Primavera Sound Barcelona 2023 + Primavera Sound Madrid 2023

[Enkidu]

31 minutes ago, Drums Please Fab said:

I’m 38 years old. I listen to a LOT of music and am a festival regular since age 16. 
 

I don’t know who most of these bands are. 
 

I have an early bird and will go for the laugh , moreso the piss up in Barcelona . 
 

Can easily just see myself going down to Parc del forum late each day to see Blur and Kendrick , Depeche Mode and spending the rest of my time in the city.

Not a patch on last years lineup imo.

...or why not go and try discovering something new? If you only ever listen to and see bands you already know then you would miss out on so much

[Enkidu]

17 hours ago, Nesser said:

There is Auditori in Bcn.

Source?

[pne094]

45 minutes ago, Drums Please Fab said:

Can easily just see myself going down to Parc del forum late each day to see Blur and Kendrick , Depeche Mode and spending the rest of my time in the city.

Not a patch on last years lineup imo.

Cant tell people how to do festivals, but as a more casual 37y old music listener, my favorite thing about Primavera Sound over the years has been to discover all the great, unkown (for me at least) artists that the festival have booked over the years. 

Rigberta Bandini was maybe my favorite act last year. She is probably well known in Spain, but neither me or anyone I know had heard about her before someone in here mentioned her. And I have a ton of other that have made the Primavera experience great.

[Boss89]

With such a stacked line up every year? How are you able to go see unknown bands? 😅

[fryz]

I've seen a few people warn against the Madrid weekend, any reason for this? On holidays in June and will be in Madrid the same time as the festival so would love to go as it has a few bucket list bands but worried about the fact it's quite far outside of the city centre and seeing the posts about going to Madrid over Barcelona. 

And can anyone confirm how does the shuttle service work, is it constant through the festival or just at the start at end?

Thanks heaps for any advice!

Edited November 30, 2022 by fryz

[Jumbulance]

9 minutes ago, fryz said:

I've seen a few people warn against the Madrid weekend, any reason for this? On holidays in June and will be in Madrid the same time as the festival so would love to go as it has a few bucket list bands but worried about the fact it's quite far outside of the city centre and seeing the posts about Madrid. 

And can anyone confirm how does the shuttle service work, is it constant through the festival or just at the start at end?

Thanks heaps for any advice!

Because of the organisational issues this year. If they can cause that many problems at a venue they've used for years then it doesn't bode particularly well for one many miles out of Madrid that they're using for the first time. Lack sufficient water provision was a big one, and its usually a lot hotter near Madrid than Barcelona.

Of course if they have any sense they'll sort these things out but I can see why people would worry.

[jannybruck]

23 minutes ago, fryz said:

I've seen a few people warn against the Madrid weekend, any reason for this? On holidays in June and will be in Madrid the same time as the festival so would love to go as it has a few bucket list bands but worried about the fact it's quite far outside of the city centre and seeing the posts about going to Madrid over Barcelona. 

And can anyone confirm how does the shuttle service work, is it constant through the festival or just at the start at end?

Thanks heaps for any advice!

Most of my friends who live in Madrid are even swerving it, which gives you a sense of the kind of hesitancy it's had amongst locals. Personally I'd avoid unless you're absolutely desperate to see someone on the bill or don't mind potential fuck ups in terms of getting to/from the site.

It's the first time the festival's happened there so deeper information about the shuttle won't be sorted out until nearer the time.

[Quadrophobia]

45 minutes ago, Boss89 said:

With such a stacked line up every year? How are you able to go see unknown bands? 😅

Thats subjective. From my POV, Friday is stacked, but Thursday and Saturday are amongst the weakest days I have ever seen at PS. A lot of Acts I don't care about or have seen already and with clashes and cancellations looming, both days could have long gaps, I'd like to fill with acts I don't know yet

[neacaisa]

i am almost sure the madrid fest will not sell out and i doubt for barcelona too. almost no incentive to do both weekends as it will not be too clash heavy and the line ups are almost identical. i wouldn't pull the trigger yet for the madrid edition. 

[UsernameHere]

A plus to the lineup being less stacked this year is it forces you to discover new acts. I'm definitely late to the party but have been listening to Turnstile last night and Today. Great albums! They're now almost a must-see for me on the opening day.

[xxialac]

I don't know how they do it, as they’ll have been booked long ago, but almost all of the metacritic top 30 current albums from bands that are touring in spring are playing.

[Enkidu]

I wonder how hard it'll be to get into the free concert on the Wednesday. I know they've done it before but Pet Shop Boys are much bigger than the likes of  Suede, Belle & Sebastian, Jesus & Mary Chain* etc

[emmanuel]

2 hours ago, Drums Please Fab said:

I’m 38 years old. I listen to a LOT of music and am a festival regular since age 16. 
I don’t know who most of these bands are.

The line-up is actually very heavy in older bands and artists. I'm a bit older and a bunch of these bands were active in the 90s, from Delgados to Karate and Pet Shop Boys or Depeche Mode. My main issue is that very few of the top names have indie credibility. While Blur is an older band, I don't think there is much cross-over with indie rock fans (remember that Mogwai t-shirt). I certainly don't care at all about them. Pet Shop Boys or Depeche Mode have a wide range of fans, including those who were teenagers in the 80s, but for some reason I never liked them. I don't know much about Kendrick since I'm not native English speaker. I think we all agree that some of the other top names are abysmal, so that doesn't leave much. The 2019 lineup was a bit like that, but at least it was to promote young female artists and not, as it seems this year, a fairly random top line-up.

[JedTheHumanoid]

42 minutes ago, xxialac said:

I don't know how they do it, as they’ll have been booked long ago, but almost all of the metacritic top 30 current albums from bands that are touring in spring are playing.

Yeah, I can understand people complaining about the headliners, they are a bit less than usual (although we got the bigest rapper in the world today plus one of the big two 90s reunions), cant really understand complaints about the undercard, stack as ever

[Enkidu]

49 minutes ago, xxialac said:

I don't know how they do it, as they’ll have been booked long ago, but almost all of the metacritic top 30 current albums from bands that are touring in spring are playing.

8/30 albums isn't that much though is it really

[xxialac]

Just now, Enkidu said:

8/30 albums isn't that much though is it really

You realise there are acts like The Beatles on that list? Not sure of they’ve failed there for not booking them (although they’d have been a decent name for the auditori)

[Enkidu]

7 minutes ago, xxialac said:

You realise there are acts like The Beatles on that list? Not sure of they’ve failed there for not booking them (although they’d have been a decent name for the auditori)

Oh I thought you meant current as in, the albums released in the last 90 days list

[TheFullShaboo]

36 minutes ago, Enkidu said:

I wonder how hard it'll be to get into the free concert on the Wednesday. I know they've done it before but Pet Shop Boys are much bigger than the likes of  Suede, Belle & Sebastian, Jesus & Mary Chain* etc

So even though that Wednesday gig is on the main poster for the full festival and not just the midweek gigs, there’s actually no guarantee that ticket holders will be able to get in and see it?

[Quadrophobia]

5 minutes ago, TheFullShaboo said:

So even though that Wednesday gig is on the main poster for the full festival and not just the midweek gigs, there’s actually no guarantee that ticket holders will be able to get in and see it?

Wednesdays have always been a sort of "gift" to the city. However with an arena-size act like PSB i reckon it would easily reach capacity if its still on the Primavera stage. But maybe the Wednesday will get moved to the main stages. 

[TheFullShaboo]

1 minute ago, Quadrophobia said:

Wednesdays have always been a sort of "gift" to the city. However with an arena-size act like PSB i reckon it would easily reach capacity if it’s still on the Primavera stage. But maybe the Wednesday will get moved to the main stages. 

I just assumed with it being on the main poster this would be a given for those with tickets! Seems slightly misleading for those who haven’t been before. 

So do these gigs usually reach capacity in the forum? I’d have thought that PSB would be on the main stage due to their size and the fact there’ll be no competition around the site… 

[xxialac]

4 minutes ago, Enkidu said:

Oh I thought you meant current as in, the albums released in the last 90 days list

I misremembered and meant David Bowie (but same applies...) that had a remaster out recently   ; )

[yaniv297]

1 hour ago, emmanuel said:

The line-up is actually very heavy in older bands and artists. I'm a bit older and a bunch of these bands were active in the 90s, from Delgados to Karate and Pet Shop Boys or Depeche Mode. My main issue is that very few of the top names have indie credibility. While Blur is an older band, I don't think there is much cross-over with indie rock fans (remember that Mogwai t-shirt). I certainly don't care at all about them. Pet Shop Boys or Depeche Mode have a wide range of fans, including those who were teenagers in the 80s, but for some reason I never liked them. I don't know much about Kendrick since I'm not native English speaker. 

Don't know what you're talking about. Blur, Depeche Mode, Kendrick and PSB are all definitely names with "indie credibility", whatever that is. They're all widely popular within the indie crowd, Blur played PS before and it was absolutely phenomenal. DM is a legendary booking. They definitely aren't the problem.

[Enkidu]

28 minutes ago, TheFullShaboo said:

So even though that Wednesday gig is on the main poster for the full festival and not just the midweek gigs, there’s actually no guarantee that ticket holders will be able to get in and see it?

Unfortunately I think that is right.

"The welcome days will be free and open to the general public until full capacity isreached: it will not be necessary to present a full festival ticket or a Primavera Sound 2023 day-ticket to enjoy the concerts, but they will operate with a pre-booking system, details of which will be announced soon."

 

I'm hoping there'll be some kind of priority booking for ticket holders at least.

[yaniv297]

2 hours ago, Jumbulance said:

Because of the organisational issues this year. If they can cause that many problems at a venue they've used for years then it doesn't bode particularly well for one many miles out of Madrid that they're using for the first time. Lack sufficient water provision was a big one, and its usually a lot hotter near Madrid than Barcelona.

Of course if they have any sense they'll sort these things out but I can see why people would worry.

I have to say, the organisational issues of last year really changed my view of the festival. I just don't really feel like attending it anymore, not as much. A truly spectacular lineup might have changed it, but this isn't it.

At some points during last year's Thursday I literally feared collapsing and couldn't get water anywhere. I found myself just asking random strangers for water. That's definitely unacceptable, borderline traumatic experience, that leaves me with very little desire to attend Primavera again.

As for the lineup, since headliners are mostly kinda weak I could probably have a nice time just exploring the undercred and hanging out around the Rayban/Prima/Pitchfork stages all day, with the occasional detour for Blur/DM. But even the smaller stages were so crowded last week (remember the crowd crush after Sharon Van Etten?), it just sounds too much of a gamble.

Definitely passing this year.

Edited November 30, 2022 by yaniv297

[Enkidu]

I'm wondering if I'll be able to attend the Madrid ciutat shows with a Barcelona ticket. I'm going to Barcelona but like i'll be flying to and from Madrid, so thinking of extending my stay to have a few days in Madrid. Would be nice if I've got a chance of attending some gigs there too