Primavera Sound 2022

[Rhak]

1 hour ago, Zoo Music Girl said:

Such a shit take 

 

1 hour ago, Bram said:

I think that we just forgot how music festivals used to be,” she says. “We’ve had two years of being at home, where you could go to your fridge and get a beer and your toilet is your own and you don’t have anyone around you. 🤡🤡

 

This was always my point: Primavera was already bad at this in comparison to many others even in the past when they didn't sell 20% extra tickets or whatever... The sheer lack of professionalism with regards to the bars is incredible

[Rhak]

Also, yet again, this festival succeeds in communicating in a way that infuriates people. They could've just kept their mouth shut about those queues and it would've been an ok interview. That one comment about other festivals having troubles as well, let's say I didn't hear anything from BKS of that sort (did with regards to Porto though) and weren't there festivals going on in UK last summer already? But I could've let that one slide because there will be challenges (prices, covid, understaffing) for sure. The bar thing, really, I'm offended. 

[Zoo Music Girl]

16 minutes ago, Rhak said:

Also, yet again, this festival succeeds in communicating in a way that infuriates people. They could've just kept their mouth shut about those queues and it would've been an ok interview. That one comment about other festivals having troubles as well, let's say I didn't hear anything from BKS of that sort (did with regards to Porto though) and weren't there festivals going on in UK last summer already? But I could've let that one slide because there will be challenges (prices, covid, understaffing) for sure. The bar thing, really, I'm offended. 

Yeah, that article succeeded in making me pissed off all over again when actually I'd got over most of those annoyances! ha.

[xxialac]

“I think that we just forgot how music festivals used to be,” she says. “We’ve had two years of being at home, where you could go to your fridge and get a beer and your toilet is your own and you don’t have anyone around you.

I understand the frustration of people saying I’ve been looking forward to this for three years and I lost one hour of my life for a beer but it’s about overcoming that and I think that in the end, everyone was so happy."

If this is the only contentious bit, I don't have a problem with it. 

If you take away Day 1 which certainly was a (covid-related) disaster, the bars on Days 2-6 were marginally better if anything than the average festival I've been to. They weren't as good as previous years but they were still good enough.  

[Chilly Toad]

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...

[Zoo Music Girl]

Just got sent a survey for my opinions about the ciutat gigs that I couldn't get into – looking forward to filling it out!

[Rhak]

4 minutes ago, Zoo Music Girl said:

Just got sent a survey for my opinions about the ciutat gigs that I couldn't get into – looking forward to filling it out!

But there is no option that entails a raffle which would be my solution: pre registration, raffle and people know well in advance whether they'll get in. You can have a 'i won't go after all' system in place that notifies a certain amount of people that were told they're on a waiting list. It's really not that hard. 

The whole comment about brunch on the beach: we tried doing it differently but... wtf, if ever there was a last minute worst timing decision, it was that one. 

[Rhak]

1 hour ago, xxialac said:

“I think that we just forgot how music festivals used to be,” she says. “We’ve had two years of being at home, where you could go to your fridge and get a beer and your toilet is your own and you don’t have anyone around you.

I understand the frustration of people saying I’ve been looking forward to this for three years and I lost one hour of my life for a beer but it’s about overcoming that and I think that in the end, everyone was so happy."

If this is the only contentious bit, I don't have a problem with it. 

If you take away Day 1 which certainly was a (covid-related) disaster, the bars on Days 2-6 were marginally better if anything than the average festival I've been to. They weren't as good as previous years but they were still good enough.  

I don't agree, i always felt bars were pretty slow at primavera. The whole order/pour/pay of 13 different possibilities of drinks is a piss poor way of handling the process. 

[Zoo Music Girl]

3 minutes ago, Rhak said:

But there is no option that entails a raffle which would be my solution: pre registration, raffle and people know well in advance whether they'll get in. You can have a 'i won't go after all' system in place that notifies a certain amount of people that were told they're on a waiting list. It's really not that hard. 

The whole comment about brunch on the beach: we tried doing it differently but... wtf, if ever there was a last minute worst timing decision, it was that one. 

I fully agree.

[Rhak]

On 6/14/2022 at 11:50 AM, BenG92 said:

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. 

I tested positive again last night but gave both infoline & house doctor a call: selftests can manifest your primary infection for over a month so I doesn't say much about whether you're still sick or contagious. Doctor said: if you've self isolated for 7days and are feeling better, feel free to do whatever. Feeling not as good as yesterday today (been working remote since Monday and supposed to head to the office, tomorrow, might ask to do the meetings online, just to be safe)

[ConfidenceMan]

1 hour ago, Chilly Toad said:

 

"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....

Just on this - why is this hard to believe? Planning and licences are always granted within 2-3 months of an event taking place, in almost any country I've been to. Presumably PS had been in talks with Sant Adria and didn't get what they hoped to get. 

What different solution would you suggest? They came up with one - they put more big acts on the main stages - albeit one that had negative impacts on crowd size. But what was the alternative? A boat?! 

The complaints about bars, queues, crowd sizes are all legit, even if I think the bars were largely sorted after night 1 (I didn't queue at all after that) but the crowd complaints are funny.

The sentiment from a few people on this forum seems to be "everyone went to the same gig as me and that made the crowd big but don't put things on at the same time so I have to choose"... Its no different to sitting in traffic and complaining about traffic!

[BenG92]

14 minutes ago, Rhak said:

I tested positive again last night but gave both infoline & house doctor a call: selftests can manifest your primary infection for over a month so I doesn't say much about whether you're still sick or contagious. Doctor said: if you've self isolated for 7days and are feeling better, feel free to do whatever. Feeling not as good as yesterday today (been working remote since Monday and supposed to head to the office, tomorrow, might ask to do the meetings online, just to be safe)

We're both negative on LFTs now, I'm in the office today. Feel absolutely fine with a lingering cough, my mum said she had the same for 2 weeks after a negative test. 

Hopefully got some nice antibodies now for Elton John and Rock Werchter.

[pipan]

3 hours ago, cortomaltese said:

I couldnt believe my eyes, when rayban (cupra) was almost full during early afternoon shows (faye webster) - used to be half empty at previous editions at that time.

This was disturbing for me too, but it was like this actually only on the first day - I reckon many people probably came earlier than usual, because noone knew, how long would it take to get inside with this new access ticket thing. It was much quicker than anyone expected, so the venue got fullish right after opening. Following days were much better, I remember passing by almost empty Cupra during Future Utopia's or Angel Bat Dawid's sets.

[Bram]

31 minutes ago, pipan said:

This was disturbing for me too, but it was like this actually only on the first day - I reckon many people probably came earlier than usual, because noone knew, how long would it take to get inside with this new access ticket thing. It was much quicker than anyone expected, so the venue got fullish right after opening. Following days were much better, I remember passing by almost empty Cupra during Future Utopia's or Angel Bat Dawid's sets.

Yup depends on the performer (eventho unpredictable) 

Overcrowded: Tame Impala, Charli XCX, Disclosure, Dinosaur JR, Gorillaz, Sharon Van Etten

A lot of crowd but not cramped; Beck, Nick Cave, Caribou, Tyler, Pavement

Pretty chill crowd can move around easily: National, DJ Shadow, Mogwai, Jorja Smith, Einsturzende Neubauten

[theesundayroast]

4 hours ago, Bram said:

Weren’t BITS also overcrowded during Grimes and Black Coffee (W2 Day 2)? Where they closed the access to the site. While, at the same time they also close the access to The Strokes at Mordor due to the overcapacity.

I made the trek to BITS once over the two weekends for Mall Grab and it was almost empty over there. On our way back to the main arena though they were stopping people making the walk as it was 'too busy' (We spoke to some other British people who asked us if it actually was packed over there). Very strange set up all in all for movement between the two, had it been a shorter journey I think I certainly would've gone there a fair few more times.

[Chilly Toad]

54 minutes ago, ConfidenceMan said:

Just on this - why is this hard to believe? Planning and licences are always granted within 2-3 months of an event taking place, in almost any country I've been to. Presumably PS had been in talks with Sant Adria and didn't get what they hoped to get. 

What different solution would you suggest? They came up with one - they put more big acts on the main stages - albeit one that had negative impacts on crowd size. But what was the alternative? A boat?! 

The complaints about bars, queues, crowd sizes are all legit, even if I think the bars were largely sorted after night 1 (I didn't queue at all after that) but the crowd complaints are funny.

The sentiment from a few people on this forum seems to be "everyone went to the same gig as me and that made the crowd big but don't put things on at the same time so I have to choose"... Its no different to sitting in traffic and complaining about traffic!

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.

[fools_gold]

what's the capacity of porto compared to barcelona? if porto happens again next year i may just stick to that one.

[livenstu]

I couldn't believe my eyes when I turned around halfway through Faye Webster's set to see the Ray-Ban steps completely full, then looking to my left & seeing the bar queues.  Dinosaur Jr & Yo La Tengo must have nearly fallen over when they walked out onstage - blimey, we got popular over the pandemic!!

People were definitely getting on site early on the Thursday, and then attendance grew over Friday & Sat but people eased off arriving as early (like most years after staying up to crazy o'clock the day before) & bigger acts on the main stages meant it took the heat off the middle area. 

I thought Weekend 2 was a breeze & spent far more time over in Mordor.

[puckno]

Some interesting coverage:

https://www.catalannews.com/highlights/item/primavera-sound-fans-no-water-massive-lines-money-grab-and-dangerous?category_id=32

Regarding the comments on "... had to jump over the fence to the VIP area... " I noticed this crush myself, lots of people jumping over that fence. It was a problem with push from crowds after the show, to get out. They got squeezed against the vip fence. Better jump, and no security/guards there anyway.

I am old enough to have been at Roskilde 2000. Nine people were squeezed to death at the front of main stage at Pearl Jam. This accident triggered changes in security and crowd control for many festivals across Europe. From what I see I am not conviced the new mordor stage design is good enough from a security perspective, with regards to e.g. separate pits with crowd control and corridors to lift people out. I am no expert though! But I am not convinced.

Edited June 15, 2022 by puckno

[Johndenis]

It must have been the biggest crowd yo la tengo had ever played to. I used the word "nightmarish" in an earlier post and I don't mean to be dramatic. Just that it seemed like a weird dream. It was so big, it indicated what we were in for. The bottleneck / crush following Sharon van etten had been bad enough. I was pretty near the front for Radiohead in 2016 without much drama. Beck was the only pre 10pm mordor act I saw, but I would estimate even his crowd was easily bigger than Radioheads one. 

[puckno]

7 hours ago, scuzzboy said:

Some terrible takes in this interview. 

https://www.iq-mag.net/2022/06/primavera-sound-post-pandemic-comeback

The attitiude from Primavera in interviews like these are horrible. Why don't they rather communicate in the lines of "There was too many problems for our festival goers, and we are really sorry for that. There are a lot of learning points from this, areas in which we have to improve for the next festival in order to uphold our brand as one of the best festivals. We will turn any stone in order to see what we can do better. Our sincere apologies to all those who suffered in one way or another.  We should do better. We will do better."  

[pipan]

1 hour ago, Bram said:

Yup depends on the performer (eventho unpredictable) 

Overcrowded: Tame Impala, Charli XCX, Disclosure, Dinosaur JR, Gorillaz, Sharon Van Etten

A lot of crowd but not cramped; Beck, Nick Cave, Caribou, Tyler, Pavement

Pretty chill crowd can move around easily: National, DJ Shadow, Mogwai, Jorja Smith, Einsturzende Neubauten

I was talking specifically about early Cupra sets (one of Primavera trademarks for me, that seemed to be lost forever after that infamous first day - but fortunately, it was just one-off "incident"). 

[Rhak]

2 hours ago, Johndenis said:

It must have been the biggest crowd yo la tengo had ever played to. I used the word "nightmarish" in an earlier post and I don't mean to be dramatic. Just that it seemed like a weird dream. It was so big, it indicated what we were in for. The bottleneck / crush following Sharon van etten had been bad enough. I was pretty near the front for Radiohead in 2016 without much drama. Beck was the only pre 10pm mordor act I saw, but I would estimate even his crowd was easily bigger than Radioheads one. 

That seems like a really bold claim for beck vs Radiohead. 

[xxialac]

5 minutes ago, Rhak said:

That seems like a really bold claim for beck vs Radiohead. 

The OP is right. Or at least I believe there were more people at Beck than Radiohead in the main pen i.e. if you don't include the people on the sides in the bleachers.

This year Mordor felt dramatically busier than previous years, ditto Cupra and Binance.

And they knew it would be this way which is why they removed the bleachers and one stage. 

[Fnmentaluk]

My take on Mordor being busy is just the fact that the stages were side by side . So anyone wanting a good spot for an act arrived for the act before , so Instead of the stage opposite they were in the same place .