All photos by Alan Moore.
For a change I decided to go to Primavera Sound in Barcelona as a punter and just enjoy it without writing about it. But once a blogger always a blogger…
First things first: musical highlights:
Caribou
The ATP stage with its leafy trees and side-stage stadium steps lent itself to a whopping set from Dan Snaith and company. The last time I caught this band properly, was gig in Whelan’s while touring Andorra. This time around, as those who witnessed their recent gigs will attest to, the band have gone into orbit. The songs from Swim were made to be played in a setting like this, live dance workouts, that pushes and pulls in all the right places. Sublime.
Tune-Yards
Get a ticket immediately for Tune-Yards European tour if she hasn’t hit your town yet (Dubliners – June 17th in Whelan’s). What Merrill Garbus can do with a loop pedal, ukelele and drums on her own is truly phenomenal in itself but that she does it with a huge smile on her face and a mountain of infectious energy is the ultimate selling point. Extra props to the multi-tasking band on brass, various percussive implements and bass. A Tune-Yards gig is an experience of elation and nowhere is that more prevalent than ‘Do You Want To Live’, a song she plays live but has yet to appear in recorded form. This song gets me every time.
Jamie xx
It might have only been a DJ set but Jamie kept everyone at the Pitchfork stage going for over an hour and 15 minutes with a bass-heavy set. In the mix was Ramandanman, ‘Rolling In The Deep’ Heatwave remix, and tunes from his Gil Scott-Heron remix album. It’s unknown at this point whether Jamie himself was aware of Scott-Heron’s death at the time, news had just broken online via Twitter during the set so hearing ‘I’ll Take Care Of You’ mere minutes after finding out was a poignant and sad moment.
Other highlights
Battles (all new material – at times risky but overall superb), Gold Panda (plays Dublin June 11th), Glasser (no full band this time around but Mesirow’s voice is eh, mesmerising), Gang Gang Dance (Three on-stage Bez members dancing and waving bin bags with dollops of chilled space jams), Factory Floor (caught the end of the set want to see more), Twin Shadow (Did they play ‘At Your Heels’?), Baths, Girl Talk (a 5am dance party you sort of regret afterwards), James Blake DJ set (Destiny’s Child mashup, bangers and early material), Animal Collective, Big Boi, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Holy Ghost!.
Special mention: Worst yet most entertaining live set I’ve possibly ever seen
Gonjasufi
An incoherent set that displayed none of the nuance present on A Sufi And A Killer. Instead, there was incoherent babbling, metal thrash live histrionics, a drummer who stomped the stage like he had lost his mind, apparent on-stage fighting, awful improvisation and lots of silence between songs. It also appears organisers couldn’t get them off the stage. Hilarious yet shambolic. Lesson to promoters: do not let complete stoners on the stage to literally run wild.
Lowlights
Whoever advised the organisers of Primavera on the use of QR codes for thousands of festival transactions was some swindler. On Thursday after a whole week where the festival’s online Portal was sporadically working, the cards which were supposed to be used for bar transactions were useless with only the main bar seemingly in operation. Whether the iPads used were late in delivery or what, there was no excuse for a lack of a contingency plan. They were using the barcode on each card to register people upon entry and exit so why couldn’t they use that at the bar? A barcode is surely much more effective than a QR code, a camera and an iPad which were in short supply all weekend at the bars. Also, if each bar has at least one iPad for transactions, then please, mark it with a sign and don’t expect people to rejoin another queue due to your lack of efficiency.
It definitely seemed like there were many more people present than the last time I was there in 2008 and from previous years. The addition of new stages and spaces didn’t seem to help much as queues were pretty much everywhere. Maybe cap the attendence at 35,000 rather than 40,000 or don’t oversell it?
Having said that, Primavera is an amazing festival set in a gorgeous city and Parc Del Forum with its natural amphitheatre, massive solar photovoltaic plate, stadium steps and setting by the sea is a perfect setting for a festival. You can spend your afternoons at the beach in Barcelonetta or eating tapas in the Gothic Quarter and enjoy a discerning music festival by night.
Primavera treats its attendees like adults which was something that was said to me a few times over the weekend. For example, the Pitchfork stage is surrounded by water from the port, yet no security was visible around the perimeter except some plain metal fences. You can avail of the bar until 5am, security moving people outside the arena were hilariously letting punters sing through their megaphones and there was a distinct lack of the typical festival nonsense you’d get in Ireland. What a nice sunny break it is away from muddy fields. Even the hipsters love it.
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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, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.
Already planning a return next year. That was very special. Blondes were great last night in Apolo too. What a location to enjoy music properly (in top-notch sound quality) in comfort without rain, mud or excessive rules/heavy-handed security. Struggling to think of any better festival at the moment, if one exists I’d be glad to know? There are a few minor things they could work on to make PS 2012 flawless.
Had another great year there too. “Do You Want To Live?” was one of the best openings to a set I’ve ever seen. Knockout confidence while engaging in some ridiculous multi-tasking.
It’s sad to think that Battles will probably never again play Atlas and a slew of other landmark material. I totally see where they’re coming from, and their new show was incredible, but it’s sad that such an iconic track is being shelved (for now anyways).
Caribou’s show is ridiculously tight. Flawless every time, yet they inject so many fills and jams into each song it still feels really organic – I’m debating about heading to Forbidden Fruit just to see them, despite my wallet’s pleas for mercy.
During OFWGKTA’s show it struck me that the reason that loads of people turned up to see them – then started leaving after a few songs – were probably one and the same; the internet. Everyone knew who they were. Everyone knew they were in for a crazy, maybe scandalous show. But no one seemed to know any of the songs.
I think in this instance, their practice of self-releasing tons of material in waves, rather than slowly pushing their best tracks, meant that beyond the fanatics (there were about 50+ folks at the front going wild), they’ll have a lot more work in trying to get a following in Europe to the same degree as they have in the states.
All-round, another great year at the festival. Every year it grows bigger and bigger, but still retains most of the magic.
I can’t help feeling a little guilty though, as the number of Irish visitors grow and the prices rise year on year; that in a way we’re ruining this wonderful event for it’s own people – more than ever, the locals seemed dejected and grumpy about the queues, the prices and the presence of so many English, American and Irish holiday makers – getting messy drunk and shouting in foreign tongues.
It’s only going to keep getting bigger and bigger, and I’m definitely going to go back over there again, hopefully some of the negative atmosphere of this year will disappear into the Meditteranean along with the QR code portal system.
Yeh it really is a great festival regardless of all the minor difficulties. I too would like to go to Forbidden Fruit to see Jamie xx and Caribou again.
I’m sure Battles could play Atlas the way they play the new vocal stuff? It’s do-able.
I agree with you on Odd Future. I felt like the main reason we were all there was for the spectacle rather than the tunes. At those SXSW shows I saw, particularly the Thrasher party, everyone knew all the words, it wasn’t like that, the crowd dynamics and economics were different here, there’s a distance between the cultures that just didn’t translate. Sadly, it felt like more like a regular rap show than anything spectacular.
I think you sacrificed Suicide for Caribou! Suicide were tops…
I could hear a bit of Suicide from the top of the Ray Ban stage but I was on a different buzz by that stage. maybe another time.
Did anyone think Animal collective were really up their own arse and a little boring because of it. I found that if you bar hopped you could always get a drink.
Pros: Lots of great sounds and sights, staying in a city, sound spanish punters and security. The QS system sucked but the qs to get a refund were small.
Cons:
I found some bands forgot it was about us and not about them.
I would of liked more upbeat stuff
The sheer quantity of hipsters. If i see one more dodgy tache, warfarers and a cravat this year….
Ah, hipsters are harmless 🙂
I found the AC set pretty dull too. They seemed to be playing a lot of new material, and in doing so on the main stage as a headline band they lost the crowd pretty quick.
It’s just AC doing what they do – touring unreleased songs. After the album is released (or leaked) they could play the same slot and kill it when the audience is on par with the material.
I think they’re far too weird and introverted an act to put on any main stage, though their set there in 2008 when they were touring Strawberry Jam was really good
Ah yeh Animal Collective are never going to be a crowdpleasing festival band at all. But once you know that going on, there’s plenty to enjoy.
Did you catch Sonny & The Sunsets or Ducktails by any chance? My main ‘gutted I missed them’ acts, due to Sufjan queues.
No I didn’t. Though Ducktails are playing with Julian Lynch next Tuesday
The ques only effected us really on early evening thursday, so i can’t really complain about that! I think its on a par with last year, highlights for me were caribou, jamie xx, holy ghost!, big boi, explosions. Battles were brave as hell to have a slot at that time and stick to their guns and I thought it paid off! James Blake was great too, did you see the new song he played? It was excellent!
Ariel Pink was my only low, no menopause man or revolutions a lie! Though Round and Round was superb and lifted it!
sounds pretty amazing all things considered! def. trying to get to this next year!