Events in Porto — Page 1 of 3

Going out in Porto

Smaller, and more concentrated

Porto runs at roughly two fifths of Lisbon’s volume, but it does so across a third of the venues — which means the same rooms come up again and again. Five addresses account for about two in every five listings in the city, against about one in five for Lisbon’s busiest five, so following a few rooms here covers a good part of what is on.

The platform split is lopsided here too, and differently: Shotgun carries close to half of Porto’s listings on its own, with Resident Advisor second and Fever third. If you are used to checking RA out of habit, you are missing more in Porto than you would be in Lisbon.

More room for bands

Electronic music is still the largest single genre on Porto’s listings, but rock, hip-hop and indie together make up nearly a quarter of them — about twice their share in Lisbon — and they are spread across the week rather than parked on a Saturday.

The weekend concentration is otherwise much the same — around two in three events land on a Friday or Saturday. Where Porto differs is Thursday, which carries a bigger share of the week here than it does in Lisbon.

It is cheaper

Consistently, and not marginally: the median cheapest ticket in Porto sits several euros below Lisbon’s, in the region of ten euros. Free entry is much rarer than in Lisbon — around one listing in fifty here, against one in seven there.