Woodrock Festival Live Review

Woodrock Festival 2016: Quiaios, Figueira da Foz, Portugal.

This was my first time at Woodrock, a small festival in Quiaios, Portugal that is just now starting to grow out of the underground scene, and let me tell you it was one of the most pleasant festival experiences I had in the last couple of years.

Quiaios is a small and serene village, where you can go from the beach to the camping site by foot in just under 10 minutes. The camping site is well maintained by the local stuff, with a bar, lockers rooms and a very peaceful setting for anyone who wishes to set up tent for Woodrock.

One of the most outstanding aspects of Woodrock is the infrastructures created by the organization, the camping site was already there and all the organization had to do was setup a partnership with the camping site: this ensured that all festival goers had hot showers, clean bathrooms and a place to eat if they wished for it. The venue for the concerts was small, but with a professional setup for every band – there were merch stands, beer for everyone and food. The prices were really low compared to what is usually expected in a music festival. What really stood out were the stands and tables, all of them made with wooden pallets and various recyclable materials and small wooden tubes where you could place your plastic cups, leaving the venue cleared of almost all trash. Congratulations to the Woodstock organization, they really did a great job on this one.

1st day – July 22nd

The first band was Big Red Panda (PT) a psychedelic/prog outfit that started with a delay of almost an hour (the organization wanted a perfect sound for all bands). These guys were a good first band, although a bit inexperienced. Their sound works really well in a live setting, going from post rock to prog to psychedelic, their best moments came when they focused on the instrumental part of their sound when Pedro Ferreira was not singing. Almost to the end of their set the sound took on a Pink Floyd vibe where the three guitars really caught the audience’s attention. Overall a good start to the festival.

The second band was 10000 Russos (PT), a very well known Portuguese band that I personally feel should have been the headliners of the day. Having seen them in the past two years in the Reverence Festival I expected a kickass show. Unfortunately the sound was not up to par, with the sound techs screwing up more than once. Luckily this band is experienced and they managed to hide the flaws with their sound. The show started with screams of “EUROPA KAPUT!!!”, while the guitars were slowly creating their usual sonic wall of psychedelic aggression. If one were to describe 10000 Russos’s sound when they play live, Joy Division disciples high on mushrooms would be the perfect way to do it. You can dance, jump, headbang, do whatever you want, their sound has no limits, it’s a shame they suffered so many technical difficulties.

Up next were Dollar Llama (PT), a groove/heavy metal band from Lisbon that thoroughly rocked the audience. Their sound is nothing new, and on record it would probably bore some people with their by the numbers American heavy  metal, but when they play live, the band absolutely kicks ass. Tiago Simões is a monster on stage, constantly jumping all over the place, infecting the audience with his energy and never letting the intensity go down. The rest of the band were very competent and we got to see the first batch of metalheads jumping like lunatics at the sound of distorted guitars: Dollar Llama gave one hell of a show.

Switchtense (PT) are already famous in Portugal for their balls to the wall hardcore thrash sound and their absolutely insane live shows. Hugo is amazing on the vocals, his friendly demeanour when talking with the audience is completely contrary to his aggressive stance when spitting lyrics during each song. From the first moment this concert was as wild as every metalhead wanted it to be. Thrashing riffs, screaming vocals, thundering drums, mosh pits, stage diving and crowd surfing, every metalhead’s dream in a perfect package.

El Paramo (ES) brought with them a bag full of crushing riffs that left everyone in awe. The Spaniards were absolutely monumental from the get-go with slow powerful guitars backed by titanic drums. It was mostly instrumental, but their stoner sound with post rock influences left the audience utterly baffled at such a great band with such tremendous presence. This was truly one of the highlights of the festival.

Having never even heard of Plus Ultra (PT) before I was expecting nothing and got one hell of a closer for Woodrock’s first day. I could not tell if they preferred rock, stoner or punk, what I now know is that these guys are absolutely one of the most energetic live bands I have ever seen. The sound was perfect, the crowd was already hyped up because of the previous gigs and wanted nothing more than an opportunity to waste the rest of their energy in one astounding explosion of music. Thus it was with great pleasure that Plus Ultra delivered a fantastic rock & roll show to send everyone one to bed tired from jumping all over the place.

Other than a few mishaps here and there with the sound, the first day was a rock celebration that people hoped would continue the next day.

2st day – July 23rd

After one of the most peaceful nights in a music festival ever, the festival goers divided themselves between the beach, the shade in the camping grounds and breakfast in the various locations in Quiaios. Since the concerts only started at about 21:30h everyone spent the day as if they were on vacation.

The 2nd day started right on schedule with Soleil Noir (Lux), a self-proclaimed mystical doom rock ensemble, that brought on the doom metal riffs like no band had done the previous day. It was slow, powerful and hypnotic, the perfect way to begin a night of concerts.

Up next were Miura (PT) from Figueira da Foz, a local band for local people, with a fast paced (even if a bit generic) hard rock sound that got the crowd headbanging. I must give praise to the vocalist, his energy was fascinating and it truly

showcased their desire to grow beyond small time venues.

The Grand Astoria (RU) came from the cold but brought with them a warm a psychedelic blues rock that was seriously fun to watch. The band was very friendly with the audience and their sound, filled with cool guitar solos and sweet groovy riffs was a welcomed departure from the more aggressive bands of the day.

Killimanjaro (PT) are starting to become serious players in the national music festival scene, their fast and aggressive heavy/hard rock is contagious, as you cannot possibly stand still during any of their live gigs. This day was no different, fast riffs, aggressive vocals and rock & roll attitude drove the audience to instant lunacy as Woodrock had another great concert.

Keep Razors Sharp (PT) were on a whole other level, they are a man’s band, played non-stop all over Portugal and already had great shows in another national festival (Reverence) that were simply astonishing. The band is a well oiled machine, never missing a beat, never getting flustered, and their professionalism allowed them to take the stage by storm and get everyone dancing and jumping until the very last song.

Spectral Haze (NOR) came all the way from Norway to deliver us a sonic rock space journey. Cosmic sounds, psychedelic sound effects, a grandiose impenetrable wall of fuzzy guitars and hellish vocals placed the entire audience in a doom trance that lasted almost an hour. This is what Woodrock is all about, great rock and roll expanding minds through sound and nature, the perfect ending for the festival.

Overall this is a small festival with great potential, the infrastructures are perfect, the staff is friendly, down to earth and competent and the location is perfect. If you’re looking for a small festival to add to your holidays in Portugal Woodrock is the place to go.