Vida Festival 2017 as we lived it

Jul 6

Jul 6 Vida Festival 2017 as we lived it

This year Vida Festival celebrates its fourth edition, giving a great leap of category within the Spanish festival scene. Held at the Masía d’en Cabanyes - a quintessential bucolic setting, Vida Festival is a musical experience that offers a unique feeling.

Get lost in the woods, enjoy music in such an intimate environment, and paraphrasing the great Lou Reed: "Take a walk on the wild side". Here’s a story about that magical, 4-days wild journey.

All of it started with Parcels - the band that fuses different styles such as pop, funk, electronic, disco and even jazz. The complicity that these boys have is reflected in their performances and their music. The Australian quintet deployed its entire festival swag to turn the main stage of the Vida Festival into a dancefloor. Lights, colors, synthesizers, glitter… All these things to celebrate their latest EP “Hideout”. Their new song Overnight (already a hit) was composed and produced in collaboration with Daft Punk. Parcels undoubtedly have a long way to go.

After midnight Phoenix took the stage. The French band brought a delight to their fans by playing hits like Lizztomania, Girlfriend, 1901 and Rome among others. Their newest album “Ti Amo” sounded like a summer afternoon in a small city in Italy. From the romantic Fior Di Latte to the danceable Ti Amo and J Boy, the Versailles band did not forget the mythical If I ever Feel Better, making everyone dance and sing along. Thomas Mars then launched himself into the crowd. It was a marvelous summer night.

In this bucolic, rustic setting, tasting music like a good wine, Devendra Banhart came on stage, giving a speech about romantic songs. Fancy Man and Fig in Leather had particularly special funk-and-disco vibe. He heated the atmosphere with songs like Mi Negrita, Baby, Never Seen Such Good Things and Carmensita - which ended with a Spanish reinterpretation of David Bowie's Sound and Vision - first, but not last tribute to the recently deceased music icon.

Another band that fits like a glove to Vida Festival was Real Estate. Owners of the harmonies, the crystalline guitars and the relaxation, they electrified the atmosphere at the Masía d’en Cabanyes. Real Estate performed songs from their new album “In Mind” such as Stained Glass, which was well combined with older hits from “Atlas” and “Days”. Crime was particularly charming.

The big headliner of the entire festival, The Flaming Lips – from the minute 0 the confetti was already coating the crowd, and the inflatables invaded the stage. Then Wayne Coyne appeared full into the nineties with Race for The Price and She Don’t Use Jelly, followed by the tribute to David Bowie with Space Oddity. From the inside of a giant plastic ball, Wayne was rolling over a sea of excited people. Hits like Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song, and of course Do You Realize? for closure. At that point, FUCK YEAH VIDA FEST balloons should have flown over the sky.

The last day of Vida Festival began at one of the smaller stages with Rosalía and Raul Refree. That stage was really tiny for them, the crowd they dragged was overwhelming. Rosalía's hypnotic voice and Raul's acoustic guitar brought the beautiful essence of flamenco. De Plata would be just one example of how high your sensitivity could go. Thus, amid loud applause, I See A Darkness was the last song of one of the most vivid, intense and exciting concerts of the festival.

It was time for Fleet Foxes to take over the main stage of Vida Festival 2017. The double, triple and quadruple voices worked between Skjelset, Wescott, Wargo and Pecknold. Great acoustics reached a top-quality level with classics such as He Doesn't Know Why – which took the crowd to the stratosphere. Or Ragged Wood – which was exquisitely complemented by psychedelic and hypnotic visuals. Playing highlights such as beautiful Naiads Cassadies, Fool's Errand and, the chameleonic Third of May / Ōdaigahara - the band ended up infusing the gardens of the Masia d'en Cabanyes with that mystical, ancestral and hypnotic air. From gorgeous Mykonos to the sublime White Winter Hymnal, going through Helplessness Blues and the cathartic The Shrine / An Argument, it was the exciting explosion of sound that made us remember why the contemporary folk-rock is big.

Warpaint played after midnight on Saturday. The Los Angeles quartet jumped on stage with an energetic interpretation of Heads Up - the song that gives name to their most recent album. Beyond the catchy rhythms of Jenny Lee Lindberg on bass, the charisma of Emily Kokal and resounding songs like So Good, Whiteout, Love Is To Die and New Song, Warpaint brings you an intense sound universe. Not even a hasty ending tarnished their show.