be the best festival in the world:
1. It’s in Barcelona. This is great because it’s a smouldering
dust pit of culture, food, and people you really want to touch.
2. The music is great. An education in everything from 60s punk
to the most modern tech-step. Like ATP but with better dancey stuff.
3. The timing. It goes from 6pm to 6am so you don’t see too much
of the day. This is a problem if you’ve booked into a hostel and
have to share a dormitory with people who decide to get up in the
day. Not a problem if you book your own apartment with a roof top
terrace to chill on.
Top Tip: These two options cost about the same if you shop around.
4. The girls. Roughly 6 times per night you have to stop mid-conversation
because you’ve just seen the most beautiful woman in the world.
She appears to be everywhere at Primavera.
This year it was particularly awesome because… Nah, the first
day was kind of rubbish (the first rubbishish day I’ve experienced
in four years of Primavera attendance).
This reviewer missed Monotonix due to unforeseen circumstances.
Apparently the cheap apartments mentioned above are only cheap
if your landlord doesn’t catch the extra people staying there
and delay your departure for the first night. But apparently
Monotonix were ace. The rest of Thursday’s music wasn’t so great.
Obviously a lot of people like The XX but they should never
be allowed to play early enough in the evening when people still
have brain cells. Dull. As. Hell. Broken Social Spleen were
an unapologetic blend of smug senility that made me want to punch
things. Pavement were alright but the grass at the back was too
comfy so I fell asleep on it.
So that was the first day and it sucked a bit. Indie is like
Turkish food. It is a beautiful thing but if you indulge in
it all night it will send you into a heavy sleep.
But the next two days ruled hard. Grizzly Bear, Yeasayer, Joker, Major Lazer,
The Almighty Defenders, Pixies,The Slits, Panda Bear, all fantastic.
Even Pet Shop Boys and Mark Almond were pretty damn good.
And we missed a whole load of awesomeness in Sleigh Bells, Health,
Orbital, Fuck Buttons, The Fall for reasons varying from ‘forgot’
to ‘incapable’. Damn those Spaniards and their magic hospitality.
What else can you mention about a festival you love without boring?
Maybe the one encounter with a genuwine musician. The drummer
from Titus Andronicus (who were also ace, forgot about them)
looks like Droopy on a confusing mix of speed and dope.
When asked if he could help a tired brother out and fix
up some MD with his rad industry contacts, he responded
in the coolest East Coast stoner drawl. ‘Doooood, it’s not
what I go for. I mean, I don’t judge you, in fact I hope you
find as many drugs as you possibly can and do them all,
and have the greatest time, but unfortunately I can’t help
you out in this situation’. He was a sweetheart.
A character from somewhere between Dawson’s Creek
and a Harmony Korine movie. And he summed up the good times
vibe of Primavera patrons perfectly.
See below for evidence of aforementioned beautiful ladies, badman guys and Spanish hospitality.
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