Three days at the Bilbao BBK Live music festival in the beautiful hilly green “Basque Country” in the northern part of Spain, listening to incredible bands such as Muse, Mumford and Sons, Bleachers, Bears Den and so many more, I’ll take two please.
I did not expect this part of Spain to look like this, but I was blown away by its beauty. So lush and mountainous, it reminded me of Ireland.
During the festival we stayed in tents for some good ole fashion camping “Glamping.” Don’t judge, I wasn’t going to lug around a tent and sleeping bag through out my 6 week long travels of Spain. That would be absurd, especially when a fine company was offering to set us up a nice big bell tent with some blow up mattresses inside (also we found a really great deal on eBay for half the price ;). It really was so great to show up to the campsite and have everything already set up for us.
The music festival was incredible! It really was a very well put on event. Everything ran smoothly and the people were so friendly. You couldn’t bring food or drinks into the festival grounds, but they did have a bunch of stands on site selling things from crepes to crazy french fry concoctions to thai noodles, and they were a pretty decent price. One very large beer that you could easily split between two people cost about 6-8 euro. In the states I would expect that to cost closer to $13, especially being at a festival where they tend to crank up the prices.
Festival Highlights:
- Glamping was great and I would do it again. The campsite had a bus that ran 24 hours a day to and from the festival area, and even into town.
- The view was breathtaking, I might have just camped up there even if there wasn’t music.
- They had three separate stages with great sound quality. I don’t know about you but I’ve been to concerts where I could hardly make out the words they were singing. Here everything was great and the atmosphere was fun!
- Made it front and center to a couple shows.
- During the day it was nice and warm, however it was a bit chilly in the evenings. Lucky I had just come from Ireland and happened to have pants and a jacket, but it was even colder in the middle of the night.
Making new friends at the festival. - People were super friendly. Yes, people got crazy and were having a good time, but if they knocked you down in the middle of some wild mosh pitt (I didn’t particularly like to be in these) you’d have multiple people offering to help you up and make sure you’re ok.
Aside from all the festival fun, Bilbao itself was a wonderful city to explore.
They have the coolest art museum there (and I am not one to particularly enjoy museums)!
It is called the Guggenheim Museum and just the design on the building itself is incredible!
“The Guggenheim Bilbao’s collection spans from the mid-20th century to the present day, concentrating on postwar painting and sculpture in America and Europe. The collection includes key works by significant artists including Anselm Kiefer, Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Gilbert & George, and Richard Serra.” – The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
In short, the festival was incredible, great line up, well put together, the city of Bilbao is fun to explore, and I would go again.
Have you been to any music festivals? Which ones would you reccomend?