Severe storms forced major disruptions on the opening night of Primavera Sound Barcelona 2026, with several headline performances cancelled for safety reasons.
Primavera Sound Barcelona has issued an official statement following widespread disruption to Thursday’s programme, after severe weather conditions hit the festival site at Parc del Fòrum meaning that main stage performances from Massive Attack, Mac Demarco, Doja Cat, Alex G, Bad Gyal and more were cancelled.
The festival is offering refunds for the Thursday programme.
The Primavera statement reads:
Late yesterday evening, at around 9:00 pm and with a yellow weather warning from Meteocat and AEMET, the weather conditions forced the cancellation of part of the programme for Thursday at Primavera Sound Barcelona for safety reasons. Firstly, the rain and strong gusts of wind, reaching up to 80 km per hour, forced the cancellation of Alex G’s performance on the Revolut stage (8:50 pm) and the temporary evacuation of the area. The established safety protocol dictates that it is not safe to hold concerts in such strong winds.
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Then, the persistent rain and wind made it impossible for Mac DeMarco’s team to set up on time on the Occident stage (9:55 pm), leading to the cancellation of his performance as the necessary safety conditions could not be met.
The CUPRA, Schwarzkopf and Port stages continued with their scheduled programme, allowing the concerts by Oklou and Father John Misty (CUPRA), Agriculture (Port) and Skullcrusher (Schwarzkopf) to go ahead, followed by the rest of the programme until the end of the night. The Plenitude, The Levi’s Warehouse and CUPRA Pulse stages also gradually returned to normality.
Meanwhile, the festival organisers worked determinedly alongside the Massive Attack, Doja Cat and Bad Gyal teams to ensure that the performances on the Estrella Damm and Revolut stages could resume later that night. At around 11:30 pm, with a more favourable weather forecast, the festival announced that Massive Attack’s performance would begin at 12:30 am (having been originally scheduled for 9:55 pm), this being the intention of both the band and the festival.
Unfortunately, the rain, and particularly the wind persisted in the area around these stages, ultimately making it impossible, for safety reasons, for Massive Attack to perform on the Estrella Damm stage, for Doja Cat to perform on the Revolut stage (originally scheduled for 11:30 pm) and for Bad Gyal to perform on the Estrella Damm stage (originally scheduled for 1:30 am). As these were the two stages that were most exposed to the rain and the wind due to their location and size, safety concerns arising from the weather conditions meant that it was not possible to guarantee safety for the continuation of performances on either stage, despite all the efforts made.
We understand and share the frustration and disappointment of the audience regarding this situation, which is not what we had hoped for on the first day of Primavera Sound Barcelona 2026. The festival organisers followed the established safety protocols at all times and prioritised the safety of the audience, artists and staff above all else. We thank the audience for their understanding and confirm that, despite the difficulty of the situation, there were no serious incidents.
On Monday, details will be provided regarding the refund process for Thursday’s tickets, the cost of which will be refunded.
The festival will open its doors this afternoon at 3:45 pm as normal to kick off the second day of the festival, which will feature performances by The Cure, Addison Rae, PinkPantheress, Ethel Cain, Skrillex, Amaarae, Ralphie Choo and Slowdive, among many others.
Doja Cat addressed fans directly on social media, writing that she was “fully dressed and ready to go to stage” but that it was not safe enough to continue. “I will think of everything I can under the sun to make it up to you,” she wrote.
The festival confirmed there were no serious incidents and that refund details for Thursday’s tickets will be announced on Monday.
Primavera Sound Barcelona continues this afternoon , which features The Cure, Addison Rae, PinkPantheress, Ethel Cain, Skrillex, Amaarae, Ralphie Choo and Slowdive, among others.
A live stream is available on on the Amazon Music channels on Twitch and Prime Video, provided it all goes ahead as planned.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
