Chilly Toad

Drake seems to take a break of one year or longer...

Saw Sigur Ros yesterday. Great Show. New album coming. Guess chances are slim at best, unfortunately.

Swans have a new album ready

I don´t realistically see them selling fewer tickets. Their expansion is quite the adventure and who´s to say that they are going to make money overall there? So going back to make more money where they always made it seems more probable. However, I do see a problem even here with this venue they picked in Madrid (or not IN Madrid actually, it seems). I was never one to complain about transportation to the city at night but this area looks a loooong way out, no tram, no subway, no regular bus line - do they really expect people to rely on the organisational chaos that Primavera is whenever they try something new? I wouldn´t be surprised if a lot of people that bought early bird tickets don´t because they have serious doubts here. Or has anyone heard how transportation to this venue may work?

What I´d like to see next year: - fewer tickets sold (and not just some, a lot), this is key - improved PR - give people an idea how this Madrid thing is supposed to work and what exactly the program in each of the cities is going to be (at least on which days there will be programming) so you can plan accordingly If they do this well, the following points would be optional, but greatly appreciated: - ruthless clashing so people spread better over the area (inconsequential clashing means too many people in one place) - move the Boiler room into the BITS area so no more sound bleeding and more people in BITS - the old setup (warm up from Monday to Wednesday, then the three main days, wrecking party at Apolo on Sunday) - a fair ticketing system for Apolo - opposing main stages and an extended VIP area on the side of these as before - can do without VIP area in front of main stages - move the Primavera stage a little in the exit direction and turn it a little to the VIP area so more space to the left and right plus better view and sound from the VIP (instead of the front places in Mordor) - bring back Day Pro, especially the Aussie BBQ - bring back the Firestone Stage or that trailer stage thing instead of wasting space for the radio station or Binance crap and have artists play short, "spontaneous" shows pop-up style like Shellac did once - rename RayBan to RayBan and Adidas to Adidas

For the first part, the job is to spread out the attendance somewhat evenly in order not to have any dangerous situations due to overcrowding. If a main part of the plan is a licence for 30.000 people in on half of the area (and that´s what she says), then you better have the licence (three years to convince Sant Adrià, and then it comes down to two months?) or a plan B to reach the same goal. A Plan B with "negative impacts on crowd size" as you put is is not good. And if you don´t have the time to come up with a Plan B in two months, your timing is off. Also, in the last editions the BITS area was quite busy, so it did work out. So quite obviously, the problem was the oversell, the additional people that came and didn´t go to BITS as planned. For the second part: I saw what I wanted to see from where I wanted to see (as in the past) so I am not complaining about the big crowds. However, I found the lack of security, wavebreakers and crowd control in general dangerous and not up to the standards a festival of the size and reputation of PS should set. Of course, all went well until now. But that´s not the way an organisation should think.

The Primavera PR people have always had this "be grateful, don´t complain, are you not entertained?" attitude towards its customers so this is not really a surprise. Three things I would take away from this interview: "One issue that many other festivals are sure to face is the cost of labour and materials, which Pallarès says are “crazy high” this year. As Primavera was sold out last year, the organisers were not able to boost ticket prices in line with inflation, nor did the event receive any kind of financial help from the town hall in Barcelona." - probably means a considerable increase in ticket prices. "We were going to have a very big stage in the beach area that would help spread people throughout the venue but two months before the festival, Sant Adrià town hall said that they wouldn’t give us a licence for 30,000 people and they reduced it to just 15,000. Then we weren’t able to put the big stage with the big acts in that area, so people really didn’t go to that area of the festival much." - really, you want people to believe that an issue like that has not been confirmed by you until two months before the start of the festival? And then you couldn´t find a different solution? Hard to believe that. "Covid also struck down a large chunk of Primavera’s hospitality team which, in turn, caused a whole host of issues during weekend one, predominantly large queues for bars." AND "That meant that the beach was empty and you could get a beer just like that while the main site was completely full. So we moved waiters from that area to the main area, we hired more people, and we restructured a little bit." So they had a Corona problem in the staff right at the start. And didn´t / were not able to react quickly enough. Why not just say so instead of telling their customers not to complain. What she says about the booking philosophy is right. Now if they just applied the same diligence to their overall attitude towards their valued customers...

Haven´t they practically confirmed NIN already?

True

But couldn´t you have had a very good place at Fontaines DC, a decent place at Beck and a pretty good place for The National before, too? Okay, that would have required some walking and maybe leaving strategically early and missing a little bit at the end if you really wanted a good place at a specific stage. Also, I thought that they did show the opposite show on the screens in the last edition, but I might be wrong. They could have without a problem, anyhow. I actually found the stage working going on at the neighbouring stage rather irritating.

Why?

Said "thank you, Primavera" before, let me state that this is for the music mainly. In that regard, the first weekend was great for me. As a positive, they also managed to work out some problems after that Thursday. Being home with Corona now (who of the first-weekenders isn´t, by the way?), I would also mention some negatives. VIP tickets were a scam in my opinion. I understand everyone who says they shouldn´t exist at all, but if they do offer them, there should be some significant advantage for the significantly higher price. What did VIP-holders get? No more access to the front of the stage. An area called "front of the house" or something where, while watching the shows and enjoying the admittedly good sound, you mingle with the people waiting in line at the (too few) toilets. Another, huge, area with a view of a big screen, but not of a stage (and with very suspect toilets). Way too few seats, tables etc. there to be really comfortable. Why didn´t they keep this stand at the sideline as before, it was always a perfect place to relax and still see the main stages from not so close. The other VIP area with mediocre view and worse sound than the years before (when it wasn´t good to begin with). Access to Sala Apolo on Sunday was easy with the VIP wristband, however. The perks for holding on to your tickets = giving Primavera considerable credit and financial wiggle room for years? The ugliest Pull&Bear merch shirt imaginable, the privilege of looking at a "book" on your computer screen and money to spend that I simply wasn´t able to spend wherever I tried - and I did try at the right places until I gave up. Really a joke. I didn´t understand the need for the new stage setting at Mordor, and didn´t like it. I also didn´t understand this Boiler Room thing being so close to Plenitude. Whenever the music on Plenitude wasn´t full throttle, you heard the Boiler Room. Why not have this stage in the BITS area, where the music would fit way better anyway? Most probably massively oversold; incredibly, almost amateurishly unable to properly organize the amount of people they had to expect coming (not so difficult, one per ticket was quite probable, right?). Ridiculous security situation at the main stages and on the Binance stage. No wave breakers, too few and disinterested security personnel, some simply watching the bands and every five minutes looking to their left and right. The water. The bars. The hygiene. Just saying - do this in the US and risk getting sued in ways they cannot imagine in their catalonian feel-good-bubble. Do they realize this at all? I do think a lot of what they got away with all these years and what honestly made the festival so loveable was a result of the local government being very lenient, including tax breaks. Still, the music was superb as always. If they do a good job of working out the problems, mainly the oversell and safety, AND communicate this early, clearly and transparently, I´d be back (pending the Corona situation, of course). Communications being what they are with Primavera, that will be quite a task for them.

Iceage/Gizzard/Savy Fav, incredible. Was really afraid the Savy Fav singer would stagedive from the balcony (I'm sure he gave it a thought) or come crashing down with that lighting rig he gave a long look. Only Ty Segall came close in terms of intensity in the Apolo. Thursday problems long forgiven, Primavera.

Big improvement yesterday. Crowds still too big for my taste and had someone vomit next to us all over the stairs in the Auditori during Low. Great music, way better organisation, went a long way towards re-building trust.

Right, but shouldn't organizers organize? Like, before?