Primavera Sound 2019

[puckno]

Album Of The Year has an aggregate Year End list out of 41 magazine Year End Lists.
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/summary/2018/
For fun I mapped the Primavera lineup to the aggegrate top-50 album list.  Out of this top-50 albums 2018 list 20 artists are playing Primavera 2019 and 10 of them played the 2018 edition. If this is representative over time it gives Primavera Sound a running coverage of 60% of the best albums each year. Not bad.

With respect to the New Normal I also tried to count the number of female artists (or lead member artist) out of the the top-50, not familiar with all the bands but ended up slightly above 40%.

Part of 2019 edition
1 Janelle Monae
3 Low
5 Cardi B
6 Robyn
7 Pusha T
10 Christine and the Queens
12 Courtney Barnett
13 Tirzah
15 Sons of Kemet
17 Soccer Mommy
21 Snalmail
23 Rosalia
24 Tierra Whack
25 Sophie
32 Lucy Dacus
37 Kurt Vile
40 Yves Tumor
43 Kali Uchis
44 Julia Holter
48 Beak

Played the 2018 edition
11 Arctic Monkey
16 Father John Misty
18 Noname
19 Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
20 Beach House
29 Nils Frahm
31 Jon Hopkins
34 Spiritualized
36 Let's Eat Grandma
45 The Internet

On a sidetone: Mad Cool at current has 3 out of 50 (19 Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, 31 Jon Hopkins, 39 The 1975). Two out of those played PS2018.

Edited December 6, 2018 by puckno

[xxialac]

23 hours ago, JedTheHumanoid said:

Shame it's on Sunday and not during the festival itself. Hopefully around early after-noon, as I usually fly back Sunday Evening

Annoyingly they'll likely be on around 8 or 9pm and I'll miss them too

[Gnarler]

2 hours ago, puckno said:

Album Of The Year has an aggregate Year End list out of 41 magazine Year End Lists.
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/list/summary/2018/
For fun I mapped the Primavera lineup to the aggegrate top-50 album list.  Out of this top-50 albums 2018 list 20 artists are playing Primavera 2019 and 10 of them played the 2018 edition. If this is representative over time it gives Primavera Sound a running coverage of 60% of the best albums each year. Not bad.

With respect to the New Normal I also tried to count the number of female artists (or lead member artist) out of the the top-50, not familiar with all the bands but ended up slightly above 40%.

Part of 2019 edition
1 Janelle Monae
3 Low
5 Cardi B
6 Robyn
7 Pusha T
10 Christine and the Queens
12 Courtney Barnett
13 Tirzah
15 Sons of Kemet
17 Soccer Mommy
21 Snalmail
23 Rosalia
24 Tierra Whack
25 Sophie
32 Lucy Dacus
37 Kurt Vile
40 Yves Tumor
43 Kali Uchis
44 Julia Holter
48 Beak

Played the 2018 edition
11 Arctic Monkey
16 Father John Misty
18 Noname
19 Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
20 Beach House
29 Nils Frahm
31 Jon Hopkins
34 Spiritualized
36 Let's Eat Grandma
45 The Internet

On a sidetone: Mad Cool at current has 3 out of 50 (19 Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, 31 Jon Hopkins, 39 The 1975). Two out of those played PS2018.

Idles also played last year. Seems like Primavera is looking at this sort of information to decide who to book. Great research!

[puckno]

18 minutes ago, Gnarler said:

Idles also played last year.

Ah true! How could I forget! In addition (41) Hop Along and (50) Serpentwithfeet played Primavera Club. If we add those we are on 33 out of 50. However the aggregate list is fluid... theres been 2 more magazines added since my original post! So this might change. However quite interesting anyway.

[syzygy]

I've been attending Primavera for the last three years and as everyone knows the undercard is strong and the headliners are a mixed bag but they've had at least one headliner which is responsible for selling a lot of tickets. I struggle to see such a headliner this year. I wasn't familiar with much of this line-up but have been checking out what people have been recommending and find it quite underwhelming. I'm interested in the following:

Built to Spill
Efrim Menuck
FKA Twigs
Fucked Up
GBV
Jawbreaker
June of 44
Nas
The Necks
Primal Scream
Shellac
Stereolab
Tim Hecker

Interpol if they just play Turn on the Bright Lights. Saw Low just a couple months ago. Sons of Kemet I saw last month and would check out again if there was no conflict with one of the acts above. I'm sure there will be a few conflicts, so can bank on missing at least a couple bands.

The current poster on the site doesn't have a larger font for headliners, is this the new normal? Doing away with hierarchies and trying to emphasize the overall line-up instead of a few select acts.  

I don't find anything essential or inspiring this year. I haven't decided whether I will go, but when all else fails the Adidas stage usually delivers. However, I'm afraid it will be much more crowded this year because of the lack of headliners and several bland acts. It's clear they are promoting younger female acts. I've heard many of them and only find Julien Baker vaguely interesting, hopefully they put her in Auditori. I can only assume this strategy will draw more 20 something girls.  I will be surprised if this sells out anytime soon and can imagine the headlining stages being half empty. Does the concept of such stages even make sense without true headliners? This is a bold move by Primavera. Will the audience trust them and follow? I really do wonder what the motivation is this year, selling tickets doesn't seem to be it. 

[Chilly Toad]

After an initial kind of shock I realized that still this is going to work out well for me, probably. However, being of the old white rock (as it was called here earlier) school I would really have liked them to have at least that one or two big names for my type that were always there. Sorry to everyone who likes him but (for example) J Balvin sounds like either a children's birthday or something that gets on your nerves in the department store's elevator to me. But of course that is just my personal taste. Also, it allows to explore the undercard better.

Obviously, they want to cater to a different crowd this year and the interesting question is if they will continue to do so (new normal) or will change dramatically again in the following years.

[Swanmob]

8 hours ago, syzygy said:

I've been attending Primavera for the last three years and as everyone knows the undercard is strong and the headliners are a mixed bag but they've had at least one headliner which is responsible for selling a lot of tickets. I struggle to see such a headliner this year. I wasn't familiar with much of this line-up but have been checking out what people have been recommending and find it quite underwhelming. I'm interested in the following:

Built to Spill
Efrim Menuck
FKA Twigs
Fucked Up
GBV
Jawbreaker
June of 44
Nas
The Necks
Primal Scream
Shellac
Stereolab
Tim Hecker

Interpol if they just play Turn on the Bright Lights. Saw Low just a couple months ago. Sons of Kemet I saw last month and would check out again if there was no conflict with one of the acts above. I'm sure there will be a few conflicts, so can bank on missing at least a couple bands.

The current poster on the site doesn't have a larger font for headliners, is this the new normal? Doing away with hierarchies and trying to emphasize the overall line-up instead of a few select acts.  

I don't find anything essential or inspiring this year. I haven't decided whether I will go, but when all else fails the Adidas stage usually delivers. However, I'm afraid it will be much more crowded this year because of the lack of headliners and several bland acts. It's clear they are promoting younger female acts. I've heard many of them and only find Julien Baker vaguely interesting, hopefully they put her in Auditori. I can only assume this strategy will draw more 20 something girls.  I will be surprised if this sells out anytime soon and can imagine the headlining stages being half empty. Does the concept of such stages even make sense without true headliners? This is a bold move by Primavera. Will the audience trust them and follow? I really do wonder what the motivation is this year, selling tickets doesn't seem to be it. 

Good summing up I think. 

[puckno]

In general all headliners have at some point in time been on second, third and fourth line of lineups then advanced further to top line, and I think we sometimes forget about this when considering what is a headliner or not. In my opinion acts like Tame Impala, Robyn, Janelle Monae, Erykah Baduh, Solange all are headliner-worthy in 2019 and will draw large crowds. Having seen 4 out of 5 of these before in live setting I know they are all stellar live-acts. I look forward to all of them. However I understand the frustration with respect to the 'old white indie rock' school, or simply - rock in general, and I recognise that the top of the icing is missing, something big like Neil Young, The Cure, Radiohead, etc. Even New Order would be a big plus. Though how displeased or not with current lineup might come down to personal taste in music. It may be a sidestep from traditional indie headliners, but I think this has to do with what is available this year and a series of coincidences, and when realising what direction the bookings took Primavera decided to conceptualize and make this a theme. This might all be different next year, god knows what theme we will have. The planet of Mars? Animals in Africa?

[xxialac]

No matter what happens, Primavera needs to be financially sustainable and if ticket sales are slow, they will add more acts.

No way will it be lacking in audience numbers and Puckno is right that they do already have lots of bankable acts already.

[daveje]

I'm really happy with the lineup. Much as I like the 80s/90s white-guys-with-guitars rock bands, I go to Primavera to get out of my comfort zone.

Primavera's lineup is fresh, exciting and challenging. Mad Cool's lineup is comfortable and safe.

[xxialac]

Just now, daveje said:

I'm really happy with the lineup. Much as I like the 80s/90s white-guys-with-guitars rock bands, I go to Primavera to get out of my comfort zone.

Primavera's lineup is fresh, exciting and challenging. Mad Cool's lineup is comfortable and safe.

Massive upvote!

[Chaarlie]

5 minutes ago, daveje said:

I'm really happy with the lineup. Much as I like the 80s/90s white-guys-with-guitars rock bands, I go to Primavera to get out of my comfort zone.

Primavera's lineup is fresh, exciting and challenging. Mad Cool's lineup is comfortable and safe.

appreciate this opinion and I'm sure theres a few people that feel this way but I think ticket sales could suffer without the big draw of someone like the cure. Then if they do add acts like that it kinda undermines the whole new normal thing doesn't it?

[xxialac]

Just now, Chaarlie said:

appreciate this opinion and I'm sure theres a few people that feel this way but I think ticket sales could suffer without the big draw of someone like the cure. Then if they do add acts like that it kinda undermines the whole new normal thing doesn't it?

They won't add a big act like the cure (unless someone drops out). They might add a few mid size acts that still have the effect of increasing sales.

[Howsonisnow]

22 minutes ago, daveje said:

I'm really happy with the lineup. Much as I like the 80s/90s white-guys-with-guitars rock bands, I go to Primavera to get out of my comfort zone.

Primavera's lineup is fresh, exciting and challenging. Mad Cool's lineup is comfortable and safe.

Yeah exactly! Mad Cool is just a mash up of acts that have been at Primavera over the last two editions and The Cure from 2012. 

[On The Blend]

I poke about on these forums because they're full of people who are into music in a way I'm just not. I'm the kind of philistine who thinks Sziget looks good because I like the Foos and a bit of Ed Sheeran in the sunshine. 

I think this is a really bold move by Primavera but that's what makes it fresh and interesting to a crowd that likes music. I have heard of a grand total of 12 people on that poster, 5 of which are because I read these forums and only 1 (Interpol) is a headliner. But I'm not the target audience. 

I hope this gamble pays off because it's great to see a festival doing something different even if I'm not the one who will properly appreciate it. 

Edited December 7, 2018 by On The Blend

[Howsonisnow]

Thursday is absolutely stacked for me personally. I’m already shitting myself about potential clashes ?

[Martin_89]

I just went through the Mad Cool lineup to see how bad the male/female difference is, and... wow, just wow! I know this is not the full lineup, and I really hope it's getting better. If we remove all the full male band/artist they would have this lineup (non of them is headliners either): Tash Sultana, Rews, Alma, Helena Hauff, Sophie Hunger, Sex Museum, Milk Teeth, Jorja Smith, Pip Bloom.

That's 9/38 acts. No hate for Mad Cool, just so sad that so big festival(s) in 2018/19 has so few female acts. Someone has to go in the front and do something about this. Iceland Airwaves did it last year and now Primavera Sound is doing it. Hate or love it, but it's so needed in this industry!

[n=Nowheretohide]

It's not that hard to see that new normal is new fasism in disguise, supporters of this crazy policy first have started to seperate artist based on their sex and now we can also hear terms like white men indie bands so now we have race question too...so it wont be long until they start to give labels like straight white rock transexual musicians who are not suficently represent in headliners box....

Edited December 7, 2018 by n=Nowheretohide

[Chaarlie]

can no one reply to him this time...

[n=Nowheretohide]

oh and they will suffer big financially that is almost certain every other post on instagram is  #theNewShit

[Nicklord]

I think that booking more female acts should happen but if you book them like Primavera calling it "the new normal" and making it a marketing point isn't going to help anything. Just make people call them out

[Chaarlie]

I really like the Werchter lineup with 2 female headliners, its not really something I consider when booking a festival, I just want the best music for my £300. Florence and P!nk are better for me than Erykah Badu and Cardi B... thats just taste though

[n=Nowheretohide]

10 minutes ago, Chaarlie said:

can no one reply to him this time...

him ? Im gender non binary do not use this sexist pronaunce on me !

Edited December 7, 2018 by n=Nowheretohide

[Ovechkin]

16 minutes ago, Martin_89 said:

I just went through the Mad Cool lineup to see how bad the male/female difference is, and... wow, just wow! I know this is not the full lineup, and I really hope it's getting better. If we remove all the full male band/artist they would have this lineup (non of them is headliners either): Tash Sultana, Rews, Alma, Helena Hauff, Sophie Hunger, Sex Museum, Milk Teeth, Jorja Smith, Pip Bloom.

That's 9/38 acts. No hate for Mad Cool, just so sad that so big festival(s) in 2018/19 has so few female acts. Someone has to go in the front and do something about this. Iceland Airwaves did it last year and now Primavera Sound is doing it. Hate or love it, but it's so needed in this industry!

I don't necessarily disagree, but it's still a product that requires a demand. Selling tickets are almost exclusively correlated to the lineup (Glastonbury, Coachella, Tomorrowland put aside). What I mean is that if there was a demand for it, the lineups would move more and more towards 50/50.

Primavera is a strong brand and should have the luxury to implement this, but time will tell

 

Edited December 7, 2018 by Ovechkin

[Chaarlie]

1 minute ago, n=Nowheretohide said:

him ? Im gender binary do not use this sexist pronaunce on me !

you're right I think 'it' is a more appropriate way to refer to you