Optimus Alive!

Optimus Alive!, or simply Alive!, is a music and arts festival which takes place in the Algés riverside, in Oeiras, Portugal. The first edition took place in 2007. Despite its recent creation, the festival has achieved considerable popularity both inside and outside of Portugal, with the UK magazine NME placing in one of the top 12 European festivals in 2009. In 2012, NME.com's readers rated the festival 10 out of 10.^[1] It is organized by the Everything Is New and its main sponsor is Optimus.

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The first Alive!, was held between the 8–10 June 2007, in Algés, Oeiras, and the main attraction was the return of Pearl Jam, Linkin Park and The Smashing Pumpkins, and the first time in Portugal for bands like The Used, The White Stripes and Beastie Boys.

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The second Optimus Alive! was held between 10–12 June. The second edition gained considerable international attention having both Bob Dylan and Neil Young in the line up, among other popular artists like Within Temptation. It was also helped by the U.K. magazine NME, which placed it in a list of Europes 12 best festivals outside of the U.K. along with Benicasim and Roskilde. The low cost of tickets and the optimum weather conditions ensured the festival's success.^{[citation needed]}

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Corey Taylor of Slipknot performing at the festival in 2009

The third Optimus Alive! was held at the same place between 9–11 July.

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The Fourth installment of the Lisbon Festival will take place, as usual, in Passeio Marítimo de Alges.

Fan Packs are available from Fnac which as well as the single or three day tickets they also include an Alive! t-shirt. In 5 of these packs there are five Golden tickets, these tickets grant the winner entrance to the Festival through the V.I.P. entrance, backstage access, a guided tour and a chance to meet and greet the Stars in the Optimus Fan Zone. A three day pass is 90€, and 15€ for the camping access, single day tickets cost 50€.

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The fifth installment of the Lisbon Festival took place, as usual, in Passeio Marítimo de Alges, Oeiras. To celebrate the fifth anniversary of the festival, Optimus Alive added a fifth day, during which headliners Coldplay performed.^[2]

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The sixth year of the festival drew crowds of more than 55,000 people to hear bands like Radiohead, Warpaint, The Maccabees, and The Kills.^[3] The festival's atmosphere failed to charm all its attendees, like The Line of Best Fit's Suze Olbrich, who described her first impression of the festival grounds as a "car park with an enormous hulking main stage, two smaller hooded stages and more branded eateries and stalls than I’ve ever come across in one place".^[4] Olbrich did compliment the sound quality blasting from all three stages, but mentioned the first day artists had no hope of filling the "cavernous" arenas, zapping some energy from the performances.^[4]

Headliners Radiohead's performance capped off the final night of the festival. The band mostly performed works from its 2011 album King of Limbs. Radiohead was called back for two encores, and performed a section of REM's 'The One I Love'.^[3]

The Maccabees also performed on the final day of the festival. During their set, the band broke into a rendition of "Happy Birthday", as July 15 was also the band's bassist Rupert Jarvis' birthday.^[3]

The Sunday performances wrapped up well after 4 a.m. Monday morning.^[4]

Optimus Alive 2012 was nominated for several European Festival Awards—Best Major Festival, Best European Festival Line-up and Artists' Favourite Festival.^[5] Ultimately, Optimus went home empty-handed however.^[6]

Optimus Alive!13

Optimus Alive 2013 is planned for July 12–14, 2013 in Lisbon, Portugal. Bands already confirmed for the festival include Green Day, Two Door Cinema Club, Depeche Mode, Kings of Leon, Alt-J, and Of Monsters and Men, with more to be announced in the coming months.^[7] Ticket prices for the 2013 festival range from €53 for a day ticket to €121 for a three day pass and camping accommodations.^[8]

External links

• Official website