The first edition of the Authentica festival kicks off this Friday and lasts for two days at the Altice Forum in Braga. In addition to Kodaline, there are more than 30 artists, including De La Soul, James Bay, Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, ProfJam or Dino D’Santiago.

With several triumphant passages through Portugal, Kodaline, an Irish “indie folk” group, are back and headline the “biggest winter festival” – says the organization – in the country: Authentica. The first edition is today, Friday, and tomorrow, Saturday, at the Altice Forum in Braga. The poster includes more than 30 foreign and national artists.

“The enthusiasm for our return is enormous”, confessed the drummer of Kodaline, Vinny May, to JN, referring to the European tour in which the group is presenting its fifth album. “Yes, we’re really excited because we haven’t played in a while. What can we expect from us? Total delivery and a very beautiful acoustic show”, says Vinny.

Tonight’s concert in Braga will be the last one before Christmas. And the band led by vocalist Steve Garrigan knows they have a large group of fans in Portugal: “It’s an emotional experience when you go to a country and you don’t have expectations and then, suddenly, they exceed all possible expectations.”, says the drummer .

“We love Portugal, the Portuguese fans are incredible, they are very energetic, they like to sing with us, they are always attentive”, he says.

“We are extremely grateful to our fans for putting us in this position; 10 years later, we are still releasing records and touring all over the world”, Vinny tells us. The musicians add that if he said, when he was a teenager, that he was doing this life, he wouldn’t believe it.

Acoustic disc in “best of” regime

The Irish band already has five albums and the last one was released in March, “Our roots run deep”, which records the live show, at the Olympia Theater, in Dublin, in acoustic format, with a “best of” from the band.

“All these 17 songs are accompanied by acoustic guitar and piano. Everything is simpler, more beautiful. We wanted to go back to our roots and that’s where the name of the album comes from”, explains Vinny. “Our last four albums have had a lot of production, a lot of voices, drums, guitars, and on this album we show how the songs are inspired, stripped down, naked but very beautiful”.

“Fantastic environment”

The disc captures the “very unique” atmosphere of the Olympia Theatre. Being a band from Dublin, recording the album was special. Vinny remembers that the first time he visited the theater he was 5 years old, accompanied by his parents and one of his sisters. There are several memories they experienced there: “It’s a very special and fantastic place, the atmosphere is very good because the structure is like a theater and we have a wide view of the entire audience”, says the drummer.

Kodaline have performed in Dublin venues that can seat 25,000 people, while the Olympia Theater only has a capacity of 1,200. However, the band feels it is a “very welcoming” and “full of magic” space.

This was the starting point for something bigger. As soon as it was possible, they started an “acoustic tour”, a tour of Europe that presents this new album without electricity. Passing through 29 cities, the Kodaline started this route on October 5th and ended on November 23rd. JN caught them on the road, four concerts away from the end of the tour, in one night in Stuttgart, Germany.

Vinny May confesses that “everything goes very well” and “it was being a lot of fun”. “It’s very different from a normal concert and the reaction so far has been really good and amazing.” That’s what fans can expect this Friday in Braga, at 1.º Autêntica.

Festival waiting for 18 thousand people

The first edition of the “biggest winter festival” intends to change people’s mindset: “Festivals are not just for the summer”, says Marco Polónio, managing director of Malpevent, promoter of Authentica, to JN. “Festival-goers, more than ever, want culture all year round, and from now on, Braga is finally on the route of the big Festivals”, he says.

The poster contains more than 30 artists, including Kodaline, Rag”n”Bone Man, James Bay, Luísa Sonza, Nothing But Thieves, Becky Hill, De La Soul, Rels B or Mala Rodríguez. But there are also national stars: Profjam, Dino D’Santiago, Mundo Segundo & Sam The Kid, Jimmy P, Chico da Tina.

The festival has four stages and expects to receive 18,000 festival-goers each day, having already registered ticket sales in 15 countries.