MEO Kalorama 2024: A Weekend of Music Discovery

This past weekend, MEO Kalorama returned to Parque da Bela Vista in Lisboa, Portugal for a three-day music and arts festival showcasing the local diversity that resides within the capital city of Portugal as well as several international acts. Taylor Palmer from Roam Away From Home discovered the festival and many of the artists on the lineup via JamBase’s Local Live Mixes – personalized Spotify playlists with songs by artists who are performing in a set location.

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Discovering a festival in our new home with Local Live Mix: Lisbon

Roam Away From Home is Taylor and Mike, a husband and wife team that loves traveling and experiencing new adventures together (especially when live music is involved)! We started Roam Away From Home when we left behind our 9 to 5 jobs as a financial analyst and attorney to travel the world. After living a nomadic lifestyle for four years, attending as many concerts as possible throughout the Americas, we made the leap across the pond and landed in our new home of Portugal last year.

In March of this year when JamBase first rolled out the Local Live Mixes we created our “Fresh & Familiar Artists In Concert” playlist setting the location to Lisbon within a 200-mile radius because we wanted to see it ALL. The playlist became a staple for us at home and during our travels around Portugal, attending concerts in major metropolitan areas like Lisbon and smaller towns like Lagos.

As we planned our summer, we referenced the new artists we’d discovered from the playlists to JamBase’s listings of concerts and festivals around Portugal so that we could Go See Live Music every week throughout the season. When we found out five artists we had fallen in love with on our Local Live Mix were playing MEO Kalorama festival from August 29 to 31, we knew we had to go!

Attending the third edition of this festival in our new home was the perfect way to end the summer of music. We were able to listen to even more of the artists on the lineup when JamBase launched its festivals playlists in May.

Day One

MEO Kalorama takes place at the end of the summer in Parque da Bela Vista in Lisbon, Portugal. This park has the perfect infrastructure for a four-stage music festival with grassy hills that form natural amphitheaters, paved pathways that make it easy to hop between stages, and a view of the city from above.

Not only are the festival grounds perfect for a three-day music festival, Parque da Bela Vista is easy to get to with direct access to the metro and several bus lines. Add that all together with the perfect weather of Portugal at the end of August, and MEO Kalorama is the ideal setting for a music festival.

Day one music kicked off with a wide range of music ranging from rock artists like Monobloc and Gossip to Portuguese electronic folk beats of Ana Lua Caiano. We spent the first few hours dancing and singing along with festivalgoers between Palco MEO (the main stage: palco = stage in Portuguese), bass-heavy Palco San Miguel, and the diversely curated lineup of Palco Lisboa.

By mid-day we are back at Palco MEO for the first of the artists we discovered on our Local Live Mix playlist: Massive Attack. This legendary English-based band, formed in 1988, brought massive crowds after taking a hiatus of touring for the last five years.

From hard rock to EDM, Massive Attack showcased the widest range of cross-genre music accompanied by video visuals with anti-fascist messaging. Dance-heavy covers like “Levels” by Avicii and “Gone” by Young Fathers were crowd pleasers but what brought it home for us was when they played one of our favorites from our Local Live Mix, “Unfinished Sympathy.” The entire crowd, including us, was captivated throughout their performance.

Next, we hiked back up the grassy hills of Parque da Bela Vista to Palco Lisboa for a completely different performance by Jalen Ngonda. Whose soulful vocals and funky band have often been compared to Marvin Gaye with even Elton John predicting last summer that Jalen, “is going to be a huge star.”

We don’t know what we expected Sam Smith’s performance to be like, but it absolutely wasn’t anything like we thought it would be… and we say that in the best way! His set started off with our favorite of our Local Live Mix playlist, “Too Good At Goodbyes,” shortly followed by “Stay With Me,” one of the songs that made him one of the biggest artists in the world over a decade ago. The rest of the set incorporated his deep catalog of songs with an intricate set design that reminded me of street art, backup dancers, and a light show that was visible from anywhere in the festival.

South Korean producer and DJ, Peggy Gou, was the perfect way to wrap up day one of MEO Kalorama because she’d been at the top of my list ever since we first heard her music on my Local Live Mix. She’s been a go-to for beachside runs while getting ready, and anytime we need to just dance it out. Dancing and singing along to “It Goes Like (Nanana)” for the first time live is now a core memory and one of the highlights of MEO Kalorama.

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Day Two

Full bands, DJs, loopers, and experimental artists from around the globe created a diverse second-day lineup at MEO Kalorama that gave a little bit of something for everyone as we all sang and danced together on a perfect weather day in Lisbon. Day two for us started with the creative, ethereal, and full-of-life Portuguese artists like Unsafe Space Garden and Emmy Curl.

These opening shows combined the art and music pillars of MEO Kalorama with outfits, music, and stage design that showcased their creativity while setting the perfect tone for the rest of the day.

An element of MEO Kalorama that we loved was that more than 60% of the artists were women or had women in the band. After seeing some amazing women in the first part of the day, we were extremely excited for the next: Olivia Dean.

Wow… what a performance. Hailing from the United Kingdom, Olivia Dean and her band delivered the standout set of the day. Her opening song, “OK Love You Bye,” highlighted her vocal talent and band. Although we would’ve been happy to hear anything she performed, “Time” was our favorite. Throughout her set we watched festival-goers passing by stop whatever side quest they were on to check out Oliva Dean. She was just that good!

After a quick break for delicious Portuguese festival food while watching the sunset, it was time for our #1 must-see set at the festival: Jungle. This was the band that introduced us to MEO Kalorama in the first place after listening to them on our Local Live Mix.

From the first note to the last, the crowd never stopped dancing during Jungle’s sunset set. They played hit after hit, from their breakout “Busy Earnin” to Love In Stereo’s “Keep Moving” starting a full-blown dance party. When they launched into “Back on ‘74” – the band’s biggest single off their 2023 album Volcano – halfway through the set, the audience reached a fever pitch, joining together and clapping the band along.

Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service closed out the San Miguel stage, delivering their nostalgic synthy pop/emo set that took us back to our high school years. We got to hear some of our favorites like “The New Year” and “The Sound of Settling” for the first time live. The crowd sang along with every lyric, highlighting the power of music to connect people, regardless of where we are in the world.

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Final Day

The final day of any festival tends to be a bittersweet moment because it’s hard not to think about the looming end of three full days of music. However, we were more excited than ever because one of our friends flew from Los Angeles to Lisbon to attend the final day of MEO Kalorama with us, giving us a new burst of energy for day three.

There’s something special about being able to share your love of music and the country you live in with someone for the first time, so day three of the fest involved a lot more exploring the grounds and seeing artists live for the first time after streaming them on our Local Live Mix and JamBase festival playlists for months!

On the last day we caught a standout artist of the festival: Ana Moura. One of the top-charting artists in Portugal with hits “Desfado” and “Andorinhas,” Ana Moura takes traditional Fado music and adds her own flavor that transforms the traditionally slow genre into a fun, energetic performance.

Our friend said Moura reminded her of the Spanish star Rosalía: taking the traditional music of her country and putting a personal, modern, and sexy twist. The crowd got an extra surprise when she brought out her partner, Pedro Mafama, to perform “Agarra Em Mim” with her.

Another standout was English singer-songwriter, Raye. The highlight was her performance of the TikTok viral song “Prada,” clearly a crowd favorite. Her set could be a headliner at any fest, but the music wasn’t done yet! Our final MEO Kalorama performance, Burna Boy, not only #1 in his home country of Nigeria, his songs hit the charts all over the world as a leader in the growing Afrobeats genre with his massive hits like “Last Last.”

MEO Kalorama Portugal 2024 was a vibrant celebration of music, art, and culture that brought together diverse sounds from around the globe. Over the course of three days, Parque da Bela Vista became a haven for music and art lovers, where each musician offered something unique and memorable. From the very first time we streamed our Local Live Mix to seeing artists play songs we’d fallen in love with, attending MEO Kalorama was the festival that tied it all together in a beautifully executed experience for our first summer in Portugal.

Discover your next favorite songs and artists playing near you! Create your own Local Live Mix here.