What Is twenty one pilots Planning?

As you probably know already, twenty one pilots officially ended their one year hiatus, after releasing the singles Jumpsuit and Nico And The Niners on 11th July 2018. But an interesting thing that I found out (3 months late, by the way) is that they have been messing around with fans for quite a long time!
When I listened to the singles and saw Jumpsuit's music video for the first time, my first thought was: "I KNOW this has some weird meaning, but I don't know it yet". And, well, a couple days after that, I found out, I don't even remember how anymore, a very weird site. http://dmaorg.info. I read it and I got pretty creeped out at first. Basically, it was telling me to keep silent about what I just found out, for the sake of the others' survival. And in a very desperate way. I decided to search that up on Old Uncle Google and found this mega thread on Reddit. Apparently, I was 3 months late and the whole clique fandom knew about this, already. Let me tell you, I instantly regretted for being inactive on Reddit these couple months.
But yeah, somehow the fandom managed to find this on the site. A site full of letters from someone called Clancy and a fuck ton of pictures and gifs that have been updated since April. Many people have covered this, so I'll be quick about it.
To start off, according to my research and to a couple YouTubers, the updates were directly linked with the eye closing, which officially announced their hiatus and the end of the Blurryface era (here and here. Just scroll to the left until you the profile/cover pic of the new era pops up). It is quite difficult to explain it, but once you finish watching those videos, you'll get it.
But what intrigued me the most were Clancy's letters. Specially the first one, which is basically that character describing a moment that pretty much matches up with Jumpsuit's music video. On those letters, Clancy talks about a place named Dema, which looks like a place where a group called "The Bishops" have absolute power. Interestingly enough, Josh Dun once said that "Tyler was cutting down ties with Dema", but what's Dema? I'll tell you: A "Tower of Silence". In some ancient religions, there were these towers where the dead bodies, which were considered to be impure, were put in the center of that same tower in order to be eaten by birds, and then they would take the body out once it was only bones. Silence. That't the main word here. Tyler was breaking down ties with silence. Something even more interesting is this map, which apparently shows one of these Towers of Silence (but can also be interpreted as the map of a city called Dema. Or both). In the center of it, you can find nine circles, similar to the ones you see in Blurryface's cover. Well, those circles have some weird names on top of them, right? Well, guess what!


Interesting, right? You can see that all of the non-sleepers songs (for more information about the sleepers and non-sleepers of Blurryface, check out my review of that same album) play a role here, with part of their lyrics there. But the order is not right... Well, there's a way to fix that! In one of Clancy's letters, you can read "West wall is blocked. East is up", as well as in the main website (the letters that are not in lowercase form the whole sentence read up "EAST IS UP" once put together). If you flip it the order of the sleepers in order to put Tear in My Heart, which was on the left, on top, then you get the right order! Voilá!
At last, I also want to headline how ironic it is that they put a photo of an isle full of flightless birds! Get it? The song, the pic? Heh. Not so funny when you realize those birds basically eat whoever's on the tower of silence, huh? Poor guy... But yeah, I won't continue to explain this. Search it for yourself. The mega thread and the playlist I gave you explains everything to you in a good (but sometimes way too fan-girly) way. Oh, I add this video here to that list.

My big question is: Considering all of this, how will the new album sound like? And how will be this new era in general?
Well, to start off, let me just say Jumpsuit is probably one of my favourite songs by them, maybe even my favourite (but it's way too soon to decided that, to be honest). A perfect bassline, with a genre of music I never thought they would pull out. And they did it in a way that it still sounded like twenty one pilots but in a very different and unique way (just for the record, Brad Taste of Music, a music critic YouTuber who pretty much hated twenty one pilots a lot, gave this single a 9/10). And I have high hopes that they will dig up this genre during a big part of the record, because it fits very well the backstory Tyler's trying to get into. And I'm excited for that, because, holy shit. What a song. What a music video (my favourite of the year alongside with Watsky's Love Letters)! But I am also excited because of Nico And The Niners, which reminds me a bit of Message Man, but way more well-produced (which is saying a lot, Message Man is one of my favourite twenty one pilots songs). It was a Reggae Rap song with lyrics way better than their usual stuff (unpopular opinion: I don't usually find twenty one pilots' lyrics THAT good, even though Blurryface has some really nice lyrics. But songs like Car Radio are quite ehhhh when it comes to lyrics), even when it comes to transitions between, for example, the weird distorted and slowed down voices and the brief rap verse. Plus, I think twenty one pilots picked their main singles for Trench perfectly! Jumpsuit and Nico And The Niners are a perfect combination! I am excited to see more of the energy they pulled up in songs similar to Jumpsuit and also for more extremely well-mixed and produced tracks like Nico And The Niners on the album!
But it's not just about the lyrics! The way they've been advertising their record is genius, and it gives us a fuck ton of clues of how the album will be in terms of lyrics. I am very interested in Clancy's story and Dema's universe, and as well with its meaning, which I think has something to do with Tyler (using the semi-biographical character Clancy, which, by the way, is the name of Tyler's boyhood neighbourhood) trying to run away from the success he's been having, and I think the villains are the music industry itself, personified as an evil organization with absolute power within Dema (which, as I said before, can also be a city). I expect a lot of critics to the musical industry of nowadays on this album, because that's what I think this is about. Why do I think this is about music industry, though? To start off, both Tyler and Josh have always been quite skeptical in terms of their own success (even though there are times when they show otherwise). Three big examples of that are the lyrics of Fairly Local (where he talks at some point about his style of lyricism, which is mostly depressive and about his own demons, even when their record label wanted them to take a happier route on their fourth album. He even admitted that "this song will never be on the radio" on the chorus, because it is not what the music industry wants and he knows that so well), Message Man (where he briefly talks about all the fans he has gained out of nowhere who claim to know Tyler because of the work he puts in public, and asks fans not to confuse "the message man" with "the message, man") and his Stressed Out performance in Clevenand, OH on 8th June 2016 (the original song, the song performed on that show and Tyler talking about that incident. This action showed how insecure Tyler can get because of both musical industry and maisntream fame, even if it was a sudden action. I found ironic and sad to see a song about one of Tyler's insecurities being one of his insecurities). Also, still to prove a point, in one of Clancy's letters, the character says: "the perplexities of the Dema horizon didn't occur to me until my ninth year". twenty one pilots are now nine years old (they formed in 2009), so I think this is a metaphor of Tyler admitting he only truly saw the true likes of nowadays' music industry nine years after forming the band. But you make of that whatever you wish to, really. But I think it is a good topic for an album. And I do think that the instrumental would fit pretty well this kind of lyrics and story.

To end this post, I'd like to talk a theory of mine with very, very tiny chances of actually being true: I think Tyler and Josh are planning to make a movie with Clancy's story and Dema's universe. Kinda similar to what Melanie Martinez wants to do for her upcoming album (releasing both a movie and an album on the same day) except that the movie would come a couple months after the album and except it wouldn't suck (unlike Melanie Martinez's, who I truly believe will fail miserably with her idea, since she has kinda fallen into the abyss when it comes to popularity. It's been months since I saw the press mentioning her even once). Why do I have this opinion? Look at Jumpsuit's music video. It has a truly cinematographic point of view, artistically (with, once again, the instrumentals fixing it pretty well), and twenty one pilots surely spent a very, very, very fat load of money to shoot it, because they shot the music video in Iceland, and then, the director of it is Andrew Donoho, a cinematic director known for directing movies like Heavy Water and Treehouse. I truly believe the future release of a movie might actually be something worth considering, and I am not the only absolute crazy-boy who thinks that way! There are tons of fans who agree, or at least want to, out there.

So yeah. I am intensely excited for the release of this album. I think it has high chances and hopes of being their best so far by far. And you? What about you? Are you excited for the duo's fifth studio album? Why? Tell me in the comments below, I promise I'll reply soon!

NOS Alive! '18 - My Experience

So, one more NOS Alive! edition came through, huh? Well, I managed to attend the first two days of this musical festival, which happened between 12th and 14th July in Passeio Marítimo de Algés, in the region of the Portuguese capital Lisbon. The festival counted with artists like Arctic Monkeys, Pearl Jam, Queens of the Stone Age, Portugal. The Man and Jack White.

I went with a friend of mine, and we slept in a campsite situated in a calm zone of Lisbon (Lisbon Camping & Bungalows, to be specific). While I specially wanted to attend the concerts of Wolf Alice, Arctic Monkeys and Two Door Cinema Club, the bands my friend was looking forward the most were Kaleo, The Kooks and Portugal. The Man.

There were a lot of stages on that festival, I will try to talk about them all.

1. NOS Stage - This was the main stage. Bands like Arctic Monkeys, Pearl Jam, Queens of the Stone Age, Jack White and Nine Inch Nails played here. As you can expect from a main stage, most of the headliners performed here.
2. Sagres Stage - The second stage. Some headliners played here (Portugal. The Man and Khalid), but most of the artists/bands who performed here were second-tier or sometimes third-tier artists, when it comes to popularity. Bands like Wolf Alice, At The Drive In and Rag 'N' Bone Man performed here.
3. Clubbing Stage - Electronic, Noise and Portuguese Hip-Hop were the most relevant genres of this stage. Artists like Paus + Holly Hood, Xinobi, The Gift (which was an exception, since The Gift are not typically an electronic band, even though they had their electronic phases) and Monarchy performed on this stage.
4. EDP Fado Cafe - If you're a foreign person on NOS Alive, this is a good stage to visit. Some Fado artists performed here, in the EDP Street, a part of the enclosure that was typically Portuguese (a pavement made of basalt and limestone stones of different colors and a street full of small buildings with typical Portuguese architecture. On this street, there were a lot of stores) and the music as well. Artists like António Zambujo and Jorge Palma performed here.
5. Comedy Stage - As the name of the stage itself tells us, this stage was focused on comedy. Rui Sinel de Cordes, a comedian well-known in Portugal for his TV shows in the TV channel SIC Radical, was the headline of this whole stage. Although most of the comedians weren't musicians as well, there were two big exceptions: Cebola Mol (which consists on Phil and Eddy Stardust - artistic names of Filipe Homem Fonseca and the well-known comedian Eduardo Madeira, respectively) and Kalashnikov (one of the most famous Portuguese comedy bands, alongside with the likes of Comme Restus, Quinteto Explosivo, Homens da Luta and Ena Pá 2000. Funny fact: They are associated with three of those four bands, and one of the members of Kalashnikov is also a member of Quinteto Explosivo).
6. Coreto Stage - Okay, I will be honest with you: I don't even remember who performed on the surprise show (I think it was Mallu Magalhães, but I can't really be sure) and the only artists who performed in Coreto Stage that I know are Bernardo, Cachupa Psicadélica and Mighty Sands. But as far as I know, this stage was more focused on bringing artists that are not very known by the public. I think there are even some who are just starting to grow on Souncloud. But once again, I can't say for sure. The stage was pretty small, though, and there were many times when the artist was a simple DJ with a quite small audience.
7. NOS Alive Portico - This stage was fucking dope. I wish I could perform in a stage like this, really. Even though I don't know a single artist from here, I actually didn't dislike their sound. Every time you left or entered the festival through the main entrance, you had to pass through this stage. If you are a musician who's afraid of heights, you will not want to perform on this stage at all.

So, now talking about my personal experience: once we entered the festival, we decided to walk through all the stores and other interesting spots.
We found a Fnac store with a lot of records. The records that were more visible were, obviously, the ones made by the artists who were on the line-up of the festival, but there were also many others. I found a lot of interesting but expensive vinyl records (Life's Too Good by The Sugarcubes, for example, costed more than 50€, if i'm not mistaken). On that same store, they had some vinyl covers (the vinyl itself wasn't there), so that we could take a photo, posing with it. Once we did that (I posed with Jack White's Boarding House Reach), one of the workers told us that if we shared the photo on Instagram with their hashtag (In case you're interested, the hashtag was #ChegaOndeQuiseres. There are actually some nice and creative pics in there. Mine was generic and sucked hard) and showed it to them, we'd get a fabric bag. We told them we were not interested (the photo sucked and a fabric bag is not exactly something we demand to have) and after insisting a bit, the worked gave up and gave us the bag anyway.
Also, we've found a condom store. There was a big queue, and as we looked to the inside of the store, we realized that the people on the queue were there so that they could play a very weird videogame that, in my interpretation, was a race between two spermatozoa? It was one of the most random things I saw on that festival.
And at last, there was a wi-fi spot, with lots of sofas and four big screens that were showing a previous Pearl Jam concert. It was comfortable, but it wasn't a good spot to be with only one friend.

After a while, we somehow found another group from our city. They decided to try their luck and go to the first lines of NOS Stage (on the first day, the main bands playing on that stage were Nine Inch Nails, Snow Patrol and Arctic Monkeys). I decided to give up the Wolf Alice show in order to get the first lines of Arctic Monkeys with more people. I will now talk about the different artists I saw that day:

1. Miguel Araújo (setlist here) is a 40 year-old Portuguese musician, very well-known in Portugal for being the vocalist of the now extinct band Os Azeitonas (authors of songs like Quem És Tu Miúda, Anda Comigo Ver os Aviões and Ray-dee-oh) and for his solo work, where he released the mass Portuguese hit Os Maridos Das Outras. He is also known for his collaboration with Fado singer António Zambujo, who also performed on this festival.
   Araújo's show was fun and with good energy. An excellent pick for an opening concert for NOS Stage. He was a cheerful man playing (mostly) cheerful songs. I specially liked his song 5 Minutos de Whiskey (can't give you the link because I can't find that song. I bet it wasn't released, yet), which Araújo dedicated to a friend of his who measures how much he drinks in time, instead of shots ("I drank five minutes of whiskey" instead of "I drank ten shots of whiskey"). He closed the show with his hit Os Maridos Das Outras (even though the public sang more than him and he even told us once to do his singing work so that he could play the guitar "in piece") and then left. The public still asked in unison for one more song, but Araújo, with the mic already turned off, pointed to his watch in order to say that he was out of time.
2. Bryan Ferry (setlist here) - Honestly, I had no idea who this musician was until I saw this concert. But after some research, I learnt that Bryan Ferry is a 72-year old English singer best known for being the vocalist of the Glam and Art Rock band named Roxy Music, which apparently was very popular in the 70's and 80's (but I am way more informed about this century's and 90's music, really), with songs like Love Is The Drug, Virginia Plan and Street Life. Actually, fun thing is: All of Bryan's show consisted on Roxy Music's biggest hits, except four songs: A Wilbert Harrison cover and three songs from his solo works (the most notable one was Don't Stop The Dance).
   About the show itself, it wasn't something to remember in the future. Why? Well, I am not a big fan of Glam Rock (even though some songs sounded more like Jazz Rock than Glam Rock, really). I compare this artist and Roxy Music to David Bowie, though. The style is very similar. The highlight of the show, in my opinion, was the touring guitarrist: Oliver Thompson, a 30 year-old British musician who has been playing with Bryan Ferry for 13 years now. He made an excellent performance.
3. Nine Inch Nails (setlist here) - Nine Inch Nails are an American Industrial Rock formed in 1988. They were one of the most important Rock bands of the 90's. I am not a big fan of Nine Inch Nails, but this concert was fucking dope! To start off, I realized they are so much better live than in studio. The Electronic Rock single Copy Of A is not a good song in studio, in my opinion. But in live, they were pretty dope! Also, they've done a good job on the lights, too. The lights changed in a way that you could see their shadows moving in a cool way. I can't find a video of that, though.
   The concert was full of energy, but it's a pity, they are way better in live than in studio.
4. Snow Patrol (setlist here) - You can say that this Indie Rock/Post-Britpop Northern Irish band were the openers of Arctic Monkeys. But I wouldn't say they were good openers. They were tolerable on the first couple songs, but the show became pretty boring after that. I was waiting for an hour for the damn show to end.
   Super repetitive songs, which were, in my opinion, lazy and almost amateur, instrumentally (elementary basic guitar chords played in loop for 3 minutes). Also, I've always found their music pretty cringy, edgy and perfect for memes (specially their mass hit Chasing Cars, which has quite decent lyrics but bad instrumental).
   It was no surprise that I disliked Snow Patrol, but I was like "Well, Nine Inch Nails surprised me. Maybe Snow Patrol will, too". Wrong. It was a bad show and I'm glad it's over.
   On the other hand, they started well. Chocolate was the good part of the show. It gave me false hopes, as I thought it would be a decent show after that one.
   Yeeeeahhh, I lost even more respect for Snow Patrol after that show.
5. Arctic Monkeys (setlist here) - One of the headliners of this festival was this band from Sheffield, and what a show! I admit they were always a band that I liked a lot, but after this show, I became absolutely addicted to them! Alex Turner, as usual, didn't interact a lot with the audience, but still, fucking dope.
   Because of their changes from album to album, the show was constantly going from crazy to calm. The first time that happened was when they went from calm Lounge Pop single Four Out Of Five to Garage Rock Brianstorm. But the biggest contrast was the change from I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor to Star Treatment. It was a constant change from cold to hot.
   And then, there were some surprised on the setlist. I was not expecting them to play Knee Socks or Do Me A Favour and was surprised that they didn't play songs like Fluorescent Adolescent , When The Sun Goes Down or Snap Out Of It.
   My favourite moments of the show were in Brianstorm, The View From The Afternoon and Pretty Visitors. Specially the last two, since I was not a mega fan of those songs before the show but became one after. I also loved Four Out of Five, Arabella and Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?.
   Also, there was a very nice guy next to me (with whom I went absolutely crazy as I jumped into him and yelled at him during the whole show. If you're reading this, sorry) who wanted us and everybody around to ask the band (by screaming in group, of course) to perform A Certain Romance after they played R U Mine?, the last song of the show. I was one of the few people screaming, and of course, we failed and they left the stage anyway. Worth the try, though. (that same guy told us he has a band, called Amplifica-Dor, where he is a guitarrist and backing vocalist. It's a Pop Punk and sometimes Teen Rock, similar to Blink-182, instrumentally. Check them out, if you feel like it).
   I want to highlight the fact that I spent a big part of the concert looking at Alex Turner while trying to assimilate the fact that he was just a couple meters away from me and I was seeing him in person, even though he didn't know I was there. And I may have looked very attentive at him, wearing his nice outfit while imagining how warm would be a hug from him. I may have lost Wolf Alice, one of the bands I wanted to see the most, but it was worth it (even though I am still very sorry for not attending Wolf Alice's show. I'd like to see Wolf Alice performing Lisbon in Lisbon).

And with that the first day ended. We headed back to the campsite, spent about 20 to 30 minutes looking for our tent on that big ass enclosure, and went to sleep at 4AM.

Then, we woke up for the second day. The day started out with us being interviewed by RTP, the Portuguese channel that was broadcasting this festival's shows. The interviewer told us that The Kooks cancelled the show while the camera was still on, and we were like "Yeah, sure. Of course. Yeah, yeah, I totally believe you, legit!", but then she (the interviewer) told us once more that they cancelled, but this time with the cameras off. Apparently Luke Pritchard, the vocalist of the band, had specific orders from his doctor to rest his voice, and so the band was forced to cancel their show, being replaced by British Indie Pop group Blossoms. My friend didn't like that information, of course, since it was one of the shows she wanted to attend the most. But, fair enough, I missed Wolf Alice and she missed The Kooks.
So, we went to NOS Alive once again. Besides the concerts, we decided to explore even more the enclosure. We went to the Comedy Stage and found a very weird foosball table. We played on it and I won 4x3 (which is odd, because I suck at foosball. Maybe I'm just good with defense vs defense).
About concerts, this was the day where we went from stage to stage, really.

1. Kaleo (setlist here) - NOS Stage - Kaleo is an Icelandic Indie Rock band formed in 2012. From all the Icelandic musicians and bands I know, from Sigur Rós to Björk, Kaleo are the only ones who weren't born in Reykjavík. Kaleo formed in Mosfellsbær (but, to be fair, that town is only 12km away from Reykjavík).
   Kaleo only performed seven songs, only one of them sang in Icelandic (Vor í Vaglaskógi).
   The highlight of this show was JJ Julius Son's (Kaleo's vocalist) voice, which was outstanding, specially in their best known song Way Down We Go (I do believe this song only has the popularity it does for being featured on TV series like Teen Wolf, Vampire Diaries, Riverdale and Lucifer, really). His voice was powerful and on point. I loved it. Even though the show wasn't something REALLY GOOD, I liked it. And JJ Julius Son's voice made me dig Kaleo once I got home.
2. Bruno Henriques - Comedy Stage - Bruno Henriques is a Portuguese comedian who has a good dark sense of humor, based on right conservationism. Kinda similar to Henrique Dâmaso Fernandes AKA Henrique O Horrível (Henrique The Horrible), except Henrique goes waaaaayyyy too far, bringing subjects like Nazi propaganda (even if ironically)  most of the times. Now Bruno doesn't really talk about politics directly, but you can see his political views (I hope ironic or exaggerated) from his racist and homophobic jokes. The jokes are way too big to tell here, but if you understand Portuguese, watch this video. It was pretty similar to his stand-up show on, but with some other new jokes
3. Blossoms (setlist here) - NOS Stage - At first I thought I didn't like them and I was disappointed when I got to know they were replacing The Kooks. But, I have no idea why, I was confounding Blossoms with The Chainsmokers. Odd as fuck, I know. The only thing I really knew about Blossoms was that they were an Indie Pop band.
   Turned out to be one of my favourite concerts of the whole festival, really! The vocalist of this band from Stockport, Manchester (Tom Odgen) had an outstanding presence on stage (the best of all the concerts I've watched, really). He performed a cover of The Kooks' biggest hit, Naïve, even though I think it was not planned, since Odgen gave the impression he didn't know the lyrics (he'd suddenly stop and let the public sing and he was the only band member performing the cover). Another great moment was when Odgen asked the crowd who has been dumped lately. After that, he asked a fan what his name was and what her ex's name was and told the crowd "Connie dumped Michael, everyone! Let's have a boo for Connie!" and dedicated My Favourite Room, a song about getting over an ex, to Michael and Connie. And I also found sweet that he was constantly apologizing for what happened to The Kooks, with a "Sorry if we fucked that up" and "We'll do our best to replace them, we know you're here to see The Kooks. We apologize" with that Manchester accent I absolutely love (it is my favourite British accent).
   My favourite songs of the whole show were Charlemagne (aka their most popular song) and Blown Rose. It was worth it and I became pretty fond of them. My friend, though, told me she couldn't stop looking at the stage without thinking that The Kooks were the one supposed to be there.
4. Portugal. The Man (setlist here) - Sagres Stage - After seeing the end of Yo La Tengo's show, just in time to see Ira Kapien, the guitarrist of this Experimental Rock band go fucking nuts with the guitar after playing (quite literally, he was so nuts I thought he was going to destroy his Starbust (I think) guitar any time) while playing Pass The Hatchet, I Think I'm Good Kind, Portugal. The Man appeared
   This band formed in Alaska, but with Portland as their new home, started out the concert with a Beavis & Butthead intro, which I fucking loved ("They are better than The Beatles. They are better than The Rolling Stones. Better than Silverchair. Almost as good as Pantera"), followed by a Metallica cover of For Whom The Bell Tolls.
   This concert had one really bad thing though: The presence on stage. Before the beginning of the show, you could see in the big screen, in a font similar to Comic Sans and written in informal Portuguese the following: "We are not very fond with messing around on stage, so our Management will write a couple slogans in here during the concert. Thank you for your comprehension". Although most of the slogans were funny (my favourite one was when, before performing Hip-Hop Kids , they put a slogan saying "Real bands don't need singers" and then, after almost nobody sang along because, to be fair, it is far to be one of the minimally popular songs, they wrote "But who said we're a real band, anyeay?"), it was a little bit awkward. I felt like I was the only one feeling that, though.
   I specially liked their performance of Atomic Man and Live In The Moment, while I think Feel It Still the weakest part of it, mostly because it looked like they were being forced to play that song (they even put it at last).
   In general, it wasn't a SPECTACULAR concert, but I enjoyed it. On the other hand, I am convinced this was my friend's favourite show of the festival. She even bought one of the band's T-shirts for 25€, which I found expensive as fuck. But you do you, friend.
5. Queens of the Stone Age (setlist here) - NOS Stage - Honestly, I felt kinda embarrassed during this show. You know those posers you see who are watching a band but only know 3 of their songs? That was literally me on the QoTSA's show. I never really dig them up and I only checked them out because I found out Dave Grohl used to be, for a brief time, their drummer. The only four songs made by them that I know (and I love them very much) are No One Knows, Go With The Flow and The Way You Used To and Feel Good Hit Of The Summer (which they didn't play). Why I was there, then? Well, to start off, I wanted to be as in front as possible, because Two Door Cinema Club's show would be next. Then, I love those three songs, so I was like "Yeah, I'll get to listen to those 3 songs live. Not the reason I spent 120€ on a festival ticket, but now that I'm here, sure. Bring it on".
   Josh Homme showed that he is a real rockstar on that show. Occasionally he would shout "Obrigado, motherfuckers!" and even his posture and attitude during the whole show showed that.
   Also, when they played No One Knows, my friend put me on my shoulders and the view was fucking awesome. I could see the whole band perfectly, with not a single head in front of me, and I could also see the immense crowd that surrounded me. That was a great moment.
6. Two Door Cinema Club (setlist here) - NOS Stage - I was able to watch this show almost at the frontline, because once Queens of the Stone Age's show ended, most people left, and so we were able to advance a lot.
   The first thing I noticed when the show started were the lights and the organization of the stage, which was like this (the best stage organization of the whole festival, really). I noticed that the lights were mainly purple, even though they were not touring to present their 2016 record Gameshow anymore (only four of the nineteen songs played were from this record: Are We Ready? (Wreck), Bad Decisions, Lavender and Gameshow), but I loved it! Probably because purple is one of my favourite colors. And one of the things I noticed once the show ended was that they played every single one of their singles and still had time to play not so known songs like Do You Want It All?, Eat That Up, It's Good For You and Someday. I think this happened specially for two reasons: First of all, Two Door Cinema Club has a huge Portuguese fanbase. To prove that, they perform in Portugal almost every year. Plus, before this show, Alex Trimble, the vocalist of the band, told the magazine Blitz about the band's experience during all the times they've played in Portugal, saying that both 2012 and 2016 shows were two of Trimble's favourite shows because of the audience, who knew all the lyrics and sang them so loud they weren't even able to hear what they were doing, something that never happens outside of their country (Northern Ireland, UK). Also, I think this happened because it was the closing show of the evening, for NOS Stage. And so, they were freer when it comes to time.
   Undercover Martyn, Lavender and Come Back Home were my favourite parts of the whole show. What You Know was not that far behind, though, and it was for the same reason of Undercover Martyn: The whole audience knew the whole lyrics! It was incredible! Two Door Cinema Club's public knew the lyrics of the band they were attending to better than Arctic Monkeys'! I actually heard  more people singing the chorus of Two Door Cinema Club's most popular songs then I did when Arctic Monkeys played their mass hit Do I Wanna Know?, and I couldn't fucking believe it!
   About Lavender, I was one of the few singing and I think I loved it because it is one of my favourite songs by them if not my favourite (I gave it a 20/20 on my Twitter account), and Come Back Home was fantastic because of the energy they put into it, specially the guitars (oh, another thing I liked was the fact that they put the touring drummer there, very visible, even though he is not part of the band. The studio drummer is Alex Trimble and the touring one is Benjamin Thompson).
   Despite all of this, I was quite sad that they didn't play songs like Kids or Costume Party, but I knew deep down they were not going to play those, so it was less bad. Also, their debut 2008 EP Four Words To Stand On was re-released a couple months ago to celebrate its 10th anniversary, and so I was expecting them to play one of the two songs of it that weren't put in an album later (New Houses and Standing On Ghosts), and I wanted them to play Standing On Ghosts, but they didn't...Oh, well... But the show was fucking fantastic! They were not one of the three bands I was expecting the most for nothing! And it was an insane way to end the festival (for me, there were bands who played the next day, which I didn't go to)! After this insane concert, me and my friend headed to the campsite, both of us with dead phones because we were dumb enough to think 20% on my phone and 50% on hers would last for a whole day.

On the next day, we just explored the campsite and headed home. There, I was able to watch on the TV a bit of Wolf Alice's show (recorded and not live, of course) and a bit of MGMT's show with a 50 minutes delay because of technical problems from RTP. I heard that Jack White watched Pearl Jam's show on stage and joined them to play a cover of Rockin' In The Free World, by Neil Young (original song and cover). The only show from the third day that I felt bad for not attending was Jack White's, really. I do love a few MGMT and Franz Ferdinand's songs, but I am neutral to most of them.

In general, it was a kick-ass festival, with an awesome line-up, and I still have a little bit of post-show depression and I find myself reminding myself that I saw Alex Turner and Alex Trimble in person and watching a couple videos of concerts I've been to. But, to finish off this post, I will name some artists that NOS Alive's management should consider for NOS Alive! '19. I even messaged them this, but they replied with a single "Hello! Thank you for the suggestions! ;)", kinda like "Oh, opinions from a peasant. Nice, nice, later, ok?". I want to note that I've only put artists or bands that I think will probably be on tour during this festival:

1. Ben Howard - This English 31 year-old Folk artist has been in NOS Alive!, back in 2014. He released on 1st June his third studio album entitled Noonday Dream. He has a very calm and melodic voice and would be a great bet for a opener of the NOS Stage, still with daylight.
2. Billie Eilish - With only 16 years-old, this young American musician is becoming quite a sensation in the Indie and Electropop scenes. She released  her debut EP don't smile at me on 11th August 2017, which was produced by her brother Finneas O'Connell and counts with the single Bellyache, which threw her to the popularity she has today (and she was 14 years old when the music video for that song was recorded, which is quite difficult to assimilate). She also released lovely with Khalid, which is now her most popular song and released you should see me in a crown yesterday. It is also confirmed she will release her first studio album anytime soon, and so she will probably be on tour in July 2019. It'd be a good bet and I am convinced it'd bring a reasonable number of people to the festival (specially teenagers, though).
3. Declan McKenna - Getting more and more popular on the Indie Rock and Indie Pop scene, this British 19 year-old musician started his musical career back in 2014, when he released Brazil, a protest song against the FIFA World Cup 2014 being held in Brazil, which has a lot of economic difficulties but yet organized that competition. On 21st July 2017 (exactly one year ago! Funny!), he released his debut studio album What Do You Think About The Car? and there is a great probability that he will release his second album in 2019. I do believe he has what it takes to handle one of the first NOS Stage shows or a concert in any time of the day on Sagres Stage.
4. Death Grips - Considered "The Kings of Nowadays Noise", this American Experimental Hip-Hop band is very acclaimed by Noise fans, including great music critics like Anthony Fantano, who gave The Money Store a score of 10/10. Death Grips would be an excellent bet for Clubbing Stage or maybe even Sagres Stage. But I'd put them on Clubbing Stage. They are well-known for tracks like Guillotine (It Goes Yah), No Love, and I've Seen Footage (which I consider their most radio-friendly single, even though it is far from being a potential radio hit) and released their sixth studio album Year of the Snitch on 22nd June 2018.
5. Grandson - Grandson is a Canadian musician known for his "Frankenstein" songs, with a mix of a lot of genres, but with special attention to Hip-Hop and Rock. His songs are all about society and politics (always in a negative point of view) and songs like Blood // Water are becoming more and more popular, specially on Spotify (actually, he became popular because of the super intense advertising Spotify has done of him. Ironically, though, I got to know them from YouTube). I do believe there are a lot of Portuguese people who listen to Grandson, and so I bet he'd be great on Sagres Stage. He recently signed with Fueled By Ramen, the same record label of bands like Panic! At The Disco (pffft band), Fun. and twenty one pilots, and recorded a music video of Blood // Water for their YouTube channel. Also, he released his first EP modern tragdedy, vol. 1 on 15th June 2018, approximately two years after his first single Bury Me Face Down.
6. Joji - Best known for his surrealistic comedy YouTube channel Filthy Frank and for his work as his comedy music alter-ego Pink Guy, Joji decided to leave comedy behind and work on a more serious project. He quickly became one of the biggest lo-fi icons of nowadays and released his first EP In Tongues on 3rd November 2017. It could be a good bet for a last concert on Sagres Stage. The bad thing is: The concert wouldn't be too long, since his EP only has 6 songs and he doesn't have much more songs to play live. In the end, the show would have 9 to 13 songs.
7. Mike Lyte - Miguel Luz AKA Mike Lyte is a 20 year-old Portuguese rapper, best known for his YouTube channel but also for starting a rap career, having released his debut studio album CROCODILDO, which has interesting and comic lyrics. Plus, he is probably going to release a new album in 2019. It'd be a great bet for the Clubbing Stage.
8. Pale Waves -  This British Indie Pop band is very, very similar to The 1975 (who produced their single There's A Honey), but with the feminine voice of Heather Baron-Gracie. Their first EP, All The Things I Never Said, was released on 20th February 2018 and since then they released the single Kiss. I am convinced they will release their debut album in the end of 2018 or in the first half of 2019. They'd be a good bet for a Sagres Stage show.
9. Pretty Vicious - Violent Punk Rock and loud Garage Rock. That's Pretty Vicious. Sometimes, they can remind me us of Arctic Monkeys in their early stages, but a bit more violent, with songs like Are You Ready For Me? and It Ain't No Fun. They'd be an excellent pick for Sagres Stage, as well.
10. twenty one pilots - This duo from Ohio gained worldwide popularity back in 2016 because of singles like Stressed Out, Heathens and Ride and since last year, they were in a hiatus which ended last week, when they released the singles Jumpsuit and Nico And The Niners for their upcoming album Trench, which will be released on 5th October 2018, and it sounds like it'll be a very interesting one, specially because of this site, which gives us a lot of evidences about the upcoming record.
    Even though they already have a show scheduled in Portugal (17th March 2019, in Lisbon), I think they would be an excellent pick for NOS Stage, as an "almost headliner", performing before the headliner (like Snow Patrol did this year, performing before headliners Arctic Monkeys) or performing after the headliner (like MGMT did this year, performing after headliners Pearl Jam). Or maybe even as a headliner, but they are not even near their peak popularity, anymore. Plus, Snow Patrol will perform in Campo Pequeno, Lisbon on 19th February 2019, even though they performed in this year's edition of NOS Alive, so why wouldn't twenty one pilots perform in July after performing in March?
11. Wallows - This Californian Pop Punk/Post-Punk band, leaded by actor/musician Dylan Minette, best known for his acting role as Clay Jensen on the drama TV series 13 Reasons Why, would be a good pick as well. I even dare to say they would be as competent on one of the first NOS Stage concerts as Blossoms were this year! They are even a band to watch, with tracks like Pictures of Girls. I don't know if they will release an album any time soon or not, but for now we have the EP Spring, which is pretty decent. Both the band and the festival would be win with the confirmation of this band.
12. Watsky - At last, but not least (maybe the opposite of least, this is one of my favourite artists), a good pick would be Alternative Hip-Hop artist George Watsky. He is well known for his immense creativity, whether you're talking about music videos like Don't Be Nice, Exquisite Corpse and Whoa, Whoa, Whoa or about lyrics with outstanding story-telling like Sarajevo or the four parts of Lovely Thing Suite. He is also very well known for his fast rap, as you can see in Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Fuck an Emcee Name, Talking To Myself and in his 2011 viral video Pale Kid Raps Fast. His latest album, x Infinity, was released in August 2016, and it doesn't look like he is going to release a new album next year, maybe only in 2020, but he's still on tour. Plus, he once replied to my question on an AMA Reddit post about his desire on visiting Portugal one day.
    Another big reason to pick Watsky is because of his excellent stage presence and for his shows that always look full of energy. Plus, he has always been very communicative with his fans, replying and talking with them a lot. He even made a giveaway for his own Subaru car once. It'd be a good pick for a Sagres Stage, and there is no way I would miss him like I missed Wolf Alice this year!

And that's basically it. I've got nothing relevant left to say about the festival! It was a great experience I would like to repeat some day soon, and I hope I do. NOS Alive! is a great experience and I recommend it to anyone who's into the Alternative scene. I'd even say it is one of the best festivals of Europe, but I've never been in many festivals, really, so I'll leave those compliments to the press.

For more moments like this, where I truly felt alive!

I'm Back!

Hoy! I am back! I know, it's been two months since my last post. But I've been too busy and way less motivated than usual to post here. Because of that lack of motivation, I decided to re-think about what I want to talk about on this blog. After weeks of thinking, I decided that this blog won't be focused on album/singles/artists review anymore, I'll leave the reviews to my twitter account, @bad_taste__. On that account, I will review albums and singles on a score from 0 to 20, without explaining it, just giving you the score (of course, if someone asks me something, demanding explanations or something like that, I will do it, just like I did here. I am not that rude). Instead of focusing on reviews on this blog, I will focus on discussing music in general. I don't know, some top 10's, or some theories about what I think a certain upcoming album will sound like, or even a post about my experience on a certain concert that I attended to. Of course, I still might do some well-explained reviews, if I feel like doing it, but that won't be the focus of the blog anymore.

So yeah, the blog is officially back! Expect some good posts soon!