Bilbao BBK 2023

emmanuel · July 9, 2023

How was Pavement and did anyone catch a setlist?

Sarahw2 · July 10, 2023

On 7/8/2023 at 11:42 PM, Rico_Pliskin said:

I see they're selling weekend tickets for 2024 at the fest. What price is quoted and also what are the dates for 2024?

Enjoy your last night!

The tickets were 120 to buy at the festival. How did everyone get on? I felt like there was a lot more people this year but still had a great time. The toilet situation was bad but that's it. Although I didn't camp

WFD · July 10, 2023

4 hours ago, Sarahw2 said:

The tickets were 120 to buy at the festival. How did everyone get on? I felt like there was a lot more people this year but still had a great time. The toilet situation was bad but that's it. Although I didn't camp

We stayed near San Mames, and had a great time overall. Really well organised in the most part, wristband pick up (and facility to add funds to it right next to it) worked well, I did the walking route each night (including the brass band accompaniment on the first night but just went at my own pace the other nights), and daughter got the shuttle bus for nights 2 and 3 and said they were well organised.

Site layout was fine, but yes the toilet facilities weren't great, very crowded at busy times, having the urinals and the cubicles next to each other didn't work, and with multiple entrance and exit points it got chaotic, and also produced a pinch point on the path down near mainstage.

First night we managed Dry Cleaning, M83 (in a sudden but brief downpour), Florence (partial for me, whole set for daughter), Desire (just me), Fever Ray and most of Chemical Brothers. Second night Tinariwen, Roisin Murphy, most of Pavement and down the front for Phoenix. Final night Perfume Genius, Last Dinner Party, Arctic Monkeys and Idles. I wasn't bothered about getting a spot for AM so had a wander up to the lookout point past the dance stages and watched the sun set over the city with a quiet drink. 5am finishes are a bit much for us (particularly after having a very early flight out on Thursday), the latest we stayed was for Chemical Brothers. The walk back down afterwards was fine, plenty of people doing the same but not too crowded.

Had a bit of time in the city in the afternoons and did the Guggenheim and the stadium tour.

Would certainly do it again, probably not next year due to other plans but definitely worth a repeat visit and glad we chose it over Mad Cool (which we did last year but avoided this year due to it being a new and untested site).

barcelonista1899 · July 11, 2023

Overall had a decent time at Bilbao BBK. A few points:

-Wristband exchange at San Mamés worked really well, as did the wristband payment throughout.

- We pre booked the buses as opposed to the free shuttles and that worked like a dream. The walk up for the last 10-15mins was a bit annoying, especially with a sprained-ankled wife! Buses back afterwards were efficient as well.

- Booked the hotel months ago and didn't really think about tactical location until closer to the festival when things were more expensive, but I would definitely echo the recommendation staying by San Mamés or at least next to a metro stop nearby. We walked back the first night from the festival site down steep hills and up again (somehow) wasn't great at 4am. Faffing with the metro and then another walk was annoying too. Taxi was quick but added another 10€ onto the night.

- The toilet situation was idiotic. There were massive queues as the bathrooms were mainly placed together, but if you skipped the queue then nearly every time there were loads of cubicles free past the first block, just the queue wasn't filtering down....Literally open doors could be seen but no one was shuffling down, and many people turning their nose up at toilets in a state that you would only dream of at other festivals.

- Bars were generally fine but the bar staff were mainly incompetent; paying 10€ for a 600ml cup of beer which was 40% head was not on and a few of them got arsey when I asked them to refill.

- Idles, Arctics, Murder Capital, Phoenix, colectivo Da Silva, Chems were the highlights for me. I'm not a Pavement fan and I only know a couple of songs but they were underwhelming and the crowd was tiny by the end of it.... Wouldn't even fill the up until the first crush barrier. There were a few other questionable placements- Young fathers on the 3rd/4th stage clashing with Idles was a killer! The Royksopp delay massively killed the mood on the Saturday after Idles, we didn't stay for Leftfield but I wonder what impact was had on their set?

Overall an enjoyable break, although it's definitely a festival I'd only return to if the lineup was a good one!