A free concert program led by Pet Shop Boys, tickets secured through the app, serves as a vibrant opener for Primavera Sound’s 21st edition this Wednesday. The festival will unfold from Thursday to Saturday in the Parc del Forum, spotlighting a lineup that blends crowd favorites with headline acts such as Rosalía, Depeche Mode, Kendrick Lamar, and New Order. The opening moments unfold with a taste of the festive season as the city of Barcelona buzzes toward the summer with steady activity and a strong cultural pulse.
Primavera Sound resumes its typical, single-weekend format after the extended, two-weekend edition of 2022. A notable innovation this year is Madrid joining as a co-centre, with Forum capacity adjusted to about 70,000 attendees per day to ease crowdedness. The Primavera a la Ciudad initiative runs from Monday, featuring performances at Apolo, Razzmatazz, and Parallel 62. On the warm-up day at the Forum, audiences can expect Madrid’s La Paloma delivering cloth-rock noise, British folk and country-infused pop by Jake Bugg, and electropop by Confidence Man from Australia.
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Posters reveal a diverse slate of performances. On Thursday, Blur revisits Brit-pop milestones and previews tracks from their forthcoming album The Ballad of Darren, due for release on July 21. Friday features Depeche Mode in a new two-member phase with Memento Mori in consideration. Kendrick Lamar remains a central figure in a wide-minded hip-hop catalog, and Saturday spotlights Rosalía Vila Tobella during her Motomami tour, with a target appearance at Lollapalooza Paris on July 22 for now.
As is Primavera’s tradition, the public will navigate and interpret fifteen days of crafted scenarios, following personal routes as crowds form and shift. Billboards will showcase an eclectic mix, from New Order’s savvy Mancunian pop to Ghost’s heavier rock tones, and Sudan Archives’ avant-garde echoes of R&B. Anderson .Paak’s soul-rap, and the intense edges of Black Country, New Road, The War on Drugs, and The Wedding Present will add to the festival’s varied soundscape.
Free-thinking pop icons, including Sparks, St. Vincent, and Caroline Polachek, as well as historically influential figures like John Cale and Laurie Anderson, will be part of the foreground. Two veterans, Arthur Verocai and Eddie Palmieri, will not participate this year. Locally, artists such as Joe Crepúsculo, Núria Graham, John Talabot, Grupo de Expertos Solynieve, and Los Ganglios help anchor the Madrid-Barcelona tandem. Unlike last year’s quick sell-out, subscriptions and single-day tickets are available for this edition, inviting broad participation.
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With more than 200 artists across stages, Primavera Sound aims to sustain its prominence even as it continues to grow. The record for the festival stands at two weekends with about 500,000 attendees. It ranks first among Spain’s festivals, ahead of Madrid’s Mad Cool, Castellón’s Arena Sound, Albacete’s Viña Rock, and Benicàssim’s International Festival, according to the Live Music Yearbook. In 2022, the Barcelona and Sant Adrià de Besòs edition yielded an economic impact of 349 million euros, as reported by the organizers.
The festival also highlighted a historically strong foreign attendance, accounting for about 65 percent of the audience, representing 139 nationalities led by British, French, Italian, German, American, and Mexican fans. Following the event, attention shifts to the festival’s Madrid twin, a strategic move reflected in the slogan I’ll be your mirror, honoring this year’s influential alternative rock scene. The Velvet Underground is referenced as a nod to the festival’s roots and enduring spirit.