Primavera Sound Barcelona 2023 + Primavera Sound Madrid 2023

[xxialac]

2 hours ago, MagneticField85 said:

They have to do their communication campaigns if they don't sell out, and influencer marketing is a new normal. It shouldn't be a sign per se

Having said that, I think Madrid is not doing well. Barcelona I don't know; but I'm a local and only another person I know will attend. 10 years ago we were dozens. Even in 22 I had many friends and acquaintances attending. 

Add the bad 22 experience, the line up is not what used to be, they particularly stretched the ticket prices and a weak pound. This is a receipt for low sales. But, honestly, not only I don't care, I hope for it if that means a more confortable experience.

When it comes to Brits attending, the pound has in fact been weak for what seems like an eternity - since about 2009 except for 2014-2016.
 

High hotel, high flight prices and the cost of living crisis are the other major deterrents along with the ones you mentioned.

[livenstu]

Just noticed that Rakim is playing UK 3rd June onwards, rescheduled dates, what a booking that would be!

[ibo]

Im going from the uk too since 2016 and I always book almost a year in advance to guarantee the best prices possible for flights and hotel. And this year has been an absolute rip off. Still going though but shorter stay. So I guess there will def be less people coming last minute !

more space for the attendees hehe

[Whos3000_]

Unwound reunion 100% looks like a blast from the footage of these first shows. Surprisingly, not that much from “leaves” is being played 

[Nesser]

On 2/11/2023 at 6:04 PM, Whos3000_ said:

They just need to book afx for the Saturday 😄

Aphex is going to Barcelona but not how we wanted. Announcing for Sonar this week.

[Fabrizzo]

49 minutes ago, Nesser said:

Aphex is going to Barcelona but not how we wanted. Announcing for Sonar this week.

the last post they made seems more to indicate Groove Armada...

[Nesser]

It's literally the upper part of his logo

 

https://twitter.com/SonarFestival/status/1624823183189725186

[xxialac]

Lemon Twigs’ mini European tour ends on 1st June.

[wro_lap]

With them both selling poorly, do we reckon it'll be easy to find cheaper second hand tickets this year? I waited pretty late last year and snagged mine quite cheaply, was thinking of doing the same this year

[xxialac]

8 hours ago, wro_lap said:

With them both selling poorly, do we reckon it'll be easy to find cheaper second hand tickets this year? I waited pretty late last year and snagged mine quite cheaply, was thinking of doing the same this year

What evidence is there that Barcelona is selling poorly? And they only have to sell less than 50% of the tickets they sold last year to sell out...

At the same time, people always change their plans and it's usually the case that you can pick up last minute marked-down tickets and probably the same as ever this year.

 

 

[Nesser]

Both of them selling poorly lol

[Whos3000_]

Quite all my friends have already booked flights and accommodation and they are waiting for 2nd hand tickets. No TicketSwap this year though. I don’t know what to tell them. Should they cue on dice? Look somewhere else?

[xxialac]

8 minutes ago, Whos3000_ said:

Quite all my friends have already booked flights and accommodation and they are waiting for 2nd hand tickets. No TicketSwap this year though. I don’t know what to tell them. Should they cue on dice? Look somewhere else?

Wait until the last minute for the best prices. It's very likely to pay off but no guarantees of course.

[Martin_89]

Excellent new album out today from Caroline Polachek: 

 

[Nesser]

Yes, making sure nobody ever ask again why she's back this year

[frankburns]

Not sure if tickets are really selling poorly but tbh I really hope that this rumour turns out to be true. In that case the organisers might acknowledge that they are losing more old fans than winning new ones with bookings like Skrillex, Ghost and Maneskin.

[xxialac]

I don't understand why people get so hung up on who they have booked, especially as the moan list is always a short one. I mean, I don't like rate most of those names either but it's not like they're booking wrong'ns attracting Liam Gallagher or the Stereobloodyphonics.

I don't want to see Skrillex either but if you take Clashfinder as indicative, at the same time as Skrillex we have the option of The Delgados, Swans, Yves Tumor and Bleachers - hardly starved of choice...

The odd bum choice is a blessing that sets you free from clashes! 

[Fabrizzo]

27 minutes ago, frankburns said:

Not sure if tickets are really selling poorly but tbh I really hope that this rumour turns out to be true. In that case the organisers might acknowledge that they are losing more old fans than winning new ones with bookings like Skrillex, Ghost and Maneskin.

And Calvin Harris 

[Nicklord]

I'm pretty sure they are losing a lot of people because the ticket price is 335€ with all fees with only a few truly big acts. It doesn't seem okay to pay that much to watch bands that would play in a 150-500 venues otherwise 

[xxialac]

Seems only fair to simultaneously acknowledge that the early bird tickets were 195€.

I agree 335€ is too much (for continental Europe) but then again even this price is in line with/cheaper than UK prices and I'd argue a nicer setting and a deeper undercard than anything else.

[jannybruck]

The general feeling amongst my group of friends who are only casual attendees is that it's just too expensive a trip to make from the UK now (easily over £1k+ for the weekend), they've sort of "done" a big one last year (and that had plenty of annoying issues which have been discussed on here), and the general curation of it simply doesn't feel as tight or good as usual for whatever reason. The announcement of the death of BITS recently sealed the deal for me personally. If that's just my social group I can totally see why it might be sluggish in terms of sales this time.

As a long-time attendee it's my first time not going in years so I'll see how it goes from afar, but I can totally understand why they're needing to push advertising harder than usual given they have to sell two cities worth of tickets now. I'm putting my usual Primavera money towards a couple of cheaper city festivals elsewhere in Europe and feel like that's going to be a fun alternative.

[Ohjesus]

i think the effect of F1 shouldn't be underestimated too - i looked at the flights we bought for £400 a few months back (gatwick to BCN) and the exact same flights are now £850. And that's not even flying wedcnesday to monday - we had to take an extra day in BCN to get cheaper tuesday flights back.

so yeah, adding a 335 euro ticket on top of that AND accommodation, and you can see why there might not be that many non-Spanish last minute bookers, unless they're creative with flights/transfers.

[MagneticField85]

47 minutes ago, Ohjesus said:

i think the effect of F1 shouldn't be underestimated too - i looked at the flights we bought for £400 a few months back (gatwick to BCN) and the exact same flights are now £850. And that's not even flying wedcnesday to monday - we had to take an extra day in BCN to get cheaper tuesday flights back.

so yeah, adding a 335 euro ticket on top of that AND accommodation, and you can see why there might not be that many non-Spanish last minute bookers, unless they're creative with flights/transfers.

That's a very important factor. 

[chilirocker]

I know it will be a pain in the arse getting back, but I think Sitges is the place to stay if you're looking for a cheaper option.

[Whos3000_]

With growing prices and the bigger size of the festival, PS needs now more than before casual attendees. 2022 was strong since it managed to throw a lot of PS legacy acts under a few very marketable names (among my friends more than a few wouldn't have been convinced to attend the festival if not for Tame Impala and Strokes). First-time goers will come to the festival if they find the name they like in the lineup rather than evaluating it as a whole. Considered this, I don't know if this line up is particularly appealing to casual/first-timers: I read Maneskin and Calvin Harris as an attempt to balance the lack of ticket sellers for non music-nerds (and a set of very good huge names who appeal to PS veterans). Maybe only Rosalia works for those, which is cool, since she's far from basic commercial music. The problem is that Maneskin and Calvin Harris won't attract the same, huge crowds that Tame and Strokes brought last year, but maybe they didn't have other choices?