Dua Lipa, The Breeders, and Pearl Jam capture crowds’ hearts at a sun-drenched NOS Alive 2024

Having previously played host to some of the music’s best-known names, this year - its 16th iteration - pulls no punches, recruiting the likes of viral dance newcomer Kenya Grace, ‘90s alt-rockers The Smashing Pumpkins, indie stalwarts Arcade Fire and neu-disco queen Jessie Ware to kick things off on its opening day. 

Come Friday, though, and pop reigns supreme. It’s a noticeably younger demographic who populate the astroturfed arena today; queues for the festival’s numerous freebie stalls - many of which are done up to look like traditional Lisboa lojas - snake around the site, creating an atmosphere of the world’s most bustling high street. 

Despite the relatively early hour, the Heineken stage welcomes a healthy crowd for openers The Heavy - initially, we suspect the tent’s offer of shade from the Portuguese sunshine might have a part to play here, but actually, the swelling numbers are entirely down to the equally bright fusion of soul, R&B and gospel that the ‘How You Like Me Now’ hitmakers serve up. 

Over on the main stage, Ashnikko’s set is a masterclass in statement-making, playful performance: from the pounding bass that precedes the opening bars of ‘You Make Me Sick’; to their Camden-coded ensemble of purple space buns, fishnets, and knee high Converse; to their tongue-in-cheek intro to 2019 cut ‘Working Bitch’ (“even if you don’t know the lyrics, just make sounds - that’s what I do”), their debut performance in Portugal is one which epitomises just how effectively their provocative, boundary-pushing pop has cut through the noise. This is how we imagine the Eras tour might look if it took place in the Upside Down. 

From the ridiculous (in a good way, obvs) to the sublime, the arrival of AURORA has NOS Alive’s second stage bursting at the seams, her benevolent yet commanding presence recalling that of something ethereal - a fae, perhaps, or an angel. That being said, her latest LP ‘What Happened To The Heart?’ is a project all about fostering a very human kind of connection, and, judging by the rapturous reception its tracks receive, we’d say this set sees AURORA’s mission accomplished. 

Drafted in as a relatively last minute replacement for Tyla (who’s unable to perform due to “circumstances beyond the festival’s control”), former DIY cover star Arlo Parks takes it all in her stride, delivering a band-backed, surprisingly dynamic set that belies her reputation for overarchingly gentle offerings. It’d be a mistake for Arlo to turbocharge her signature sound too much - its blissed out warmth is all part of the appeal, after all - but the absence of more sombre tracks like ‘Black Dog’ across her setlist is notable, speaking to a contextual awareness of the need to keep crowd energy up for the Big Pop Show to come. 

And what a show it is. Having taken her Glasto-headlining setup on the road, Dua Lipa steps out to the iconic spoken word intro of Primal Scream’s ‘Loaded’, the anticipation in the crowd palpable, before the pulsing beats of opener ‘Training Season’ take hold. Dressed like a ‘70s Bond girl and armed with a catalogue of Balearic bangers that here are in their spiritual home of the Med, she barely pauses for breath over the next 90 minutes, her high-octane choreography firmly putting to bed any lingering internet aspersions over her dancing efforts. 2020’s ‘Future Nostalgia’ big hitters - ‘Levitating’, ‘Hallucinate’, ‘Break My Heart’ - are the obvious highlights; given that most people will have first heard their disco grooves amidst pandemic-induced social isolation, their crowd-pleasing calls to dance take on a new, special shimmer when rendered live before so many people. 

Indeed, when the house lights go up to illuminate the size of the crowd, Dua’s polished, pouty exterior gives way to a genuinely thrilled grin; as she reminds us with a cracking rendition of early career cut ‘Be The One’, she’s been working towards this top level of billing since the start - just as well, then, that it finds her at the top of her game. She’s wise to what a set like this should contain, too, giving the audience a sprinkling of debut-era cuts and countless career-spanning fan favourites, but nevertheless keeping focus firmly on the Dua of 2024 via visuals that echo the aesthetics of this year’s ‘Radical Optimism’ campaign (admittedly, the video montage and light show that accompany her ‘Dance The Night’ interlude do more to nod to the album’s ostensible ‘90s rave influences that the music ever did, but no matter). As the set ends with the frankly triumphant triple threat of ‘Physical’, ‘Don’t Start Now’, and ‘Houdini’ (all topped off with bursts of rainbow confetti and a fireworks display), there’s no doubting that the pop star has more than proved herself as headliner material, both on home soil and further afield. 

Come Sunday, and the crowd demographic is notably older - you can’t walk more than five metres before spotting another band tee, the majority of which pay homage to today’s well-curated, ‘90s-leaning line-up. First, though, it’s the turn of British indie favourites Black Honey; helmed by vocalist Izzy B Phillips - whose outfit lands somewhere in the realm of ‘Red Riding Hood after a heavy night out’ - the band deliver a perfectly-pitched set that weaves between the Western movie twang of early classics like ‘All My Pride’ and ‘Spinning Wheel’ to more recent cuts from their latest, 2023’s ‘A Fistful Of Peaches’. Though markedly more contemporary than many of today’s bands, their cult alt-rock is the perfect start to an evening that promises more of the same. 

Without wanting to fall into cliche or patronisation, there’s something quietly powerful about watching The Breeders take to the main stage. In an industry that seems increasingly obsessed with young artists, seeing a female-majority guitar band who first emerged thirty-odd years ago (and who clearly still enjoy the utmost respect from both fans and peers) perform with such skill and evident glee is nothing short of a joy. Combining the signature sound of ‘90s grunge with Kim Deal’s distinctive, often quite delicate vocals (the feather/hammer artwork emblazoned on screen is an apt metaphor for this seeming contradiction), the quartet may drop their big-ticket tracks - ‘Cannonball’, ‘Drivin’ on 9’ - mid-set, but keep their feet firmly on the accelerator right up until triumphant closer and Pixies cover ‘Gigantic’. And even as Kim and Kelley paper plane their setlists into the audience, the dedicated fans at the barrier are left wanting more; so much so that Kim reaches into her pocket and, with a grin, hands over the only other things she can - a spare pick, and a packet of gum. 

And now we’re onto the home straight with pop-punk stalwarts Sum 41 - though perhaps one of the festival’s more unlikely bookings, they throw everything at the wall to make their turn a capital-S Show: pyro, smoke, confetti cannons, the works. They’re clearly having fun, too, as frontman Deryck Whibley teases us with a slate of instantly-recognisable riffs from the likes of ‘Smoke On The Water’ and ‘Seven Nation Army’, before the encore’s beloved teen anthems ‘In Too Deep’ and ‘Fat Lip’ make for a fittingly raucous close. 

From the moment the on-screen, red theatre curtain parts for final headliners Pearl Jam, the crowd is near-constantly illuminated by the glow of countless phone screens striving to immortalise the Seattle rockers’ hugely-anticipated, guitar-worshipping show. Band leader Eddie Vedder has rather sweetly learned some rudimentary Portuguese for the occasion, reciting a prepared speech in the language that concludes with an invitation to the crowd to ‘cheers’ - something they don’t need asking twice. Akin to The Breeders, they also plump to play the huge, reputation-making ‘Even Flow’ mid-set, but that’s not to say their encore is found lacking; after all, you don’t get more crowd-pleasing than covers of ‘Imagine’ and ‘Rockin’ In The Free World’. 

For their part, the legion of fans gathered before Pearl Jam are utterly enraptured, just as crowds here have been all weekend. Broad in scope but surprisingly intimate in atmosphere, NOS Alive punches above its weight to deliver three days of sunshine-soaked music that won’t soon be forgotten. 

Tags: Arlo Parks, Ashnikko, AURORA, Black Honey, Dua Lipa, Pearl Jam, Sum 41, The Breeders, NOS Alive, Festivals, Reviews, Live Reviews