788 replies to this topic

[Homer]

If anyone needs basic info on this fest, below's the e-mail that I sent out to my mates explaining the ins and outs at the start of our planning process:


http://www.optimusalive.com/en

It's in Lisbon (which you can fly to from Bristol or Gatwick with Easyjet), on 13, 14 and 15 July.

The line-up is currently Radiohead, Stones Roses, Florence and the Machine, Justice, Metronomy, Caribou, Mazzy Star, Black Lips, but a ton more will be announced.

Three day tickets are £99 each.

It's in the evening (there's a dance tent that goes on after the bands until 4am-5am odd), but in the day time we'll be staying in these:

http://www.booking.c...ngalows.en.html

This is the official campsite for the fest and has swimming pool, shops, crazy golf, etc, and there are free minibuses to/from the fest in the evening.

Unfortunately there are only so many of the bungalows. The price for six people is about 18 euros a night each!

You can get to the fest on public transport, though taxis are dirt cheap (around a tenner from the city centre to the airport when I was in Lisbon last year).

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[JesusQuintana]

I went to Optimus last summer, so can answer questions people might have on it. Information wasn't as freely available last year and i planned the trip myself just looking around forums and maps etc! We went to Lisbon for 7 nights, at the festival for 4 and did touristy stuff the rest. Flights were cheap from Easyjet, and we didn't book until about March or thereabouts.

We stayed here, which was a really nice hotel and quite close to the festival. I thought this would be easier to commute to and from the Festival than the city centre, but due to a one way system and a massive motorway, i wouldn't stay here again if we were to go back! Most taxi drivers at the end of the night seemed to be city centre folk and didn't fully know the area around the festival. I didn't consider staying in the campsite, as i wanted a hotel, and probably would keep that idea if we went back.

I really enjoyed the festival, but it was totally different from T in the Park (where i usually go) in nearly every way. Optimus doesn't start til around 5pm each night. I had imagined we would go to the pool during the day and enjoy the gig at night, i didn't realise how exhausted we would end up by around 11pm each night (maybe my age!), and therefore be ready for home before the main bands came on. The timings is something i definitely prefer with UK festivals. If you get up in the morning and start drinking, at least you know where you stand and the bands are on during the day. Over in Lisbon, the previous nights hangover is inevitable if you want to last the night, which caused me no end of confusion in when i should start drinking! If you don't drink, i'm sure the timings wouldn't be an issue. The whole festival seems like no-one is drinking, nowhere near on a scale of UK festivals, so i personally felt the atmosphere wasn't as good.

As mentioned somewhere else, the headliners choose when they want to play. So Coldplay came on about 10pm or something, while the Foo's were after midnight on their night. The Chemical Brothers night was wasted by technical fuck ups, which saw most of the main stage lineup cancelled. And by the time they came on, about 3 hours behind schedule, we decided to just head home. (See earlier point about drink confusion). Rumours going about on the night blamed 30 Seconds To Mars for wanting an extra part of the stage built for them, so that pissed me off. It could've been nonsense right enough!

Last year we had 4 nights of the festival, which i felt was too much. So if it's a concious decision to revert to 3 this year, then i'm sure it'll be better. Only the Coldplay night sold out last year, and the other nights were noticeably quiet. Comparing the last 3 or 4 years, i think i chose the worst one to go to for my personal taste, so probably would've enjoyed it much more if we were seeing bands we wanted to all night, instead of dropping into different ones to kill time.

Overall, i would go back, but would get a hotel in the city centre, as it's probably easier getting back there at night than to where we stayed last year. Taxi's are cheap, and there's a decent train line that goes straight to the festival. I'd be happier going for 3 nights rather than 4, as the heat and long long day's do take it out of you. I think this year i wouldn't be hanging around in Lisbon after the festival like we did last year, it's a nice enough place but didn't love it. Inside the festival it's pretty much like UK festivals, food and drink isn't cheap, probably 3-4 Euros a pint/burger.

So if more decent bands get added to the lineup, Pearl Jam/Soundgarden/Metallica etc, then i'd seriously consider going back.

[mblackhouse]

Bbk live in Bilbao has a similar lineup most years. 73quid for a 3 day ticket and very close to Bilbao city centre. Maybe worth looking at as an alternative. Lineup stil tba but radiohead headlining and in previous years the lineup has been reasonably similar to Optimus. Loads to do and see in Bilbao too

[TheNewUnion]

@JesusQuintana

Going to be staying at a hotel near to the one you have linked. Wondered if you took the train to and from the festival and if so how easy it was to get to and from the station from the hotel. Also, and forgive the questions, are there any bars/cafes/restaurantsin the locale?

Thanks

[JesusQuintana]

TheNewUnion, on 09 January 2012 - 07:33 PM, said:

@JesusQuintana

Going to be staying at a hotel near to the one you have linked. Wondered if you took the train to and from the festival and if so how easy it was to get to and from the station from the hotel. Also, and forgive the questions, are there any bars/cafes/restaurantsin the locale?

Thanks

To the best of my knowledge there isn't a train station that goes to the festival from near where our hotel was. Of course it depends where your hotel is! Where we were, the hotel ran a bus down to the festival, or we got a taxi. Only about a ten minute journey down some back roads. Basically the station that was nearest the hotel was also the one next to the festival (Alges), the train service is best used coming from the city centre.

In the area we were in, there wasn't much in way of restuarants or bars. There was a petrol station, then a sort of main street with some cafe's and a supermarket. This is another reason why i would go to the city centre in the future. The hotel we were in was nice though, so wasn't a problem eating and drinking there.

No problems answering any questions!

[TheNewUnion]

Thanks for the info. 10 minutes in a cab sounds OK, takes longer than that to walk back to your tent at Glastonbury!

Cheers

[JesusQuintana]

mblackhouse, on 09 January 2012 - 06:59 PM, said:

Bbk live in Bilbao has a similar lineup most years. 73quid for a 3 day ticket and very close to Bilbao city centre. Maybe worth looking at as an alternative. Lineup stil tba but radiohead headlining and in previous years the lineup has been reasonably similar to Optimus. Loads to do and see in Bilbao too

Is this festival a 5pm start too, or an afternoon start? I would definitely consider going to Bilbao too.

[JesusQuintana]

TheNewUnion, on 09 January 2012 - 08:32 PM, said:

Thanks for the info. 10 minutes in a cab sounds OK, takes longer than that to walk back to your tent at Glastonbury!

Cheers

Yeah it's nothing at all, only issue we faced was coming home with the drivers a bit unsure we the hotel was. Hopefully they've learned now though!

[mblackhouse]

Bbk is a similar start time. 5ish, 2 main stages with bands alternating between the 2 so
no clashing.

[JesusQuintana]

mblackhouse, on 09 January 2012 - 09:08 PM, said:

Bbk is a similar start time. 5ish, 2 main stages with bands alternating between the 2 so
no clashing.

Just saw that on the website, cheers!

[ManchesterRob78]

Me and a mate have our tickets and flights booked, Cant wait for this!!!!! :-)

Any body with any useful info on Hostels with good locations would be a real help, we are going to research and do our homework but a heads up from people who have been before is always a help. We are looking to stay City Centre (any info on decent clubs would also be nice)

We've been trying to suss out the getting to and from the venue and it looks like for those who aren't camping staying in city centre and using taxi's is the best bet???

We are going for 7 nights (Monday to Monday).

Any info would be great, other than that.....see you all out there!!!!!!!! :-)

[TheNewUnion]

Don't know about hostels, but there are extra trains on from the Festival site to Lisbon, from what I recall when looking at the website there are "electrics" too, which I'm guessing are trams.

[AM91]

Booked up tickets for all three days with camping. If anyone's stayed at the campsite before, what's it like? and would it be easier buying tents etc over there? ... cheers.

[Homer]

If you want to stay in Lisbon, location wise you might want to know that:

Barrio Alto is the main party part of town (loads of cobbled streets with bars on but it all just swells out onto one big party on the streets well into the night - highly recommended!)

Cais De Sodre train station is the one that connects you to the nearest lively beaches (Estoril in about 20 mins then Cascais)

So somewhere near both these might be good (they're not a million miles apart - Lisbon isn't exactly huge)

[Kevin_gillett]

After getting a new job today, am seriously considering this.
Campsite sounds great too... pool and daytime lounging about is almost a holiday.

Sent the facers messages out to a few mates tonight, if one says yes i'll be booking asap, off to hunt down more info now, no real concerns despite having done no non-uk festivals before, bring it on i say (and less drinking comapred to uk ones might do me some good!)

[Homer]

You can still drink mate, just need to start at, say, 5pm instead of 10am!

[Blky]

Definitely interested in going to Optimus Alive this year.

Has anyone stayed in the bungalows at the campsite before? would you recommend, what's the campsite atmosphere like?

Also, do you still need to buy a camping ticket to get access to the shuttlebus, even though we're staying in the bungalows, or can we just buy the 3 day pass?

ps. I'm assuming you can't take your own alcohol into the arena

Edited by Blky, 12 January 2012 - 04:26 PM.

[pryce]

booked booked and booked ........ staying at the Corinthia .. 5 nights for 307 euros!

does anyone know if its legal to drink in public?

landing at 4 on friday so hopefully it isnt delayed by that much :s

[olliet101]

On See Tickets, the three day ticket without camping now says Call venue so I presume they have sold out their allocation of those.

If so, with the three day ticket with camping, does the price include a bungalow or do you have to pre-book that yourself? If so, where from? If you don't, tents it is then?

Sorry if it seems a stupid question but there isn't much clear information on it, e.g. what happens when you buy the camping ticket does it allocate a bungalow for you (and your friend if being en mass), where to book bungalows if you have to etc. etc. etc.

[pryce]

book tickets on last minute.com ......