Primavera Sound Festival closed its most expansive edition after ten days and more than 670 performances, yet the organizers announced that the event will stay in Barcelona through at least 2027. This was confirmed during a traditional balance press conference led by the festival’s co-director, Gabi Ruiz. A recent meeting with mayor Ada Colau helped advance fixes that had complicated the plan to keep Primavera Sound in the city, and next week a contract is expected to be signed ensuring the festival continues at Parc del Fòrum for the next five years.
Ruiz has not shied away from critiquing the Colau administration in recent months, but this time he thanked the public for their sustained engagement and lauded the mayor’s personal involvement and commitment to resolving the challenges facing Primavera Sound in Barcelona. He emphasized that the issue is not financial in nature; money is not the goal, but rather the will to see the festival stay. Ruiz underscored that this is a matter of collective resolve.
a matter of history
The core issue can be boiled down to three questions: ensuring the festival is held in June rather than May, coordinating negotiations with a single interlocutor instead of multiple bodies (Barcelona City Council, Sant Adrià del Besòs City Council, and the port authority), and addressing the clash with Sant Adrià de Besòs that this year forced a reduction in capacity at the Bits field. These points reflect a broader aim to streamline governance and avoid recurring administrative friction that has challenged operations in the past.
Organizers also expressed a preference for occupying the Fòrum site earlier, ideally one more week, to preempt problems with bars and other services that affected the opening day. On Thursday, June 2, the festival faced a wave of complaints and criticism. The festival’s assistant director, Alfonso Lanza, stated that organizers arrived well ahead of schedule and were surprised by the large morning turnout, underscoring the demand and the importance of smooth logistics in a city-wide event of this scale.
Barcelona’s claim
Ruiz asserted that the festival’s future is inseparable from Barcelona, noting that the city remains a central factor in its success. He also took the opportunity to acknowledge the opportunities Madrid could offer for Primavera Sound next year, hinting at a plan to host a weekend in additional cities around the country, a strategy designed to broaden reach while maintaining the festival’s core home base in Barcelona.
With two weekend editions at Parc del Fòrum, the organizers stressed that this year’s experience would not be repeated in its entirety. The festival’s 20th anniversary was celebrated with nearly half a million attendees, including more than 220,000 during the first weekend and upwards of 240,000 during the second, representing 139 countries. Alfonso Lanza highlighted the event’s significant economic impact, estimating around 349 million euros for the city. He noted that, following the Mobile World Congress, Primavera Sound stands as one of the city’s largest economic drivers, second only to the congress in terms of impact, underscoring the festival’s pivotal role for Barcelona. This assessment aligns with a view that large-scale cultural events can act as powerful catalysts for local economies. (attribution: Primavera Sound organizers)