Primavera Sound

Primavera Sound is a music festival that takes place between the end of May and beginning of June in Barcelona, Spain and Porto, Portugal. The first edition took place in 2001 in Poble Espanyol and in 2005 it moved to the Parc del Fòrum, a much larger site on the seafront. The nature of the festival (urban and an integrated part of the city) and the wide range of bands represented have made Primavera Sound a meeting point for artists and spectators from all generations.

The festival presents all genres including pop, rock and the most underground tendencies of electronic and dance music.

Pixies, Arcade Fire, Queens of the Stone Age, The National, Nine Inch Nails, Kendrick Lamar, Neil Young, Sonic Youth, Portishead, Pet Shop Boys, Pavement, Echo & The Bunnymen, Lou Reed, My Bloody Valentine, El-P, Pulp, Patti Smith, James Blake, Cat Power, Public Enemy, Grinderman, Franz Ferdinand, Television, Devo, Enrique Morente, The White Stripes, LCD Soundsystem, Tindersticks, PJ Harvey, Shellac, Dinosaur Jr., New Order, Fuck Buttons, Swans, Melvins, Psychic TV, Spiritualized, The Cure, Bon Iver, La Buena Vida, Death Cab For Cutie, Iggy & The Stooges, De La Soul, Marianne Faithfull, Mazzy Star, Blur, Wu-Tang Clan, Phoenix, Radiohead, Animal Collective, Sigur Rós, The Jesus and Mary Chain and Tame Impala amongst many others have performed on its stages.

At every edition the event has grown both in terms of numbers and in terms of media exposure: press, radio and television both nationally and internationally. Its first edition in 2001 closed with an attendance of 8000 people, an audience that by the latest edition in 2015 had become 190,000.

History 
Although Primavera Sound had existed in a small format in Barcelona since the 1990s, 2001 saw the first bigger event take place in the Poble Espanyol with more than one stage and attracted around 7,700 people. The bill included the likes of Armand Van Helden, Le Hammond Inferno, former main man of Pizzicato 5, Yasuharu Konishi, Faze Action, Bent, Los Planetas, Manta Ray, Sr. Chinarro, Samuel L. Session, Unkle, Carl Craig, Dj Godfather; and many other bands and DJs like Gentle People Djs, Leila, Zip and Gus Gus Djs.In 2002 Primavera Sound took place on 17 and 18 May. The main change was the addition of a second day to the festival. Sixty local and international bands and DJs played on five different stages that year, including Pulp, Tindersticks, Spiritualized, Echo & The Bunnymen, J Mascis, Aphex Twin, Luke Slater, Giant Sand, The Delgados, Dave Clarke, Bis, Ian Pooley, Andrew Weatherall, Le Tigre, Gonzales, The Moldy Peaches, Chicks On Speed, Clem Snide, La Buena Vida, Green Velvet, Cinerama, Lo-Fidelity Allstars and The Zephyrs. 2002 was also the first year to include non-musical performances.

24,000 people attended in 2003, and number of acts also increased to more than 90 groups and DJs both local and international. Five areas were arranged at the Poble Espanyol site for the night shows (Nitsa-Apolo, Rockdelux by Lois, CD Drome, Nasti and Psicolabis).

An extra site was added to the festival: Mercat de les Flors, for the day time activities: the Primavera Soundtrack Film Festival and the Record label Fair, which included two stages (acoustic and electric) where the label’s bands showcased their works. Acts included Belle And Sebastian, Yo La Tengo, Teenage Fanclub, Arab Strap, I Am Kloot, Sonic Youth, Mogwai, The White Stripes, Television, Beef, The Go-Betweens, 2 Many Dj’s, Julian Cope, Baxter Dury,  Roni Size, Ed Harcourt, Antònia Font, Lcd Soundsystem, Märtini Brös, Erol Alkan, Gold Chains, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Hangedup, The Streets, Baby Zizanie, A Room With A View.

In 2004 the festival kept growing in length (three days in the Poble Espanyol), artists and attendance. Attendance increased to up to 40,000 people. Headliners included PJ Harvey, Primal Scream, The Divine Comedy, Wilco and Franz Ferdinand. The size of the simultaneous record label and industry fair also increased, with 30 stands representing the leading independent Spanish record labels, as well as specialized press and associated companies.
In 2005 the festival relocated from the Poble Espanyol to the Fòrum site. This year saw the first use of the Auditorium building where some of the main performances of that weekend took place, such as Antony & The Johnsons, Vic Chesnutt and Tortoise. Headliners included New Order, Iggy Pop’s Stooges live comeback, Sonic Youth, Steve Earle and Gang of Four.

2006 saw only minor changes in the layout of the stages and some improvements in the infrastructure. Performers included Lou Reed, Motörhead, Yo La Tengo, The Flaming Lips, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Babyshambles, Animal Collective, Gang Gang Dance, Deerhoof, Richard Hawley, Isobel Campbell, José González, Vashti Bunyan,

2007 saw the audience increase to over 60,000 attendees. With thirty per cent of the audience coming from other countries, The 150 acts included Wilco, Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth played the legendary album Daydream Nation integrally and the Forum vibrated with the concert of the veteran Patti Smith, The Good, the Bad & the Queen, The Durutti Column, Maxïmo Park,  Buzzcocks, Grizzly Bear, Billy Bragg, Low, Band Of Horses, Diplo, Erol Alkan and many others.2008 saw around 160 artists perform in venues both in the Parc Del Fòrum and into the centre of Barcelona city. Performers included Portishead, MGMT, Public Enemy, Vampire Weekend, Cat Power, El Guincho, Bon Iver, Dirty Projectors, Explosions In The Sky, Why? and Caribou.

2009 saw a total of 171 concerts and over 80,000 spectators. The audience was spread around the fourteen stages of the festival, six of which are on the Parc del Fòrum site (76,000 spectators) and another eight distributed around the centre of Barcelona with Primavera in the City, which attracted 4,600 more spectators. The starting signal was given in various underground stations of the town centre on Saturday 23 May and the usual presentation showcases, organized with the collaboration of different record companies and taking place from Monday the 25th in the Apolo, and Sidecar. The main event took place on the 28th, 29th and 30 May and the second edition of Primavera at the Park (free concerts in the Joan Miró) consolidated itself in 2009 with twelve concerts which prolonged the festival into the Sunday 31 May.Headliners included My Bloody Valentine, Yo la Tengo, The Vaselines, Phoenix, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Andrew Bird, The Horrors, Bloc Party, Throwing Muses, Saint Etienne, Jarvis Cocker, Art Brut, Damien Jurado, Sonic Youth, Herman Dune, Deerhunter, Simian Mobile disco, Liars, Michael Nyman, Ghostface Killah, Black Lips and Neil Young.

2010 saw over 100,000 spectators attend the festival for the first time, and featured the first edition of PrimaveraPro, a gathering more than 400 music industry professionals from different countries and different areas within the sector such as labels, booking agencies, promoters or festival programmers.

Performers included Pavement, Superchunk, The Fall, The XX, Pixies, Beach House, Pet Shop Boys, Orbital, Ben Frost, Van Dyke Parks, Built To Spill, Grizzly Bear Dum Dum Girls, and Los Campesinos!.

In 2011 attendance grew to over 120,000 people. Performers included Caribou, Echo & The Bunnymen, Mercury Rev, The National, Nick Cave, Belle & Sebastian, The Flaming Lips, PJ Harvey, Animal Collective and Pulp, 

2012's headliners included Refused, Wilco, Franz Ferdinand, The xx, Beirut, Napalm Death, Grimes, Danny Brown, Other Lives, Kindness, The Cure, John Talabot, Marianne Faithfull, The Chameleons, the Afghan Whigs and Nick Garrie. Attendance was around 117,000 people.

2013's headliners included The Postal Service, Phoenix, Tame Impala, Deerhunter, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Blur. Bob Mould, James Blake, Wu-Tang Clan, My Bloody Valentine, Los Planetas, Hot Chip, The Knife, Solange Knowles, Kurt Vile, Local Natives and Mulatu Astatke among 260 concerts programmed at the thirteenth edition of the festival. Local bands included Manel, Madrid band Toundra, Fred I Son, The Free Fall Band, La Bien Querida and El Inquilino Comunista. There was a new record attendance of 170,000 counting the four days in the Parc del Fòrum and the activities in the framework of Primavera a la Ciutat.2014 saw performances by Arcade Fire, Pixies, The National and Neutral Milk Hotel as well as Charles Bradley, Kendrick Lamar, Nine Inch Nails, Caetano Veloso, Disclosure, Queens Of The Stone Age, Future Islands and St. Vincent.

In 2015, the festival was headlined by The Black Keys, Anthony and the Johnsons, Alt-J, Patti Smith, The Strokes, Ride, Interpol and Underworld. James Blake, Caribou, Belle and Sebastian, Spiritualized, Jungle, Simian Mobile Disco, Jose Gonzalez, Jon Hopkins and The Church also appeared.

The 2016 festival was headlined by Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem and Sigur Ros. PJ Harvey, Tame Impala, The Last Shadow Puppets, Air, Brian Wilson, Beach House, Suede, Beirut and Animal Collective also performed.

In 2017, the festival was headlined by Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, The XX, Aphex Twin, Grace Jones, Slayer, Solange and Van Morrison. More than 200.000 people attended the 2017 festival.

In 2018, the festival was headlined by Arctic Monkeys, Bjork, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The National, Chvrches, The War on Drugs, Lorde and A$AP Rocky. It took place from May 31 to June 3.

The 2019 lineup of the festival has attempted to showcase a gender balanced lineup with equal numbers of male and female performers. The festival's 'new normal' initiative aims to set a benchmark for equal gender representation that other festivals should follow. Primavera's head of press, Marta Pallarès, told the Guardian “We need to change the ‘pale, male and stale’ paradigm”. Female acts announced for the festival included Cardi B, Janelle Monáe, Erykah Badu, FKA Twigs, Robyn, Courtney Barnett, Carly Rae Jepsen, Charli XCX and Nina Kravitz. Cardi B cancelled her appearance and was replaced by Miley Cyrus. Other acts include Nas, Interpol, Tame Impala, Suede, Jarvis Cocker, Primal Scream, Modeselektor and Loyle Carner.

Prizes and awards 
 Prizes of the Independent Music 2011 (organized by UFI): Better festival 
 Altaveu 2011 Award 
 Greener Festival Award 2012: in the category "Highly Commended" 
 European Festival Awards: Artists' Favourite Festival in 2014 
 Reward Waves of the Music 2014: Better musical spectacle 
 Premi Continuarà-Vespre to La2 of Culture 2015

References

External links
 Official website

Category:Music festivals in Catalonia
Category:Rock festivals in Spain
Category:Tourist attractions in Porto
Category:Spring (season) events in Spain