Optimus Grooms Future Audiences

Portugal’s Optimus Alive festival took grooming future audiences to a new level by creating special facilities and a seated viewing area for pregnant women.

“We’re not yet sure exactly how many women used it but we had 36 seats on the viewing platform, and most of the time it was full,” said Igor Van Krieken from festival promoter Everything Is New.

Last year, the Lisbon festival’s fifth anniversary, it expanded to four days and smashed its attendance record by attracting about 35,000 fans per day.

This year the event slimmed back to three days and broke the record again by pulling 154,000.

On the first day there were 45,000 for a lineup headed by The Stone Roses and Justice, then 54,000 came when The Cure topped the bill. There were a further 55,000 on the third day when Radiohead closed out the festival.

Other acts helping Optimus Alive break records and groom future audiences July 13-15 included Florence & The Machine, Snow Patrol, Mumford & Sons, Danko Jones and The Kooks.