Primavera Sound 2026

[LMDS]

56 minutes ago, Valbork said:

Sorry to bring this up again, but people are openly discussing the possibility of Nick Cave and Radiohead being booked for this edition. I am finding it very hard to envisage either of these bookings. Cave’s stance on Israel/Palestine and Radiohead’s (at best) lack of a stance are the complete opposite of where Primavera seems to be positioning itself, (see Kneecap, Fontaines, Ethel Cain and many others). I know that as an individual you could simply choose not to see artists that you disagree with, but that gets a bit muddied in a festival environment and especially with a festival that likes to give the impression of making a statement. I hope this post does not cause polarised grandstanding, even mentioning a music festival in the same breath as what is happening in Gaza feels totally wrong, but I can’t help thinking that Primavera organisers would also want to avoid adding names to the line up that would make these arguments flare up.

 

The thing for the next year is that, apparently, there are too many Primaveraish headliners available that could come. Overbooking I'd say. So the festival will have to choose, and they'll make a decission according to a certain budget (recently appeared an article online talking about the delicate economical status of the fest after Covid, Madrid and Latam editions), where they want to take the festival in the future (indie legends, poptimism, urban music, tiktok virals, trends like kpop, etc) and which agreements suit them best (some deals are closed years -or a lot of months- in advance, and some artists' agencies often offer pack deals with more than one artist, like Central Cee shared agency with other headliners in the last edition).

 

For now we have:
Lorde, Tame Impala, Tyler The Creator, Rosalia, Radiohead, Nick Cave, My Bloody Valentine, Gorillaz, maybe The XX if they plan to realese something, Nine Inch Nails, Pulp, Bon Iver, maybe The Cure, and on a lower level, Doechii, Addison Rae... am I forgetting someone?

Let's say The XX aren't ready and will be up for 2027, let's say Rosalia will do a stadium tour first in 2026, also I think we had enough Pulp with PS24+BBK25, and probably The Cure, NIN and Bon Iver won't come because of different reasons. Keeping in mind that Gorillaz is headlining a festival in Madrid next month (without much success I think), and that maybe is still to soon to be headlining for the likes of Doechii, Addison Rae et al, we still have Lorde, Tame Impala, Tyler, Radiohead, Nick Cave and MBV... six artists for a maximum of three slots. And we don't know if there are more names waiting to announce something.

 

Tyler didn't come last year, that can make him closer or further deppending on how you take it. Lorde was already said they will try to bring her always they can, but better take what the organizers say with a pinch of salt. We do know that Kevin Parker and Rosalia actually were in person in PS'25 (maybe discussing their presence in a forthcoming edition).

[Fabrizzo]

1 hour ago, Valbork said:

Sorry to bring this up again, but people are openly discussing the possibility of Nick Cave and Radiohead being booked for this edition. I am finding it very hard to envisage either of these bookings. Cave’s stance on Israel/Palestine and Radiohead’s (at best) lack of a stance are the complete opposite of where Primavera seems to be positioning itself, (see Kneecap, Fontaines, Ethel Cain and many others). I know that as an individual you could simply choose not to see artists that you disagree with, but that gets a bit muddied in a festival environment and especially with a festival that likes to give the impression of making a statement. I hope this post does not cause polarised grandstanding, even mentioning a music festival in the same breath as what is happening in Gaza feels totally wrong, but I can’t help thinking that Primavera organisers would also want to avoid adding names to the line up that would make these arguments flare up.

You're talking about the festival of the past... now there are acts like Sabrina Carpenter for example who don't even know that there are wars going on, so I think the organization has broadened its horizons

[Fabrizzo]

8 minutes ago, Fabrizzo said:

You're talking about the festival of the past... now there are acts like Sabrina Carpenter for example who don't even know that there are wars going on, so I think the organization has broadened its horizons

Carpenter wrong example, it seems she's interested in the topic... let's talk about Haim then

[FKA SOSOTWS]

3 hours ago, Valbork said:

Sorry to bring this up again, but people are openly discussing the possibility of Nick Cave and Radiohead being booked for this edition. I am finding it very hard to envisage either of these bookings. Cave’s stance on Israel/Palestine and Radiohead’s (at best) lack of a stance are the complete opposite of where Primavera seems to be positioning itself, (see Kneecap, Fontaines, Ethel Cain and many others). I know that as an individual you could simply choose not to see artists that you disagree with, but that gets a bit muddied in a festival environment and especially with a festival that likes to give the impression of making a statement. I hope this post does not cause polarised grandstanding, even mentioning a music festival in the same breath as what is happening in Gaza feels totally wrong, but I can’t help thinking that Primavera organisers would also want to avoid adding names to the line up that would make these arguments flare up.

 

I don't think Primavera has the luxury to only book artists whom they agree with on this matter.

 

[FKA SOSOTWS]

1 hour ago, LMDS said:

 

 (recently appeared an article online talking about the delicate economical status of the fest after Covid, Madrid and Latam editions), 

 

 

Would you be able to share this?

[LMDS]

4 minutes ago, FKA SOSOTWS said:

 

Would you be able to share this?

Sure, but you'll have to find a way to sort out the paywall somehow
https://elpais.com/espana/catalunya/2025-08-15/la-edicion-de-madrid-dejo-al-primavera-sound-un-agujero-de-167-millones-en-2023-y-puso-el-festival-al-borde-de-la-disolucion.html

[Valbork]

1 hour ago, Fabrizzo said:

You're talking about the festival of the past... now there are acts like Sabrina Carpenter for example who don't even know that there are wars going on, so I think the organization has broadened its horizons

I don't think we are necessarily in disagreement on this. It might be easier to have artists that are clearly showing solidarity with Palestine (as happened this year) and a lot of artists that would not be asked about their position (which also happened this year). The problem could be artists like Cave and Radiohead that in various ways do express opinions that are hard to ignore.

[FKA SOSOTWS]

39 minutes ago, LMDS said:

Sure, but you'll have to find a way to sort out the paywall somehow
https://elpais.com/espana/catalunya/2025-08-15/la-edicion-de-madrid-dejo-al-primavera-sound-un-agujero-de-167-millones-en-2023-y-puso-el-festival-al-borde-de-la-disolucion.html

 

Thanks! If you put the link through a paywall remover and use the Translate button in your browser, it becomes readable.

[JedTheHumanoid]

4 hours ago, Valbork said:

Sorry to bring this up again, but people are openly discussing the possibility of Nick Cave and Radiohead being booked for this edition. I am finding it very hard to envisage either of these bookings. Cave’s stance on Israel/Palestine and Radiohead’s (at best) lack of a stance are the complete opposite of where Primavera seems to be positioning itself, (see Kneecap, Fontaines, Ethel Cain and many others). I know that as an individual you could simply choose not to see artists that you disagree with, but that gets a bit muddied in a festival environment and especially with a festival that likes to give the impression of making a statement. I hope this post does not cause polarised grandstanding, even mentioning a music festival in the same breath as what is happening in Gaza feels totally wrong, but I can’t help thinking that Primavera organisers would also want to avoid adding names to the line up that would make these arguments flare up.

 

I'm sorry, but thinking that PS will skip Radiohead (given the opportunity rises) just because Thom stated that the situation in Gaza is more than pure black and white (very simplifying his statement, but this is the gist of it) and Jonny is married to Iseraeli and performs with Dudu Tassa (and bunch of artists with Palestine, Lebanon and egypt in one of the more peace promoting acts around) sounds ridiculous to me.

I can understand not booking Israeli artists (stupid decision if it will happen IMO, but understandable) but boycotting artists just cause they don't publicly oppose Israel is taking it way too far

[noisenoiseandmorenoise]

25 minutes ago, JedTheHumanoid said:

 

I'm sorry, but thinking that PS will skip Radiohead (given the opportunity rises) just because Thom stated that the situation in Gaza is more than pure black and white (very simplifying his statement, but this is the gist of it) and Jonny is married to Iseraeli and performs with Dudu Tassa (and bunch of artists with Palestine, Lebanon and egypt in one of the more peace promoting acts around) sounds ridiculous to me.

I can understand not booking Israeli artists (stupid decision if it will happen IMO, but understandable) but boycotting artists just cause they don't publicly oppose Israel is taking it way too far

It is not really just those reasons though, is it? Jonny has already had concerts cancelled due to those connections, Thom's statement was absurd and drifted into a diatribe against protestors. 

If Israel continue, by next year it is not hard to believe that there will be even more focus on the choices of cultural organisations. Additionally, they would need to tackle the problem of a Radiohead set dominated by Palestinian flags and pro-Palestinian chants.

All that said, I think the reasons for believing a  Radiohead  tour is forthcoming are pretty weak, so probably a non-problem.

[FKA SOSOTWS]

How many people would actually bother to loudly heckle and wave with Palestinian flags during a Radiohead headlining set? I'm sure there would be some, but not to the point that it would dominate things.

[FKA SOSOTWS]

Also, I hope there would be enough people to tell disruptors to shove it, let the boycotters boycott and those that show up to the set enjoy it.

[JedTheHumanoid]

1 hour ago, noisenoiseandmorenoise said:

It is not really just those reasons though, is it? Jonny has already had concerts cancelled due to those connections, Thom's statement was absurd and drifted into a diatribe against protestors. 

If Israel continue, by next year it is not hard to believe that there will be even more focus on the choices of cultural organisations. Additionally, they would need to tackle the problem of a Radiohead set dominated by Palestinian flags and pro-Palestinian chants.

All that said, I think the reasons for believing a  Radiohead  tour is forthcoming are pretty weak, so probably a non-problem.

Unless the war ends, I think it's just a matter of time until Isreal is banned from international sports. There's already a silent cultural and scientific boycott in many places.

But still- Radiohead are not an Israeli band, and they don't represent Israel in any way.

 

And regardless- all these boycotts are a great gift to our fascist government- they are the ones who enjoy this 'the all world is against us' siege mentality, it only helps them gain power (you can see how much it bothers Putin that CSKA are out of the Euroleague and that Medvedev plays Wimbledon without the Russian flag...). If you really want to help, you should book Book Jonny and Dudu Tassa- having an Israeli and Palestinian together on stage is much more of a statement than boycotting a British band

[noisenoiseandmorenoise]

1 hour ago, FKA SOSOTWS said:

How many people would actually bother to loudly heckle and wave with Palestinian flags during a Radiohead headlining set? I'm sure there would be some, but not to the point that it would dominate things.

 

'heckle' is a strange choice of words.

At most major European festivals these days you have Palestinian flags and chants of support. It is not heckling, it is showing solidarity. 

[UsernameHere]

They booked Roisín Murphy last year. There's absolutely no chance in this world they will chose to pass up Radiohead if they're available.

[FKA SOSOTWS]

4 hours ago, noisenoiseandmorenoise said:

 

'heckle' is a strange choice of words.

At most major European festivals these days you have Palestinian flags and chants of support. It is not heckling, it is showing solidarity. 

 

Primavera isn't Glastonbury where you can just carry around a flag on a pole all day. People holding up (any sort of) flag at a stage is just blocking the view of people right behind them. And chants of support? It's one thing to yell Free Palestine when the artist incites it, but what do you envision happening at a Radiohead show? People chanting during song breaks, or during the actual songs? Cause I certainly haven't seen that happen yet at festivals. And frankly, chanting Palestinian support at a Radiohead set could easily come across as a form of provocation, and would also be a distraction.

 

3 hours ago, UsernameHere said:

They booked Roisín Murphy last year. There's absolutely no chance in this world they will chose to pass up Radiohead if they're available.

 

Yes, in the same way that Roisin Murphy still maintains a queer fanbase who don't care about dumb stuff she said/did online, this Radiohead controversy is not gonna stop festivals from booking them nor people from attending their set. Let's not forget that two of Radiohead's members (Ed and Phil) have even spoken in favor of Gaza.

Edited August 20, 2025 by FKA SOSOTWS

[Fabrizzo]

15 hours ago, LMDS said:

Sure, but you'll have to find a way to sort out the paywall somehow
https://elpais.com/espana/catalunya/2025-08-15/la-edicion-de-madrid-dejo-al-primavera-sound-un-agujero-de-167-millones-en-2023-y-puso-el-festival-al-borde-de-la-disolucion.html

This article (even if only the readable part) finally sheds light on the situation of this festival... in recent years they've had to raise money to avoid disappearing, this completely changes the judgments on the headliners and lineups of the last 2 years... Let's hope they've gotten their accounts back in order and the good music returns completely!

[Fabrizzo]

5 minutes ago, Fabrizzo said:

This article (even if only the readable part) finally sheds light on the situation of this festival... in recent years they've had to raise money to avoid disappearing, this completely changes the judgments on the headliners and lineups of the last 2 years... Let's hope they've gotten their accounts back in order and the good music returns completely!

This also explains the increase in ticket prices

[matrainertje]

15 hours ago, FKA SOSOTWS said:

How many people would actually bother to loudly heckle and wave with Palestinian flags during a Radiohead headlining set? I'm sure there would be some, but not to the point that it would dominate things.

Don't get the point anyway, Radiohead is one of the few really big bands actually sharing a statement. Ed o Brien and Phil Selway post about the material regularly. Yorke's been criticizing Israels government for years now. Where there flags during LCD Soundsystem's or Lana Del Rey's sets, who played Israel amid a call for boycott years ago? Or during the many, many headliners who stayed silent on the matter? 

 

Apart from that, I feel like Radiohead will be too big for Primavera the moment they announce their comeback. I know they played in 2016, but the hype of them returning after all these years will be huge. 

 

[LMDS]

The status of Radiohead in 2016 was also huge, almost like a comeback, because they weren't playing in Spain since 2008 I think. And it was indeed a really succesful edtion due to them headlining, a lot of people I know went to PS for the first time because of them.

 

I do think that if they can, they will bring RH next year despite of all the Israeli conflict, but only if that is the best deal for them, and this year maybe is not, because of that other bunch of headliners that could come for a maybe lower price or better conditions. Also Radiohead would have to think that it is the best deal for them, playing in a festival that mixes both, humanitarian claims with ultra-capitalist sponsors, or playing stadiums by their own.
 

I'm pretty sure that any festival that could get Radiohead playing won't face big boycotting issues, there will be loads of people wanting to go and see Radiohead anyway, and I'm also sure that RH won't say anything anti-Palestine or Pro-Israel, in fact they'd probably say or show some kind of anti-war claim. 

 

Remember that last time that Arcade Fire came to Spain (Stadiums, and Cala Mijas -now Kalorama- organised by BBK) they had a lot of success in terms of audience. And I'm aware that Win's acussations are a completely different matter, but that shows us how there is a lot of audience that still want to see some bands.

 

Finally, it's also curious that the last time that Primavera brought Radiohead in 2016, just the previous edition (2015, where I suppose the deal was already closed) the festival arranged a "Sounds of Israel" showcase. Perhaps I am reading too much into this, but I don't think so. Also the Johnny Greendwood israeli friend, Dudu Tassa, that was playing with him and that came in a pack with The Smile in all of the festival they played, wasn't him playing for the Israeli army? A lot of people boycotted that gig in the festivals and asked for cancellation but they were still awaiting The Smile show.

[JedTheHumanoid]

42 minutes ago, LMDS said:

Also the Johnny Greendwood israeli friend, Dudu Tassa, that was playing with him and that came in a pack with The Smile in all of the festival they played, wasn't him playing for the Israeli army? 

 

you really really don't understand the situation in Israel in the past 2 years.

 

October 7th was the biggest terror attack in history. it ended with 1200 dead, including 430 in a music festival, and 250 kidnapped, including dozens of kids and even 9 months old baby. the war that started back then was legitimate, and there's no country in the world that wouldn't do the same. That's when Dudu Tassa, as did many other Israeli artists, played in front of Israeli soldiers. Isreal was in the lowest point in her history, the most terrible and traumatic time ever, so yes, trying to cheer up soldiers that I can't even start to describe what they went through during that time made a lot of sense. If you want to lower it down to the shallow discussion we have here - Israel were the good guys at that point. 

 

Somewhere along the way in 2024 the war took turn, it should've ended already, and yes, it's clearly not legitimate now, and yes, Israel is doing horrible things now, but that's clearly wasn't the case when he played. He opposes the war now (also Jonny which I even saw in an anti-war rally in Tel Aviv once). 

 

The war is sh*tty, the Israeli government is sh*tty, most people in Israel wants it to end much more than some trend-chasing festival goers who enjoy chanting 'from the river to the sea' without knowing which river and which sea is it.

And boycotting a band just because they oppose the war in a bit different way than the crowd or because their friend is just being silly

 

 

[LMDS]

3 minutes ago, JedTheHumanoid said:

 

you really really don't understand the situation in Israel in the past 2 years.

 

October 7th was the biggest terror attack in history. it ended with 1200 dead, including 430 in a music festival, and 250 kidnapped, including dozens of kids and even 9 months old baby. the war that started back then was legitimate, and there's no country in the world that wouldn't do the same. That's when Dudu Tassa, as did many other Israeli artists, played in front of Israeli soldiers. Isreal was in the lowest point in her history, the most terrible and traumatic time ever, so yes, trying to cheer up soldiers that I can't even start to describe what they went through during that time made a lot of sense. If you want to lower it down to the shallow discussion we have here - Israel were the good guys at that point. 

 

Somewhere along the way in 2024 the war took turn, it should've ended already, and yes, it's clearly not legitimate now, and yes, Israel is doing horrible things now, but that's clearly wasn't the case when he played. He opposes the war now (also Jonny which I even saw in an anti-war rally in Tel Aviv once). 

 

The war is sh*tty, the Israeli government is sh*tty, most people in Israel wants it to end much more than some trend-chasing festival goers who enjoy chanting 'from the river to the sea' without knowing which river and which sea is it.

And boycotting a band just because they oppose the war in a bit different way than the crowd or because their friend is just being silly

 

 

 

I'm sorry but you are not legitimate to say if I'm understanding the situation in Israel when I haven't talked about that at all.

 

I don't need that passive agressive comment when I'm only talking about a musician cheerin up an army. If you're anti-war, you don't cheer or play for any army, no matter which country's army. You can play for the people, the civilians, not the army, and no, it wasn't a good moment to do so 2 years ago, as you suggest, when at the exactly same time those same israeli soldiers were making fun of the human rights of Palestinians on social media sharing really creepy content. And no, don't try to turn it around, because no other artist were there playing for Hamas (not at least any that we respect and expect in the fest). I'm from Spain, a country that is no stranger to serious cases of terrorism, and that doesn't legitimate to go and play for the army to start a war. Most bands were even anti-war after the 11-M Isis attack, and were against our government sending soldiers to Iraq.

 

So "boycotting a band just because they oppose the war" and "playing in front of Israeli soldiers, trying to cheer up soldiers" isn't definitely the same.

[JedTheHumanoid]

5 minutes ago, LMDS said:

 

I'm sorry but you are not legitimate to say if I'm understanding the situation in Israel when I haven't talked about that at all.

 

I don't need that passive agressive comment when I'm only talking about a musician cheerin up an army. If you're anti-war, you don't cheer or play for any army, no matter which country's army. You can play for the people, the civilians, not the army, and no, it wasn't a good moment to do so 2 years ago, as you suggest, when at the exactly same time those same israeli soldiers were making fun of the human rights of Palestinians on social media sharing really creepy content. And no, don't try to turn it around, because no other artist were there playing for Hamas (not at least any that we respect and expect in the fest). I'm from Spain, a country that is no stranger to serious cases of terrorism, and that doesn't legitimate to go and play for the army to start a war. Most bands were even anti-war after the 11-M Isis attack, and were against our government sending soldiers to Iraq.

 

So "boycotting a band just because they oppose the war" and "playing in front of Israeli soldiers, trying to cheer up soldiers" isn't definitely the same.

 

This is exactly the childish black or white way of looking into it I'm talking about- Army is always bad, you can never support the army, not even when it fights a terror organization and trying to free a village with children kept hostages in (yes, this is what the first few days following 7/10 looked like).

Was it wrong to fight the Nazi's with an army too? The Ukraine army fighting the Russians is also bad?

 

yes, there were terrible things done by the Israeli army afterwards, believe me I oppose them more than you, I spent several hours in 4 anti-war rallies just this week. but grow up and understand it's not sheer black and white.

 

and the fact that there are no artists playing for Hamas - do your homework about that terror organization, see what they've done to Israelies and also to the citizens of Gaza, maybe you'll understand

 

 

[FKA SOSOTWS]

3 hours ago, matrainertje said:

 Where there flags during LCD Soundsystem's or Lana Del Rey's sets, who played Israel amid a call for boycott years ago? Or during the many, many headliners who stayed silent on the matter? 

 

 

Nancy Whang of LCD SS actually wore makeup shaped like the Palestinian flag on her face during their Primavera set this past edition. Them playing Israel was in 2010, which is a lifetime ago for concert standards.

[pipan]

21 hours ago, LMDS said:

Sure, but you'll have to find a way to sort out the paywall somehow
https://elpais.com/espana/catalunya/2025-08-15/la-edicion-de-madrid-dejo-al-primavera-sound-un-agujero-de-167-millones-en-2023-y-puso-el-festival-al-borde-de-la-disolucion.html

 

So it looks like they'll be much more cautious when it comes to future expansions of the festival.