Southwestern Alentejo has been the centre stage of the major summer festival: SWtmn. Thousands of festival-goers have concentrated once again at the Casa Branca Farm at Zambujeira do Mar for four unforgettable days of sun, beach, entertainment, music and unique initiatives. On the 13th edition of the Southwest Festival, TMN is once again associated with producer Música no Coração for the production of the greenest festival ever.

Heat brings the most awaited summer event – Southwest TMN Summer Festival. From 6 to 9 August, the quiet of Alentejo was invaded by thousands of festival-goers that gathered at Casa Branca Farm to experience unforgettable days of entertainment and lots of Portuguese and international music. The festival had an average attendance of 35,000 people, the most popular day being Saturday with a 45,000 attendance.

The festival started on 5 August with the usual campers’ reception, a night dedicated to the performance of several DJs such as David Guetta and Miguel PSI. Concerts started on 6 August, on the several stages of the festival: TMN Stage, Positive Vibes, Southwest Planet and Groovebox. The programming counted on renowned names at national and world level that made this 13th edition of SWtmn unforgettable: Buraka Som Sistema, Lily Allen, Faith No More, Amy Macdonald, The National, Madcon, Basement Jaxx, Mariza, Deolinda, Miss Kittin and The Hacker, among others.

This year, Southwest Festival set the challenge of being the greenest one ever and expectations were beaten. Just like last year, festival-goers could participate in countless activities related to environment preservation and assume ecologically responsible attitudes, apart from listening to good music.

TMN and producer Música no Coração, in partnership with Southwest Alentejo Nature Park and Quercus made festival-goers aware of the need of preservation of the Mediterranean Pond Turtle, a locally menaced species. The TMN Eco Park was the privileged place for the initiatives in this domain. Thousands of festival-goers participated in several activities aiming to collect symbolic pond turtles and change them for plots of land. The goal was achieved and participations helped TMN contribute with more than 10 hectares for the natural habitat of the Mediterranean Pond Turtle.

After the success of previous years, ‘Eco TMN’ became once again a meeting point for festival-goers dedicated to the cleaning of the enclosed space. Collected bottles and tumblers for future recycling were delivered at the TMN Eco Points and exchanged for more than 40,000 TMN Eco fiches exchangeable within the enclosed space for Super Bock beers, TMN entertainment and gifts.

It is worth highlighting that all plastic tumblers and bottles collected by TMN throughout the festival were sent for recycling. Therefore TMN and producer Música no Coração associated themselves to Ambilital – the company that manages the integrated system of collection, treatment and valuation of the urban solid waste of the Alentejo municipalities – to rationalise and maximise waste separation and subsequent collection and recycling before, during and after SWtmn.

During the festival, a group of TMN promoters dressed as Yettis walked through the enclosed space and refreshed festival-goers with water sprays as they sought to raise their awareness for the need of opposing global warming.

For festival-goers to keep communicating and sharing photos, videos and messages telling festival news, TMN provided two spaces with machines to load mobile phone batteries fed by eolian energy. The seven loading machines provided by TMN helped load 20,000 mobile phone batteries. There were also various entertaining initiatives such as a competition based on game Guitar Hero, and there were several points to access the internet and to load SIM cards.

The TMN Lounge was reserved for journalists: a privileged space to record emotions experienced during the festival, concerts, experiences and reactions of festival-goers.

It is worth mentioning that SWtmn won a ‘green dot warranty’ this year, i.e. it was certified by the Green Dot Society - entity responsible for the management of package waste in Portugal – as a 100R® event.

Special spaces for special customers

With new features this year, the TMN Village had a swimming-pool for water-volley championships. Daily winners won prizes such as being in the company of Amy MacDonald backstage or attending concerts at the ‘t Tribune’, a VIP space just in front of the TMN stage. Final winners received a TMN mobile phone on the last day of the festival.

There were many other novelties and TMN had a surprise for campers each day such as a Kuduro workshop, a DJ workshop, a Yoga class and massage sessions. TMN customers were also entitled to a daily meal late in the afternoon, 24 hour security and private WCs.

Sapo has also been at SWtmn Festival

Apart from the promoters circulating in the enclosed space, Sapo had a special space dedicated to the wonders of heaven or surprises of hell. Festival-goers answering the truth to the questions of the roulette were invited for a ride through heaven on a small train. Should they be caught in a lie, they would have to ride on a train whose destination was hell. In each location, the scenery would match heaven or hell, a surprise for train riders.

SWtmn Festival beats all expectations year after year affording unmatched moments to all festival-goers. TMN is once again associated with the best summer festival.