Our 5 favourite sessions of Neopop 2023

Neopop has done it again. The Portuguese festival brought together more than 30,000 people for its 16th edition, which took place from 10-12 August in Viana do Castelo.

Neopop has managed to strike a seemingly impossible balance between the massive and the particular. From its programming, which is always carefully thought out down to the last detail, to its respectful mimicry with the environment that hosts it, as well as preserving its own personality that flees from formulas to settle in the permanent search for new sound possibilities, but also visual and artistic ones. The creation, development and presentation of the Neoverse concept at the last edition is probably the best example of this.

At HIGHXTAR. we had the opportunity to experience first-hand the 72-hour techno marathon that is Neopop, the overwhelming immersive experience of its NeoStage stage and the intimate and industrial approach of its other stage, AntiStage. And these were our 5 favourite sessions:

Charlotte de Witte

The atmosphere prior to her performance exuded a certain nervous tension, there was a great desire and no less impatience to see who is undoubtedly one of the great heavyweights of the contemporary electronic music scene. And Charlotte de Witte did not disappoint. Her set was dynamic, full of Trance, Acid influences and epic moments. The musical selection, as expected, demonstrated the mastery and power that characterises its creator.

Nina Kraviz

She was another major contributor to the heavy beats at NeoStage on Saturday. Kraviz, who took over from Charlotte, showed her charisma to capture the audience, over whom she exercised total control throughout her performance. Her absolutely captivating performance, which never ceased to radiate energy for a single moment, together with her own songs, such as the recently released reinterpretation of “Bailando”, with hypnotic rhythms and ethereal melodies, was very much appreciated, which is why she couldn’t be missing from our list of the best of Neopop 2023.

Óscar Mulero

His deep musical knowledge coupled with his expert selection and track psychology gave the crowd one of the best sets of Friday. The session was an amalgamation of fast-paced mixes of futuristic tracks and sounds that evoked the extraterrestrial. And when the climax seemed to be approaching a point of no return Mulero skilfully steered the atmosphere back towards deeper tracks to close his set with a real flourish before Dasha Rush stepped in to close the AntiStage stage.

Imogen

It was the first time this Irish DJ performed at Neopop and after her set we are sure it won’t be the last. Both her presence on the stage and her sound invited a challenge far from complexes and marked paths. Imogen deployed a careful selection of tracks that were the most acid and broken rhythms of the three days of the festival.

Freshkitos

Local electronic music could not be missing from our selection. Gustavo Pereira aka Gusta-vo, director of Neopop, and Filipe Rodrigues aka Amulador make up the duo Freshkitos, a project that is at the forefront of the Portuguese scene. Their set was a display of their best weapons: their ability to unify crowds across all divides, their unwavering defence of the richest and most rabid diversity and, of course, their talent for pointing out what the next trends in electronica will be.

Nina Kraviz will leave you ‘Dancing’ with her latest release.