Their ramshackle party proves joyous they pop a bottle of champagne in celebration of drummer Charlie Wayne’s birthday, leaving patches of the gleaming AstroTurf drenched in alcohol. Next to posters reminding music fans to “enjoy the party responsibly”, Black Country, New Road kick proceedings off at the golden hour.
Well, besides an Amazon Music-branded stage, which North Carolina rockers Wednesday righteously point out by dedicating a rousing ‘Bull Believer’ to “any warehouse workers who have ever been mistreated”. Yet the roots of the festival’s sustained popularity lie in what it stands for: thoughtful curation and a level of commercialism that doesn’t descend into overbearing, soul-sapping sponsorship. As 60,000 attendees descend on the site, certain truths about the festival prevail: it can be chaotic, but is ultimately slickly run as a number of lessons from last year seem to have been learned – even if there appears to be more glowstick-wielding vape sellers than water refill points available.
The stakes for Primavera this year, then, are eye-wateringly high. Festival-goers complained of a restless atmosphere that was exacerbated by last-minute dropouts from a significant number of artists, including PinkPantheress, Kehlani and headliners The Strokes. The first day was marred by staff shortages and technical difficulties which led to overcrowded stages, long bar queues and a lack of access to water despite the high temperatures. The Barcelona festival – which takes place along a 14-hectare coastal stretch of Parc del Fòrum – hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2022.
Standing in walking distance of a beach in the sweltering heat, indulging in a world-beating line-up with a warm Aperol Spritz in hand: Primavera Sound Barcelona has finally, gloriously, returned to form.
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