Primavera Sound 2022

[Ohjesus]

big jeff got burnt in a house fire this weekend and is in a specialist burns unit. puts things in perspective 

[livenstu]

11 minutes ago, Ohjesus said:

big jeff got burnt in a house fire this weekend and is in a specialist burns unit. puts things in perspective 

horrible news, and after the problems with his leg & not being able to attend this years edition.  Poor guy, hope things are better than they sound.

[deadpheasant]

Yeah the tap water tasted a bit weird but I checked several websites and everywhere said Barcelona tap water is safe to drink. Got a few perplexed looks from people at the festival who were convinced otherwise.

[xxialac]

Not Primavera good obviously but probably the best lineup in the States.

 

[kaytee...]

1 hour ago, livenstu said:

hahahaha, Primavera WKD 1 & 2 & Glastonbury!!  That is quite some going!  I'll be attending Glastonbury, from my sofa.

I am one of those idiots 😂 got back at 1am this morning and didn't even book today off work, feel like I could sleep for a week and I'm nowhere near sorted for Glasto 💀

[Coopa]

This was our first trip to primavera(WE1) , having considered going to several previous editions, and feel a little conflicted as to whether we will be returning.

We went to a ton of different festivals in the UK and Europe in our 20s, but in more recent years have been more or less regulars at Glastonbury and Green man. Whilst the quality of the music offering at primavera this year was probably better (at least for us) than we had saw at any year of Glastonbury, there's just something it is lacking. We loved the gurunteed Sun, chilled days in barcelona and the people we met (definitely less idiots than glasto!), but can't help but feel that once you've bought a ticket the festival don't really care that much about catering for you.

Maybe it's just us being too used to these two independent festivals, but the the food and drink offering at these (paticularly green man) are just on a different planet. Surely they could have offered something other than spirit mixers, aperol and lager/lager and lime. It just wore thin by the end of the weekend and I actually looked forward to getting back to the hotel for a nice drink. 

The sound at times was also just ridiculously low, meaning my wife who is pretty short coul hardly hear a thing when in a dense crowd. I can forgive the chaos of Thursday, given the nightmare they had to go through to put this on and the efforts they made to fix the issues. But overall just feel that with the lineup they put on, they just missed a trick by not putting forward the best overall festival experience. Think we will hold off from going next year, see how that goes and go from there.....

 

After typing this out, Just saw the comments above regarding big Jeff, this whole rant now seems pointless, puts things in perspective. Hope the big man's OK, green man legend. 

[Bram]

3 hours ago, Coopa said:

This was our first trip to primavera(WE1) , having considered going to several previous editions, and feel a little conflicted as to whether we will be returning.

We went to a ton of different festivals in the UK and Europe in our 20s, but in more recent years have been more or less regulars at Glastonbury and Green man. Whilst the quality of the music offering at primavera this year was probably better (at least for us) than we had saw at any year of Glastonbury, there's just something it is lacking. We loved the gurunteed Sun, chilled days in barcelona and the people we met (definitely less idiots than glasto!), but can't help but feel that once you've bought a ticket the festival don't really care that much about catering for you.

Maybe it's just us being too used to these two independent festivals, but the the food and drink offering at these (paticularly green man) are just on a different planet. Surely they could have offered something other than spirit mixers, aperol and lager/lager and lime. It just wore thin by the end of the weekend and I actually looked forward to getting back to the hotel for a nice drink. 

The sound at times was also just ridiculously low, meaning my wife who is pretty short coul hardly hear a thing when in a dense crowd. I can forgive the chaos of Thursday, given the nightmare they had to go through to put this on and the efforts they made to fix the issues. But overall just feel that with the lineup they put on, they just missed a trick by not putting forward the best overall festival experience. Think we will hold off from going next year, see how that goes and go from there.....

 

After typing this out, Just saw the comments above regarding big Jeff, this whole rant now seems pointless, puts things in perspective. Hope the big man's OK, green man legend. 

I think they can’t present massive sound due to several issues and complaints from the local community around that area (https://beteve.cat/societat/veins-badalona-maresme-farts-soroll-primavera-sound/)

The local community rejection probably one of the reasons why PS will not here to stay in the Forum (change venue or even go to Madrid).

[Zoo Music Girl]

8 hours ago, Coopa said:

This was our first trip to primavera(WE1) , having considered going to several previous editions, and feel a little conflicted as to whether we will be returning.

We went to a ton of different festivals in the UK and Europe in our 20s, but in more recent years have been more or less regulars at Glastonbury and Green man. Whilst the quality of the music offering at primavera this year was probably better (at least for us) than we had saw at any year of Glastonbury, there's just something it is lacking. We loved the gurunteed Sun, chilled days in barcelona and the people we met (definitely less idiots than glasto!), but can't help but feel that once you've bought a ticket the festival don't really care that much about catering for you.

Maybe it's just us being too used to these two independent festivals, but the the food and drink offering at these (paticularly green man) are just on a different planet. Surely they could have offered something other than spirit mixers, aperol and lager/lager and lime. It just wore thin by the end of the weekend and I actually looked forward to getting back to the hotel for a nice drink. 

The sound at times was also just ridiculously low, meaning my wife who is pretty short coul hardly hear a thing when in a dense crowd. I can forgive the chaos of Thursday, given the nightmare they had to go through to put this on and the efforts they made to fix the issues. But overall just feel that with the lineup they put on, they just missed a trick by not putting forward the best overall festival experience. Think we will hold off from going next year, see how that goes and go from there.....

 

After typing this out, Just saw the comments above regarding big Jeff, this whole rant now seems pointless, puts things in perspective. Hope the big man's OK, green man legend. 

Agreed on Green Man. I've only been once, but the location, atmosphere and food and drink choices are great. Would love to go back some time. Lineups are less good for me but it's a really nice festival.

[Etaish]

6 minutes ago, Zoo Music Girl said:

Agreed on Green Man. I've only been once, but the location, atmosphere and food and drink choices are great. Would love to go back some time. Lineups are less good for me but it's a really nice festival.

Agreed. Been to GM 8 years in total. Absolutely lovely festival but hits very different spots to those of PS. Re your music curation, GM has come a very long way and can now hold its own. I actually saw the Gizz for the first time at GM on main stage and it was awesome. Crowd is lovely though, arguably, quite homogeneous. Weather mostly awful. Food good but not a patch on the variety/selection at PS though they do have a fantastic bloody mary bar. And its way way more kid friendly if you have any.. 

[Zoo Music Girl]

49 minutes ago, Etaish said:

Agreed. Been to GM 8 years in total. Absolutely lovely festival but hits very different spots to those of PS. Re your music curation, GM has come a very long way and can now hold its own. I actually saw the Gizz for the first time at GM on main stage and it was awesome. Crowd is lovely though, arguably, quite homogeneous. Weather mostly awful. Food good but not a patch on the variety/selection at PS though they do have a fantastic bloody mary bar. And its way way more kid friendly if you have any.. 

We were very lucky with the weather when we went! Hugely preferred food and general vibe to Primavera. I also loved the comedy and wellbeing stuff. 

[pipan]

That mysterious fever disease (with no other symptoms) was covid at the end. So we didn't bring home only many beautiful memories. 

 

[xxialac]

Also picked up covid at the festival. In hindsight, was inevitable.

[broccoli]

all of our group (8) either have symptoms or positive tests this morning

[Guy Incognito]

I don't really understand the comparisons between UK camping festivals and Primavera Sound. They're very different events with pretty different objectives and outlines. Not really comparable imo. 

[Rhak]

There's so many reasons why covid is so abound: massive crowds, people cheering & singing and lots of small shows in packed venues on top of that. But add an import of Portuguese overworked bar staff (Portugal having had a recent surge) who half of the time didn't wash your cup (or even gave you used ones of other people!) and it's a miracle half of BCN isn't down by now

Edited June 14, 2022 by Rhak

[BenG92]

My better half is STILL testing positive, I was clear days ago. Felt fine for ages but still have a bit of a lingering cough. 

Hopefully I've got some shit hot antibodies now, got Elton John soon and then Rock Werchter soon after that. 

[Etaish]

22 minutes ago, Guy Incognito said:

I don't really understand the comparisons between UK camping festivals and Primavera Sound. They're very different events with pretty different objectives and outlines. Not really comparable imo. 

100% agreed. that's the point i was making

[Zoo Music Girl]

41 minutes ago, Guy Incognito said:

I don't really understand the comparisons between UK camping festivals and Primavera Sound. They're very different events with pretty different objectives and outlines. Not really comparable imo. 

Yeah that's fair. I think I was expecting something with a similar vibe but that was probably unfair. Primavera was a lot more like All Points East or similar to me.

[Bram]

35 minutes ago, Rhak said:

There's so many reasons why covid is so abound: massive crowds, people cheering & singing and lots of small shows in packed venues on top of that. But add an import of Portuguese overworked bar staff (Portugal having had a recent surge) who half of the time didn't wash your cup (or even gave you used ones of other people!) and it's a miracle half of BCN isn't down by now

Don’t forget the crampped public transportation otw back from the festival.

[xxialac]

8 minutes ago, Zoo Music Girl said:

Yeah that's fair. I think I was expecting something with a similar vibe but that was probably unfair. Primavera was a lot more like All Points East or similar to me.

Primavera is like two crowds in one, particularly as of this year.

The party goers, mostly just there to hang with mates and for the big act at Mordor. Often disrespectful and drunk. Disproportionately British (or at least not local).

= the All Points East set’

And then a majority of the people in the auditori or watching a gig at a smaller stage or an afternoon or city show. Generally there primarily for the music and warm and respectful to the performer and to others.

= the Primavera crowd of almost all of the last two decades

[Johndenis]

My 7th Primavera, but my first since 2016. I did weekend 1 but have unfortunately been unwell since returning home, so just back up to speed now. 

The attendance was massive - do we reckon "oversold"?  I've been at Primavera for supposed sell out days before but it felt far busier. I think the potential capacity of BITS is now taken into account, and really a lot of folk didn't bother with the hike to get there.

I get how the twin stages at mordor are in theory excellent, as the big acts keep coming in quick succession, but in reality it has led to horrible overcrowding. 

Thursday was a car crash. Standing right up the back of the ray ban steps trying to see yo la tengo (!) was nightmarish. It was just such a different experience to the previous fests. Sad. Possibly a reflection of the relative weakness of Thursdays Bill. Most folk opted for the same things. 

The other days improved, but there are now crowds almost everywhere. Unless you're up for a battle and losing all your pals, you're not getting anywhere near the front of headline sets anymore. I was watching acts like Parquet Courts and Wet Leg, at the "smaller" stages, from almost behind pillars etc. I was halfway down mordor for tame impala, and in a sea of people. The boiler room looked comically flimsy. I hardly saw some friends who attended because of the crowds and intermittent phone signal. 

I enjoyed Caribou. I thought they put on a great show. Could have watched their drummer all night. My personal highlights were always going to be the return of Pavement, whose set list was fantastic, plus Nick Cave and Gorillaz on the Saturday night. Nick Cave was 2 hours of magnificence while Gorillaz gradually upped the ante - there can't be many better live acts on the planet. The crowd crush between Cave and Gorillaz was pretty crazy though. 

I also stayed on to see Tyler, 
and he was well worth it. But I did then have a bad time getting home. Nobody knew where the shuttle bus was, the metro queue was huge, and I eventually got a tram.

As a final point, trying to get a beer during Sharon van ettens lovely set, I found there was quite a hefty sheer drop over a low wall at the side of the Binance stage. If they're going to pile all these people into the venue, they need to stress test it much better. Otherwise, death or serious injury seems inevitable. 

I wont be back but I'm a 42 year old dad, and really I need to do more chilled out fests from now on, if at all. The acts are simply on way too late for me 🙂

[Rhak]

20 minutes ago, Bram said:

Don’t forget the crampped public transportation otw back from the festival.

I take the rental bike so forgot about that one. After hearing all the stories I am definitely doing that again next time. 

[Zoo Music Girl]

6 minutes ago, xxialac said:

Primavera is like two crowds in one, particularly as of this year.

The party goers, mostly just there to hang with mates and for the big act at Mordor. Often disrespectful and drunk. Disproportionately British (or at least not local).

= the All Points East set’

And then a majority of the people in the auditori or watching a gig at a smaller stage or an afternoon or city show. Generally there primarily for the music and warm and respectful to the performer and to others.

= the Primavera crowd of almost all of the last two decades

Yeah it's partly the crowd, partly all the sponsorship and partly the going home and coming back each day. Makes it feel a series of disconnected gigs rather than a cohesive whole. To be fair, I did worry that's how a non-camping festival would feel so shouldn't have been a huge surprise!

[Rhak]

3 minutes ago, Zoo Music Girl said:

Yeah it's partly the crowd, partly all the sponsorship and partly the going home and coming back each day. Makes it feel a series of disconnected gigs rather than a cohesive whole. To be fair, I did worry that's how a non-camping festival would feel so shouldn't have been a huge surprise!

But that’s half of the charm! We always book great restaurants, go to the beach, have a dip in the pool. Visit an incredible city (liked Moco & that glen e Friedman expo). Beats waking up in a over heated tent at 10am every time!

Agree on sponsorship but that’s at most festivals nowadays, no?

Edited June 14, 2022 by Rhak

[Zoo Music Girl]

1 minute ago, Rhak said:

But that’s half of the charm! We always book great restaurants, go to the beach, have a dip in the pool. Visit an incredible city (liked Moco & that glen e Friedman expo). Beats waking up in a over heated tent at 10am every time!

Agree on sponsorship but that’s at most festivals nowadays, no?

I'm glad I gave it a go but I think for me I'd rather do a festival OR go on holiday. We were too tired to do anything else on the festival days and while I enjoyed some time in Barcelona afterwards I found everywhere so busy because of the festival that I'd rather come back another time.

I know sponsorship is everywhere, but usually the festival has a bit of its own character alongside it in the branding. Didn't feel that way at all to me. I felt like I was in a car park!