BPM festival expanding (brazil & portugal)

Yes that villa marzinha was really good, we had I blinder of a night on Tuesday.We were meeting a guy from lisbon we know to get some smoke and buggle..:)
 
It was great! Bonzo summed up perfectly. Some additions:

At the doors (on the beach) policemen made security checks. Guards only checked for ticket/wristband after these checks so i think the BPM organizers had not much influence on this. Police was looking in every angle of our wallets. I fully understand the security point (don't want to get stubbed too), but they don't need to stick their finger in every corner of a small wallet to find guns or knives :rolleyes:

Positive: it went better with parallelization when they had 5 policemen doing these checks at Blanco Beach on Saturday.

The outdoor places for day parties (Blanco Beach / NoSoloAgua) were all great and suited best for me as this is my favorite party mode these days ;) Directly under the sky with beach setting, barefoot dancing in the sand surrounded by smiling faces :D

There were many fake goodies. We were aggressively offered a lot insight the day venues but all of them were crap! Professionally pressed but not the real taste. It was possible to shoot quality on a smaller scale however.

Hope it went well for the organizers and people in Portimao so that it will happen again next year. All in our group had a lot of fun and we want to come back.

One last thing: Portuguese girls are really nice :D
 
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Bonzo said:
Can't compare to BPM Mexico as I never went but I just got back from the Portugal version so happy to answer your questions.

Outside venues:

NoSoloAqua - great beach venue based around an existing bar/restaurant. If you were facing the dj booth you had the sea on the right and the existing restaurant/apartments on the left. Reminded me of Bora Bora in the early days. 12pm-12am Thursday/Saturday/Sunday but stayed open to 4am (extended to 5am I heard) on Friday night. About a 10 min walk from centre of town

Blanco Beach - right next door to NoSoloAqua in a cordoned off area of the beach. 12pm-10pm Thursday/Sunday and 12pm-12am on Saturday

Cloque Bar - Lovely little venue further along the coast on the other side of Praia da Rocha. Had a small restaurant inside but the dance floor was on a raised area looking out to the sea. About a 10-15 min walk from centre of town. Open 4pm to 12am

Indoor venues in central Praia Da Rocha:

Katedral Disco - one of 2 existing discos. Small dance floor with smaller raised balconies on all sides. Open 10pm-5am

Ocean Club - almost next door to Katedral. Bigger dance floor with open roof terrace upstairs that looked out over ocean. Open 10pm-5am

Villa Marzinha - free venue off a side street facing Katedral. I really loved this bar. Small inside dance floor with outside courtyard with comfy chairs. Open 9pm-4am. Had a great few hours here on Sunday night.

Indoor venues in Parchal:

Centro de Congressos Do Arade. Basically a big congress centre with 3 clubbing rooms, 1 upstairs and 2 downstairs. More your typical warehouse type vibe. Reminded me of some of the ADE venues when they are put on at a Congress Centre. Personally I preferred the smaller more intimate venues which had a little more character but if you wanted a full-on night this was where to go. 15 mins (€10) in a cab from the Centre of Praia Da Rocha. Open 11am to 7am.

So you could easily party from midday to 7am if you moved around the venues and be outside clubbing until 4am on some nights.

Goodies - widely available in the clubs even more so than Ibiza.

Prices of drinks:

Note all bars were only accepting tokens (each worth €5)

Initially I was charged 1 token for a pint of beer at the beach venues but I did notice that this changed at the town venues to 1 token for a half litre of beer.

Long drink (€10) - standard spirits plus mixer (including red bull)

Long drink with premium spirits (€15)

Water (0.5l) - 5€

Security/Queues

For some of the busier nights at peak times there were some long queues (1 hour+). A lot of this was due to the security checks at the doors which were often very thorough. They said part of this was due to the terror attack in London over the weekend but I also think they were being especially careful after what happened in PDC earlier this year. However there was no doubt they were also looking for other things as well. You were usually asked to completely empty your pockets and they then checked everything very closely.

Atmosphere

Absolutely top-notch. Plenty of happy smiley faces everywhere. Very international crowd with a noticeable North American contingent. I saw very few posers/moody characters anywhere and I must say it was really refreshing. Had loads of chats with random people and the feedback was exclusively how much people were enjoying themselves. The location itself in fabulous with huge sandy beaches everywhere and being able to pop in and out of venues really was handy. You could take a break for a few hours and get some drinks at a local bar (which were amazingly good value) or get some food/change your clothes.

We were lucky enough to be based in the centre of Praia Da Rocha so could get to 6 of the 7 venues within 20 mins walk.

Downsides

It was cold at night (down to 11 degrees on Saturday night) so unless you were in the midst of a crowd dancing it did start to get uncomfortable. I don't think this temperature was typical of the time of year though so it might just have been bad luck.

Queuing was a pain at times so I hope they can improve this next year.

Overall, it was a great long weekend that reminded me a lot of Ibiza in the '90s. People who were there to enjoy the music with like-minded souls. I agree with Craig72 that it'll probably not last and will become a victim of its own success but for the moment, I'd definitely recommend it.
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Great info. Sounds awesome. Will likely check it out next year. They have a year to work out the kinks and make it even better. This is what they did in Mexico and they never really became a victim of their own success. Shame Ibiza can't figure it out.
 
I think its good for a few years,it's on at a good time in a great location. We stayed at flor de rocha apts and would definitely stay there again..:)
 
This is our Main Holiday next year, with a week somewhere else straight after to relax etc. Sounds good and all seemed to enjoy it
 
Flights less than €100 return for next September from dublin.. and a good thing is direct flights all year round because of Golf Wankers :).. very cheap in February and March from Dublin..
 
Neo95gt said:
This is what they did in Mexico and they never really became a victim of their own success.
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No offense but this is just totally incorrect. Becoming a victim of their own success is exactly why they will never be in Mexico again and had crowds in the streets of PDC which just completely outgrew what they were able to provide. Same reason they went from having intimate events at Blue Venado to creating a "jungle venue" (which yes did turn out nice but was certainly not the same). BPM did a lot of things well and a lot not so well, but they certainly became a victim of their own success in the ladder years.
 
I thought BPM was great - more so the day parties than the night ones. Blanco Beach was great for All Day I Dream. Cloque wins hands down though. Amazing venue soundtracked by Nick Curly - immense. Also Troxler on Sunday night was great - the last hour of his set was brilliant!
 
Cloque:) I would happily sit there listening to the 80s thread on here for the whole week... and I might actually do that next visit.
 
Reice Donnelly‎ to The BPM Festival
19 September at 19:26 · Portimão, Portugal ·
Lovely security at no solo água on Sunday... attacking people un-provoked for apparently no reason!! the lady in white told me "don't do that" (record) and snatching my phone off me, then all the security panicked and went around checking to see who recorded it grabbing people phones & they saw me last Minute and about 10 of them grabbed me trying to get my phone off me & I told them multiple times I'll delete it before they let go of me and made me delete it but luckily it was in the recently deleted folder on iPhone!!! Discussing

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10154684702181831
 
kimajy said:
Reice Donnelly‎ to The BPM Festival
19 September at 19:26 · Portimão, Portugal ·
Lovely security at no solo água on Sunday... attacking people un-provoked for apparently no reason!! the lady in white told me "don't do that" (record) and snatching my phone off me, then all the security panicked and went around checking to see who recorded it grabbing people phones & they saw me last Minute and about 10 of them grabbed me trying to get my phone off me & I told them multiple times I'll delete it before they let go of me and made me delete it but luckily it was in the recently deleted folder on iPhone!!! Discussing

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10154684702181831
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Amazing how many people happily film or stand around 'outraged' while some lad gets kicked in the head isn't it ?
 
Springal said:
Amazing how many people happily film or stand around 'outraged' while some lad gets kicked in the head isn't it ?
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There was a guy standing with his hands in the air and they floored him. They don't care who they hit or why. Maybe there was a good reason, I don't know, but those security were looking for fights. I noticed it outside congresso too.

At least if someone films it they can pass it on to someone who can actually do something, maybe not employ them again.
 
Springal said:
Amazing how many people happily film or stand around 'outraged' while some lad gets kicked in the head isn't it ?
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Would you rather nobody filmed it so there's no evidence ? Honestly, I would dearly love to see you go try to intervene or reason with a group of "empowered baboons" in full flight. Then come back and let us know how that actually turned out for you. At the very least you'd probably get lamped and the authorities would also side against you if you tried to make any sort of complaint. What exactly do you think anyone is actually capable of doing in those circumstances ? It's the same old story time and time again. I'm glad this got filmed as evidence so people can see reality rather than the trumped up lies so often spouted to deny what's clearly going on.

I can honestly say if I saw that going on at an event it would ruin any sort of enjoyment I might otherwise have being there. They can actually stick their festival where the sun doesn't shine for so long as these thugs are allowed anywhere near it as far as I'm concerned. Over-empowered, under-trained and basically scum in a uniform. Yeah, no thanks !
 
kimajy said:
Reice Donnelly‎ to The BPM Festival
19 September at 19:26 · Portimão, Portugal ·
Lovely security at no solo água on Sunday... attacking people un-provoked for apparently no reason!! the lady in white told me "don't do that" (record) and snatching my phone off me, then all the security panicked and went around checking to see who recorded it grabbing people phones & they saw me last Minute and about 10 of them grabbed me trying to get my phone off me & I told them multiple times I'll delete it before they let go of me and made me delete it but luckily it was in the recently deleted folder on iPhone!!! Discussing

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10154684702181831
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Was this local security or Canadians?
 
Dirk Bigler said:
Was this local security or Canadians?
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It doesn't specify but judging by the accent re deleting the footage pretty sure local.

Here's another one !
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1428651157183387

>>> The BPM Festival We are appalled by this incident and are doing our best to take action against the perpetrators. They have been identified as members of the private security firm PSG - Seguranca Privada, S.A., hired by the venue NoSoloAgua. This is completely unacceptable professional behavior and we are working with local authorities on the matter. We cherish our fans that come to BPM and they deserve the utmost respect and hospitality as our guests. If you have any information about this incident or can put us in touch with the victim, please email info@thebpmfestival.com.
 
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