Primavera Sound is a festival held in Barcelona in May and this was its tenth edition. It first started at Sala Apolo, a club in Barcelona, in 2002 and since then it has expanded and moved to its actual location by the sea at Parc del Fòrum with 10 stages. During the week when it takes place, there are gigs in different venues around the city including parks, tube stations and clubs. You can see the previous line-ups here. It's turned into a very big festival with lots of people from all around the world. It's definitely one of the year's highlights for us and we wanted to share it at DC's just in case you want to check it out for yourselves next year and join us. Here's our five cents.
Our original idea was taking photos during the three days of the festival. Unfortunately what happened is on the first day there were so many people and so many cues to do anything, it was impossible to take any pictures. On Friday things got better and we were in the mood. We took our camera with us but we forgot the card in our computer... So that leaves us with a few pictures taken on Saturday. As you can see there aren't many pictures of bands playing, we're not great photographers.
* The bands in the pictures are, in order, Papas Fritas, tUnE-YaRdS and Fleet Foxes.
The comeback of the British band Pulp fulfilled all expectations.
'Pending the conclusion of the third major concert day, for which over 40,000 assistants are expected, the eleventh edition of San Miguel Primavera Sound hopes to break a new record and to bring together more than 120,000 spectators at the Parc del Fòrum. On Thursday 26th of May nearly 39,500 people gathered for the musical event, while on Friday 27th the attendance rose up to 43,800.
'Caribou's electronic magic, the classic pop of the Liverpool group Echo & The Bunnymen, the indie pop of Comet Gain and the Japanese roadroller Nisennenmondai were part of the menu of the official opening day on Wednesday 25th of May at the Poble Espanyol, original site of the festival at the beginning, which saw a massive flow of people and hung the "sold out" sign with 5,300 attendees. Tomorrow Sunday, a similar figure is expected for the closing ceremony, which will feature performances by Mercury Rev, BMXBandits, My Teenage Stride and Me and the Bees.
'San Miguel Primavera Sound 2011 has offered a lineup formed by 221 bands and leaves for keepsake spectacular concerts of pop and rock-stars like The National, the band led by Nick Cave Grinderman, the Scots Belle & Sebastian or the colourful show of the veterans The Flaming Lips, and awaiting the performances of other heavyweight bands like the British PJ Harvey or the experimental pop magicians Animal Collective.
'But surely the key event this weekend has been the comeback of the band Pulp, which struck on Friday with a concert full of hits such as "Babies", "Disco 2000" and "Common People", a song that its leader Jarvis Cocker dedicated to the participants of the camp in Plaza Catalunya evicted that morning, and joining himself to the protest by declaring himself "indignado" (outraged).
'The classics also shone brightly. Cult groups like The Monochrome Set and Pere Ubu, the post-punk of P.I.L. or John Cale's performance together with the instrumental group BCN216, playing the entire album "1916" in the Auditori Rockdelux, have shown that seniority is only a degree.
'As usual, the festival has been a platform for emerging bands. Friday's concerts brought us two of the most awaited artists, James Blake and Twin Shadow, and both have proven that they are here to stay. Sonny & The Sunsets, Big Boi, Of Montreal or Spanish bands Lüger and Toundra have been other highlights on the musical days.
'Primavera a la Ciutat is starting to be more than a musical appetizer. The great number of performances scheduled in various locations and in unusual formats that have flooded the centre of Barcelona with great music for more than two weeks and has brought together over 5.000 people. The bulk of the programming has been focused on new proposals born in the city, such as Violet Lades, Desmond, Vistalegre and many more, but has also had guests like Darren Hayman and Eli Paperboy Reed.
'On the other hand, the music industry encounter PrimaveraPro has brought together more than 1,000 professionals from 36 countries (besides the 1,200 journalists accredited for the festival) attracted by a equally sustained approach in a selection of showcases that aspires to project internationally new bands and in a program of conferences and meetings designed to promote convergence in the current map of independent music.' -- Primavera Sound
Primavera Sound Festival Blog
'The 2011 San Miguel Primavera Sound Festival took place during an exciting time in Barcelona. Anti-government protests have swelled throughout Spain in the past weeks surrounding recent elections, as young people voiced their frustration with budget cuts and rampant unemployment. In Barcelona's Plaça de Catalunya on Friday, a clash with police sent 99 people to the hospital, as The Guardian reported. Political graffiti and signs were everywhere throughout the festival, including an enormous banner held up in the crowd during Pulp's headlining set that read SPANISH REVOLUTION: SING ALONG WITH THE COMMON PEOPLE. (Jarvis Cocker acknowledged his support for the movement and dedicated "Common People" to the protesters.)' -- Pitchfork
You can read Pitchfork's review of the festival here
We wanted to include videos of some of the gigs although their recording quality may not be the best. Sorry about the shaky image and crappy audio.
Blank Dogs
Glenn Branca Ensemble
Pulp
Animal Collective
Deerhunter
PJ Harvey
Sufjan Stevens
The Flaming Lips
Grinderman
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p.s. Hey. Today the d.l. power duo Pisycaca give us comps to the recent edition of the lordly annual, Barcelona-based music festival Primavera Sound, and please enjoy the lustrous traces of what you missed today. Thank you so much, my Spanish buddies! Dodie Bellamy's great entry/answers in Christopher Higgs' experimental writers series at HTMLGIANT is now up and yours for the clicking. If you're in London, please come to the opening of The Weaklings show at Five Years tonight, 6 pm to 9 pm with live performances by d.l.s Oscar B and Esther Planas. I guarantee you pleasure. I have to move really fast through the p.s. today as we have lots left to do vis-a-vis the show and not many hours left in which to do it. Apologies. ** 'Stoopid Slapped Puppies', Hey, Nick! I did spot that Childhood Museum when I exited the tube station, and it put a sparkle in my eye. Maybe I can check it in the morning before head back to Paris. We'll see. Interesting about the editing, hunh. I'll ask you more about that once I get past my p.s. mad dash phase next week. Kier's not here in the flesh, unfortunately, but I'll give his drawings a hard poke for you. Tons of love to you, man. ** Marc Vallée , Hey, Marc! Awesome, it'll be great to see you! I'm really glad you'll be able to make it! 'Til later! ** Paul Curran, I'll see you later too! ** Joel Sagiv, Hey. You really get around, that's cool. You should let me know the next you're in Paris. Recent listening? Hm. I have the pedal to the metal of my thinking process this morning, so I'm kind of blanking, but ... Iceage (Danish teen experimental hardcore), the new Liturgy, Tyler the Creator's 'Goblin', ... Other stuff I can't remember. I do like Women, yeah. I don't think I know Brave Irene. I'll check it out. ** MANCY, Hey. Your work is up, and the show looks killer if I don't say so myself. I'll be snapping away. ** Pilgarlic, The heat of the Paul is Dead fad was good times! I don't follow Jim Goad enough to be pro or anti. I just hated that article by him. I don't know who Jared Taylor is, and I suspect that's for the best, ha ha. ** Jeff, Hey. Oh, okay, but you don't seem insane, but ... ** JoeM, Howdy, Joe! Never would have I imagined the real Benny Hill's story. Watching his stuff at my tenderish age in the USA, everything about him got filtered out except the trippy/camp aspect. ** Sypha, Hm, I don't see it, but, wait, you mean the young G-PO? Yeah, I can kind of see that, hm. ** David Ehrenstein, Hope the Mary Woronov event was huge fun, and I'm totally sure it was. Still, how was it for you? ** A.r., Your work is stunning, and I hope you like how it looks in the show. Loads of pix on Monday, I'm pretty sure. Thank you, dear Alex ** Puella aeterna, Hey Awesome to see you! Yes, of course I remember the interview. I saw the link to it on FB, and this has been such an insane week that I haven't even had the honor of reading it yet. I'm saving that for the peace and quiet of Sunday. Let me hook everyone up. Everyone, d.l. Puella aeterna interviewed me a while back, and the interview is now online, an you can read if it if you would like to. It's here. Also, there are some other treats for you courtesy of her. Here's the legendary Jeremy Reed' s band Ginger Light performing his poem 'Hart Crane', and here's some music made by some pals of hers under the moniker 'Two of the Beatles have died'. Enjoy it all! Thanks a lot! See you tonight! ** Bollo, Tick tick tick ... We should be at the gallery from shortly after now to opening time, I think, so, yeah, come by whenev', man! ** ASH, Hi, ASH! Really nice to see you! I split back for Paris tomorrow morning, so, unfortunately, it's a quickie for me. The show will be up for three week, if you want to see it. GbV in Norway? Yikes! They had just better slide down while to Paris while they're over here or ... else! Take care! ** Steevee, I was quite surprised to find the Paul is Dead thing is still active too. I hope your allergies ease up. I haven't heard the new Fucked Up yet, but I really like them, so I'll be grabbing it. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben! Yeah, I know Christian fairly well, but, like I said, I hadn't seen him years. Fantastic about the clock watch thing. That piece is coming to Paris in September, so I'll get to test my stamina then. ** Schoolboyerrors, Hey! London is treating me good. Well, the gallery is since that's mostly what I've seen. Great, I can't wait to read the interview! Probably not until Sunday, but excitedly then. Everyone, mighty d.l. Schoolboyerrors ... well, I'll let him tell you: 'My interview with the philosopher Graham Harman was published in Mute magazine. I've called him "a prolific, iconoclastic thinker of objects whose work proffers an alluring antidote to the linguistic turn and the recent anarcho-deleuzian contagion" - I didn't mention that he also loves cats, is militantly vegetarian and that he's a very sweet guy... You can find it here.' Not even having had the time to read that interview yet, I absolutely guarantee you that you need to. Click! See you later! Can't wait! ** Brendan, Hey, B! Thanks, yeah, the Paul is Dead thing is the gift that keeps on giving and all that. Paul was my favorite Beatle when I was a kid, so maybe it means you're getting wider eyed? I still haven't seen the new Woody Allen, but everyone I know loves it. Wish you were here! ** Bill, Hey. Everything's going great. Your piece works like clockwork and is amazing. The show is going to rule, I think. Enjoy the rest of Berlin, and don't be unnecessarily alarmed if your ears burn tonight. ** Mikel Motorcycle, Hey! Well, your film sounds awesome, obviously, and, speaking as a veteran of the community wars, enjoy, ha ha. Everyone, is anyone out there looking to give a job to a Python et al web developer? If so, I highly recommend Mikel Motorcycle for the job. Email him your job offer or make it here. You sounds great/busy. Very cool. Love back to you too. Yeah, if I can be where you are sometime ere long, I'd love to meet up! ** Ken Baumann, Ken! Thank you a ton! ** Postitbreakup, Thanks, Josh. I'll do my best. Excellent about the posting of your story. I'll have to wait until Sunday to read it, but I really look forward to it. Everyone, writer and d.l. Postitbreakup wrote a story a while back, and by some dastardly coincidence, South Park recently aired an episode whose storyline bears some resemblance to his, and now he has posted the story so we can read it, and I'll bet you good money it kicks even South Park's considerable ass. Check it out. It's here. ** Statictick, Thanks about the post, man. Humor over stress, definitely. It's surely not impossible that those guys saw your post. I mean, why wouldn't they unless they're anti-cyber or something? Love to you. ** Alan, Oh, you're still plenty graceful, sir. ** Slatted Light, Hi, D! Yes, yes, I read the email, and I'm staggeringly blown away! This has been a week of insane constant work and out and aboutness, but I'm going to write to you when I get back to Paris and things settle down a little. But for, now, yes, you're on the track, yes! I can't remember if I've read that Lemontov or not. Since I can't remember, maybe not? I'll pick it up for sure, maybe even while I'm here if I walk past a bookstore. Thanks so much, pal! Wish you could be here for the shebang tonight, and more soon! ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Hey. Yeah, it's about her dog. You have to be in the right mood, but it's pretty ridiculous in an entertaining way. A ribbon cable, ha ha, wow. That's an interesting choice. My brain is too high speed today to think what inanimate object I would choose to be. Hm. Nice, fraught encounter there with your guy. Or you made it so. Yeah, nice and intense. Sorry to be so fast. Speaking of, my day in a tiny nutshell: Well, really, I was at the gallery all day getting the show arranged. We've gotten the light thing as figured out as best we can. Anyway, it was a lot of figuring out where the works should go and how they would make each other look best and all that. Kiddiepunk, Oscar, Wolf, Esther Planas, and of course Tender Prey were there for most or all of it, helping out. There's still quite a bit to do today, hence my hurrying, but I think it has turned really great. I'm very happy. I hope my camera cooperates so I can show you both the show itself and the opening and everything on Monday. So, I did that non-stop from noonish until lateish into the night apart from stepping out to get some food and coffee at one point. Then I walked back to near where I'm staying with Wolf and Tender Prey, and we had another Vietnamese dinner, and then I came back here and crashed pretty immediately. Very sorry for the rushed report, Hopefully, I'll have a bit more time to talk tomorrow before I catch my train back to Paris. How was Friday? ** Pisycaca, Hey! Oh, thank you so, so, so much for today! It's wonderful! I so wish you guys could stroll into the opening tonight! I'll be thinking of you! Tons of love to you! ** With that, I leave you guys to hang out at Primavera thanks to Pisycaca. Enjoy yourselves. I'll go get the art show up and running. Really wish all of you could be there tonight. Take care. See you tomorrow.
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