“Barcelona + Madrid = Primavera Sound”. This unusual amount can still only be read on a large banner placed in the Fòrum by the festival in Barcelona. A large mural next to it shows the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, kissing Isabel Díaz Ayuso, president of the Community of Madrid. With explicit reference to the famous kiss between Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and GDR head Erich Honecker It is located on the Berlin Wall.
This image is what attendees of Primavera Sound 2022 see when they enter the large space where the headline concerts are held. It is the people of the state who stand, watch, look, and finally take pictures. It’s not unsuccessful. Not a small number of participants from other countries, the image makes them smile, that’s what and nothing else.
This large mural is on display a branch opens in Madrid a year before the festival: In 2023, a weekend will be held in Barcelona and a weekend in the Spanish capital. This is all due to a disagreement between the Catalan capital’s city council and the music show over the definitive adoption of the extra-long format (two weekends in a row) by Primavera Sound this year, which should make up for the exceptionally two-year absence. due to the pandemic. It is unknown what will happen to the festival in 2024. Currently, Colau and Ayuso are kissing in Primavera Sound.
cross fire
The mural and poster seem to be part of the long crossfire between Primavera Sound and Barcelona City Hall. reopened last Tuesday by festival co-director Gabi Ruiz. “The problem with Barcelona is they don’t want us, that’s exactly it. This bipartisan municipality doesn’t want us,” Ruiz said in an interview with Primavera Sound Radio last Tuesday night.
First Deputy Mayor for Culture Jordi Martí, then Ada Colau, Mayor of BarcelonaThey responded conciliatoryly this Thursday. The municipal mantra is: Primavera Sound and the Catalan capital are “inseparable”. As Martí announced hours ago, Colau said the city council is “working” with the organizers on a new contract to set dates for the next four years and he may stay in the city. “This is the will of Barcelona, which has always been very clear with the fact that Primavera is connected to the city of Barcelona, which cannot be compared with any other possible place,” the mayor added. He also reminded that this is a festival “born and raised in Barcelona”.