NEOPOP

NEOPOP is still the techno weekend at the Forte de Santiago da Barra, in Viana do Castelo, where the Lima meets the Atlantic. JN calls Raul Duro a founder, with Gustavo and Paulo. In Público, Gustavo Pereira remembers the night in the car with Filipe Rodrigues, Phil, and with Raul, and that they then took the idea to Paulo Nery. Duro says that in 2006 the name was Antipop. Público writes Anti-pop. The site of this edition writes ANTIPOP. The three spellings are read together. In 2009 the name becomes Neopop. Duro tells JN that «anti» sounded more extreme and that they stand on the side of freedom. The site and JN fix 6, 7 and 8 August 2026. Cris Pascual, in Wololo Sound, on 12 August 2026, also walks the day before at the Teatro Sá de Miranda. She counts 32,000 people. NASTY Magazine writes more than 32,000. The two figures are left together. The old name returns only for this edition. That review already prints a later August. Those digits do not come in here.

Pascual places the grounds at the port, beside the 13th-century fort, with the lighthouse and the battlements. The wall extends the screens of the big stage and the female statue works as a meeting point and as a support for the times. Containers build the Anti Stage. The sound, she says, is clean in all three spaces, and there are no reserved areas: the floor is the center. DubLab signs the image. The new stage, the Back Stage, sits far from the flow and shows local names. The campsite does not sit against the grounds. There are shuttles. The guide prints Thursday on the Neo Stage: Space Riders at 21:00, DJ Gigola at 23:00, Nina Kraviz at 00:30, Ben Klock with Rødhåd at 02:30, Indira Paganotto at 04:30, BIIA with Patrick Mason at 06:00 and Héctor Oaks with Partiboi69 at 07:30. On the Anti Stage: Viktor Flores, Marta, Goldie at 23:00, Mathew Jonson live, Supermayer, Enrica Falqui with Ivan Smagghe, Adiel with Quest and DJ Koolt with Rui Vargas.

The day before Thursday, at the Sá de Miranda, Pascual hears James Holden with Wacław Zimpel, Mathew Jonson and Peter Mør with Sepypes. At the campsite, before Thursday, Héctor Oaks plays house. Thursday has room to spare. On the Anti Stage she stays with Marta, with Jonson's live set, with Supermayer and, at the front, with Adiel and Quest, with no title. On the Neo Stage, DJ Gigola and Nina Kraviz reach her colder. Ben Klock and Rødhåd sound solid to her and, at the same time, like two people who would each shine more alone. The close by Oaks with Partiboi69 does not catch her. She compares it with what she already felt at Sónar in 2024 and would have preferred Oaks alone. Numéro Netherlands walks Goldie with no song: the first time that byline hears him, with transitions he does not announce. It writes Iwan Smagghe where the guide writes Ivan Smagghe, in the b2b with Enrica Falqui. The two Smagghe spellings are left together.

On Friday afternoon, Richie Hawtin plays in the Praça da República, free, with neighbors from Viana and people of every age. Pascual says that is the image she takes home. At night, on the grounds, Hawtin returns with DEX EFX XOX. The site writes DEX EFX X0X. The two spellings are read together. Ben Sims and Chris Liebing read the floor. Joseph Capriati and Luke Slater close their stretch on La Rock 01, by Vitalic. When the sun is already hard, close to 8 in the morning, Daria Kolosova comes on. Pascual sees her fresh and smiling. The set runs fast, with kicks, and pulls in Street Carnival, Baianá and Voodoo People. Earlier, on the Anti Stage, she hears a while of DJ Nobu with DJ Yazi. The tent for Alarico with Yanamaste runs out of room and Pascual moves to the big stage.

Saturday is the fullest day. Pascual comes in during the small hours. The heat and the thin shade weigh on her, with the programme still open through the morning. FJAAK and KINK play facing each other, with colored visuals, rises and drops, and no title. On the Anti Stage, from the front, she hears stretches of Chlär and of Dax J, also with no title. Jeff Mills is on at 7 in the morning. Laurent Garnier plays Le Grand Finale on the Neo Stage. Saturday closes at noon. Garnier's close runs more melodic. There is no song written down. In the afternoon, at the campsite, the duo FJAAK had already played. NASTY Magazine says Dax J closes the Anti Stage. Pascual does not give him a time.

The weekend, as it stands, is still that fort: Kolosova's morning with Baianá, Capriati and Slater's La Rock 01, and Garnier at Saturday noon, with no title. Duro tells JN that in 2006 he was thinking of ten years, that the ten-year party already happened, and that in the twenty-year one Garnier, Mills and Hawtin are there, with three stages. Before the Antipop name, Público tells of Vi a Ana no Castelo, in the same fort, with national artists only: it calls it a year zero, and the following year the council asked for something larger. That year zero brings no digit. Connect Music appears as the producer on the company card. The August already in print stays out of this text.