my eye though..). All I can say is that if you have the opportunity to go and listen/watch Sam Smith live, then you should, because he really does sing with passion and his voice has so much range. (Excuse the blurry Sam Smith picture, this was the best I had).

If there were any negatives to the festival, they would be: The Libertines.

EVERYONE watching them (well, almost) was British, and either a Liverpool FC fan or Manchester United fan, so subsequently there was a lot of tension, chants and threats that were never actually carried out. Also, I couldn't make out a word of what Pete Doherty was saying; he just annoyed me. Similarly, I expected Imagine Dragons and MGMT to be better than they were, they were quite disappointing: out of tune and boring. There also weren't that many activities to do outside of listen to music, eat and drink. I know that's mostly what a festival is about, but it would have been nice to do something fun while waiting around for the next band we wanted to see. 

The Food there was so good! Proper festival, 'I'm-drunk-and-need-something-filling-and-not-necessarily-healthy' kind of food: Pizzas (a lot of them), burgers, wraps, kebabs, noodles, pasta, pancakes/crepes with ANY kind of topping (they had the LOT)! Ice cream, more wraps and burgers and pizzas; candy floss, sweet stalls, chocolate stalls. The food was so yummy, and relatively cheap for a festival. My favourite was a chicken wrap, the sauce and fillings inside were amazing! 

And if the queues for Heineken were too long for you (like they were my boyfriend) then there are some lovely people who carry Heineken re-filling backpacks on their backs all day

Overall, Optimus Alive was a great festival, it's set my expectations so high music-wise. I don't think I'll be going to a festival soon that has as many musicians I like, playing at once... or for the weather to be as good as it was in Portugal.