Primavera Sound - Foros

Line-up was weaker than in previous years but it was still a great festival.

Some things I liked:

The Cure playing for three hours.

Finally getting to see Jeff Mangum.

Lee Ranaldo, Beach House, The Rapture, Franz Ferdinand, Michael Gira, The Wedding Present, Shellac and almost every other band I saw.

Sunday night at Sala Apolo.

Great sound at all stages.

Decent food and almost no annoying queues.

Nice Atmosphere. Very nice weather.


Some things I didn't like:

Mini-Stage:
Worse than last year, no atmosphere, too big (especially for smaller acts who had to play there rather early).
Most bands had not enough stage-time (45-60 minutes); if this stage will be still there next year, it would be good, if it would be used simultaneous to the Ray-Ban-Stage (like 2011), so there would be less bands but bigger slots.
In 2011 The National, Interpol, Mogwai, PIL etc. (what a line-up!) were allowed to play there for 90 minutes.

Talking during concerts:
It happens everywhere, I know, but it's getting worse.
Why do people get really close to Mazzy Star at the Ray-Ban-Stage when they just wanna talk and talk and...
(Positive aspect: I left after 30 minutes, walked to the ATP-stage and saw a great Mudhoney-show.)

Clashes:
There are and always will be nasty clashes, but this year was imo worse than ever.
La Faithfull vs. Rufus
Rapture vs. Death In Vegas
Cure vs. Big Star
Lower Dens vs. I Break Horses vs. Girls
Lee Ranaldo vs. Afghan Whigs

Not enough garbage cans/containers:
Some parts of the forum looked like a dump.


See you in 2013!

The Good: Olivia Tremor Control, not sure what to expect but they were amazing,Bleached, though their set was really short. The Cure 3 hour set was brilliant. Lee Ranaldo, Girls were also brilliant.
Loved the Adidas stage as there were some amazing sets played there, especially The Experimantal Tropic Blues.
I also thought Friends on the Mini stage early on Thursday as I knew nothing about them and came away a convert.
In defence of Saint Etienne. They have been one of my favorite bands since I first heard Foxbase Alpha when it came out . I really enjoyed there set, though it was amost exactly the same as the week before when I saw them. I had a great time dancing down the front as did a lot of other folk

The bad : There were some bands that I thougt were absolutely rubbish, but I just went to see someone else instead, so I won't bother naming them as I am sure other people enjoyed them and that is the joy of Primavera

THE FESTIVAL ITSELF:
The Good: It appeared less crowded this year. It seemed easy to get served at the bars,especially beside the vice stage. The food was good this year and plenty of places to buy food.


The bad: There were an awful lot of short sets by bands, some only 30 to 45 minutes this meant that at times there were only 2 or 3 stages with any bands on.
People talking during sets. A few times people just shoved there way in front and spent the full set talking. Why ?
The walk between the Vice and Mini stages. this is only because most of the bands I wanted to see were on these stages and by Sunday morning my feet were killing me.

More reports of talker? Ah, what a shame. These people are ruining every festival and concert in the world.

good:
there were less annoying drug sellers than last year
good organization overall

bad:
I still hate that Llevant/Mini/parking lot stage, it's so uncomfortable...
lack of great acts early in the morning - I slightly miss going back home at sunrise, hehe

The Llevant/Mini stage continues to feel weird, I much preferred it being rearranged from last year, but an area that vast when it isn't filled can kill the mood a little. The Right Ons had a good set, but it felt like they were playing to a ghost town.

Beer this year seemed to have quite a short lifespan, almost every 50cl I bought was flat by the time I was half-way through - even in the cooler early hours of the morning. I didn't personally (I'm not sure why), but friends certainly found it a piece of cake to just stroll in with drinks bought off-site... so security felt more relaxed I guess.

The food variety seemed a big improvement on last year, and dirt cheap carajillo being available near most stages kept me both tipsy and awake through-out.

Flatstock was good, as were the smaller stages. There's always bound to be something good happening on one of these in-between acts you know you want to see.

I was shocked how many people skipped Afrocubism just to wait for The Cure, and Dirty Three played the shortest set in their history it seemed?

Sleep pulling out sucked, but not Primavera's fault. El-P pulling out gave us Paus, who were probably one of the best acts I saw this year. The Chameleons performance and the size of the crowd was a pleasant surprise. Jeff Mangum and Josh Pearson in the Auditori on Saturday were equally amazing. Mangum and the invitation to the stage, Pearson padding out his set with "bad" jokes.

I thought that yet again the festival was brilliant, much better than I was expecting. The line-up WAS weaker than 2011, but the 2011 line-up was a killer and this year was just as good as the few years preceding 2011.

I've been going for 10 years now and like the fact that it keeps changing subtly each year - hope that is down to the organisers listening to the punters. Moving the Mini/Levant stage was inspired , even if it is massive, and a bit of a walk. Moving the stage (Vice ?) away from the food area was also much better. Bars going back to cash, minimal queues at bars/toilets - all great.

Best bands - The Pop group (nearly as good as the two Primavera Club shows), Beach House, Olivia Tremor Control, Beirut , Afghan Whigs, White Denim, Thee Oh Sees, Girls, Jeff Mangum (still wish it had been NMH)

Best new bands (for me) - Friends, Milk Music, Girl's names, Veronica Falls, Wolves in the Throne room & Refused

Suprisingly good (having seen them before and enjoyed them but thought their time was gone) - Franz Ferdinand, The Rapture & Saint Etienne

Fed up seeing them - Wilco & Yo La Tengo (great songs ruined by show-off guitar solos)

Going thru the motions - Mazzy Star

Three hours of my life I will never get back - The Cure. A greatest hits show starting with 10.15 on a Saturday night/Killing an Arab would have lasted about 90 minutes and would have been amazing.

All in all, as good as ever !

Less annoying as in less in-your-face or as in they actually had good (or real) stuff?

I noticed some people buying stuff more than once, so maybe it was actually real... I've never bought "stuff" at any festivals, but I remember two drugs counsellors (their day job) at an ATP who shared copious amounts of MDMA with me in their chalet while Arab Strap played on a wind-up record player. Still to this day slightly weirded out by it.

I was disappointed by the lack of psychedelics. Anyone that saw Sufjan Stevens or The Flaming Lips knows why.