I don’t know where to start. This time last week I was a sweaty mess of half wrecked excitement somewhere in the centre of Barcelona. Now I’m sitting with the sniffles alone in my bedroom trying to figure out how to consolidate one of the best festivals of my life into a word count below that of the Oxford English Dictionary.
I arrived at Bristol airport at 5am on Wednesday after about three hours of sleep on my friend Sophie’s sofa. I got in the boarding queue early so I could get a window seat, all for the benefits of a solid surface to sleep against, not for the view. Air travel is slowly starting to scare me more and more. Not because of the volcano or Lost or anything. It’s just the bit when you’re sitting several thousand feet above the ground, turbulence bouncing the plane from side to side, and you realise that you paid more on administration fees than you did on the actual flight. That’s when it becomes a bit scary.
But anyway, I was sitting on the plane, head against the plastic, iPod in lap when slowly a line of familiar faces passed through the gangway. I was on the same flight as Los Campesinos! I gave Neil a lift back from ATP the other weekend so he returned the favour when we arrived at Girona airport, an hour outside Barcelona, and gave me a ride in their van into the centre of town.
I left them to check in to their hotel and fumbled my way through the Metro system to my new home. I was sharing an apartment with 5 friends including Joe from the brilliant Copy Haho. I had a quick shower, a cheeky beer, and headed to the Apolo theatre to do some work for my real job.
That night was the opening party of Primavera; a Wichita records party celebrating 10 years of the awesome label. Peggy Sue played first and were breathtakingly good. I’d interviewed them before their show and while I was waiting my turn some Spanish website got them to play acoustic on the roof of the venue (I cheekily filmed it for you guys). It was pretty special.
I’m still embarrassed to admit that I missed First Aid Kit because I was hungry. I’d been in the venue for about 4 hours and had eaten as much of the band’s rider as was politely possible. I had to go and get some food. In the end my friends and I just went to a place round the corner because they had beer taps on every table. I only had a few chips. I’m such a shit journalist, sorry.
We got back in time for Los Campesinos! and Joe and I (now joined by Richard from Copy Haho) decided to get in the pit. Except it wasn’t really a pit, it was more just a group of Spanish people standing really close to the stage talking and smoking. You can smoke indoors in Spain. It makes it hard to jump about like an idiot because you’re constantly worried about setting your hair or eye on fire.
Neither fear nor apathy could stop us though, and we jumped up and down and punched the air for most of the set. And then they played ‘You! Me! Dancing!’ and the whole crowd went crazy. I felt like I was fifteen again, trying to hold my place at the front of the stage while Chino Moreno bounced and belted his way across it. Except this time it was Gareth Campesinos and five of my mates from Uni, and I’m nearly twenty-five and should know better. It was the best mosh I’d had in years (regular readers will be pleased to hear my bag was safe behind the decks courtesy of Ben from Wichita).
The band finished the set with an encore of ‘Broken Hearbeats Sound Like Breakbeats’ from in the middle of the crowd. How they managed to play as Spanish limbs flew from side to side I’ll never know. After the gig I had to borrow Kim’s deodorant because I smelt like yogurt.
My friend Maria who lives in Barcelona was at a bar round the corner called Tequila Boom Boom. Her exact text was “We’re literally like 1min from apolo. Place called tequila boom boom, across the road from u, next 2 the sex show place with the naked lady sign.” We had to go.
I dragged everyone who was left in Apolo, about twenty odd people; my friends, Los Camp, Peggy Sue, Wichita… All to what was essentially a kebab shop. I could feel their eyebrows rise as I assured them this was the place. Luckily, once you walked through the bit where they sold kebabs there was actually a weird little bar at the back. The walls were lined with moulding fish tanks, the cocktails were two Euros fifty, and they played the Backstreet Boys’ greatest hits on loop. It was fucking awesome.
The next day I had a lie in then went and met Surfer Blood for a quick interview. A trip to the beach followed where I spent approximately twenty minutes trying to sunbathe before sacking it off to get a beer.
The festival site for Primavera is only slightly out of the city in some kind of giant car park by the beach. Like all Spanish festivals, nothing really happens until later in the evening. We got there in time to see Surfer Blood but I had to do another interview which involved me getting lost on site trying to find the press tent and then discovering I didn’t have access to the press tent so I missed half their set. I did get to see the bit where Thomas plays guitar with his teeth though which is infinitely cool.
Ummm… so the best thing about Primavera, aside from the ridiculously awesome line up, is that if you manage to sneak yourself a cheeky guest pass then you get free beer. They have free beer in the guest area. Free beer; possibly the greatest thing ever invented by man.
So, after Surfer Blood I got some free beer. Then I watched Titus Andronicus who were fierce. Then I got some free beer. Then I went to watch Smith Westerns but got sidetracked and ended up in this little Ray Ban tent where Comanechi were playing.
It was hilarious. The tent had a capacity of about fifty so it should have been awesome, except you weren’t allowed to take drinks in and they’d employed this poor muscle heavy security guard guy to make sure nobody leaned on the cabinets of sunglasses which lined one side of the tent. He just looked so panicked when people start crowdsurfing. He was stood there, sweating, with his arms spread out across the glass cupboards pushing us away from the sacred lenses. Nice one Ray Bans. Rock on.
I don’t remember quite what happened next. I managed to miss Wild Beasts. The next band I saw were Broken Social Scene who were a lot of fun. I went with my friend Mark from Bella Union and Beach House. Victoria and I compared muscles (I won, but she’s pretty buff) and talked about their hilarious non-existent beef with Katy Perry.
And then it was time for Pavement. I went to watch them with my bro Johnny who I met at a party once because we were both wearing HEALTH t-shirts. We made brokes (bro jokes) for a bit and then I was talking to this French girl who was the queen bro and it was totally brotal (brutal, if you’re a bro).
Everyone was wasted and singing along to every song and having the most fun ever. And they played a totally different set to their ATP performance; they opened on ‘Cut Your Hair’ and ended with ‘Stop Breathin’. Louise (queen bro – I think her name was Louise?) and I needed the toilet so we went to queue for the Portaloos but right as we got to the end of the line the opening chords for ‘Stereo’ kicked in. We ran in front of everyone waiting like lightening and straight back into the crowd BANG in time for the second chorus. It was a total broment.
After Pavement I was wiped, smashed, super happy. I hung at the back of Fuck Buttons with my friend Ed, right near the free beer. Meeting back up with the rest of my apartment pals we struggled our way onto the local bus home just as the skies opened and threw down huge drops of cool summer rain. It was perfect.
After a late start on Friday and a trip to the park I made it to the site in time for Harlem. I love this band. I first saw them a couple of years ago at SXSW and their debut album Hippies is insanely good. It was great to see that they party just as hard live on a festival stage as they do in a sweaty Austin club.
Then I watched Scout Niblett who I hadn’t seen in years. Her new drummer is amazing. He was so excited after each song, throwing his arms in the air cheering; it made me more excited about each song. Not that there isn’t plenty to get excited about in Scout’s dark, jerking, thunderstorm performances. The only problem was that the ATP stage was right next to this set of bushes that everyone had spent the previous day using as a toilet. It smelt like a fucking sewer.
I caught the end of Best Coast including the sing along moment of ‘When I’m With You’, which was ace. I had some free beer. I was unimpressed by Ganglians. And then I tried to go and watch Beach House. It was so insanely (but deservedly) busy for them. Much like the night before when The xx had cleaned the audience from every other stage of the festival, Friday was all about Beach House. And they delivered. They’re just heart wrenching, dream stealing, soul captivatingly perfect. And they have so much passion and charisma on stage. I just fucking love this band.
Les Savy Fav had to follow, and of course they ruled it with Tim losing a mic to the crowd, begging for it back and then scorching out the audience with a stolen stage light. Although I have to admit, the whole time watching, my smile was still being held by memories of the previous set.
I couldn’t be bothered with Panda Bear after seeing his ATP set so I got more beer and headed to Cold Cave who completely stole the Pitchfork stage. I ran to the front when the opening chords of ‘Love Comes Close’ kicked in and danced like a dick. And then it was time for some band called The Pixies?
To be honest, I was wrecked when they came on stage and all I can really remember is
- It was awesome
- I danced like an idiot
- Someone filmed me playing air guitar :/
Sorry, I’m shit. I do remember that the field in front of the stage was completely rammed – busier than I’ve ever seen it for any band in the past.
I didn’t make it to Yeasayer after. Apparently it was so busy at the Vice stage you couldn’t get near anyway.
The next day, the final day, I met up with No Age for a quick interview before a trip to the beach. They’d been jumped a few days before in Lisbon but Dean was looking OK by the time I saw them. Apparently their sound guy took the worst hits.
I caught a bit of Real Estate, Atlas Sound and Dr Dog who were all good. Avoided Florence like the plague. Saw The Slits who were shit, and then Polvo who were entirely brilliant and tighter than I’d expected. Sadly the ATP stage smelt even worse by that evening.
Grizzly Bear were as charming as ever and No Age kicked fucking noise punk ass. The pit was amazing. For a moment I considered crowdsurfing until I saw some guy fall on his face and remembered my SXSW incident. So I took a video instead.
I tried to watch a bit of Gary Numan but they were having technical trouble setting up the stage so he was pretty late on. I did get to see three songs though, and one of those songs was ‘Cars’. Fuck Yeah!
There’s not really anything I can write here about the Pet Shop Boys except that it was the most fun of the festival. Great stage show, great visuals, great performance and most importantly, great fucking songs. That said, I did meet some boys during their set that kept luring me into singing Brand New songs with them. I say luring; I didn’t need much encouragement. I’d like to see at least one emo rock band at Primavera Sound 2011 please. (kidding)
I ended the festival in the best way you could ever hope to end anything, even your own life. I would die happy if I was watching HEALTH. I have vague memories of bumping into a woman from work and screaming something like “WHEN THEY ‘PLAY DIE’ SLOW I’M GOING TO LOSE MY SHIT” in her face. I really know how to further my career. They ended with new track ‘USA Boys’ after the bruise fest that was ‘Die Slow’. Everything about them is just so good; dynamic, creative, aggressive but completely measured in every move. It was the highlight of my festival.
The next day some bands played in a park down the road from where we were staying. I only saw Real Estate and Smith Westerns. It was fun because it was really relaxed and pretty and I was far too wiped out for much else.
We didn’t go to the closing party that night. I went to bed early so I didn’t miss my 5am start. I’m a loser, I know. And now I’m going to go to bed and dream of Barcelona, and HEALTH, and free beer, and slowly count down the days until Primavera Sound 2011. I can’t wait.
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great photos there tom! i've now added you on twitter :)
love this piece. so many LOL's.
“The walls were lined with moulding fish tanks, the cocktails were two Euros fifty, and they played the Backstreet Boys’ greatest hits on loop. It was fucking awesome.”
great account jen, such a good festival, i opted for pictures to sum mine up with 13 pictures, lot easier
http://goodstuffoffthecuffallthetime.blogspot.c…
There's not enough name dropping in this article for my liking
hey if they can have sunny day real estate there's no reason why they can't bring on cap'n jazz or the promise ring or even brand new. More emo plx.
redefining scenester.
have a free beer.
I live to name drop. It makes me feel better about the fact I'll be spending my Friday night going swimming, alone.
Nice photos Tom – what does your tattoo say?
…and I prefer hipster, yeh? ;)
It looks like it says 'Hope of the States'. If it does, you sir are a legend.
nah, hipsters aren't really into the music. at least you've got that on them.
Low performing The Great Destroyer and Liquid Liquid were definite highlights. What an amazing festival!
haha, thanks Rich.
Yeh, gutted I missed Liquid Liquid, no idea what I was doing when they were on. Heard there was a big queue for Low so avoided. My friends said it was amazing though?
I had my little emo fix with Sunny Day Real Estate, totally lost my little college rock heart to them.
Of the ones you missed I'd give a big shout out to Low, Owen Pallet, Sunny Day in Glasgow and Sleigh Bells. Liquid liquid were also good fun and I enjoyed The Books. During Grizzly Bear I found the Cervesa guys sell beer in litres, that was a highlight as well.
Spazz out picture as good as promised
AWESOME review/account of happenings! And also: hilarious.
Maybe I do need to go to Primavera next year after all…
Gerlin – go! It's amazing!
Lozzy – I missed so much now I think about it. Wish I'd seen Sunny Day Real Estate. What a dick.
cheers rich, following you back.
the tattoo is on my bro and it says 'out of the woods' which is his club night in notts i believe x
It looks really cool – I like it x
Too much name dropping but not as shit as this article:
http://thequietus.com/articles/04385-primavera-…
I found this festival completely unique. It had virtually zero ambience, but the bands, sound and crown were amazing!
Will be back for sure.
I know – it's more like a city festival in terms of that whole 'festival vibe' thing. As in there is none. Which makes it easier to get to the bands.
Yeh sorry, there was a lot of name dropping. I just can't get over that whole fan excitement thing sometimes.
I read that article and it was cool. Sometimes I wish I could write for The Quietus, just coz the comments would be lol.
That Ran Ban security guy at Comanechi was hilarious!
Guess they didn't anticipate slam dancing circles within a crown that small. Fools. That little drummer rocked.
Haha! I've got a video and all you can see at the start is him trying to stop someone on the other side of the tent from drinking…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyqDHrq0u04
I think that was me!!!!!!!!!!
Somehow I'd made it to the fore, just behind all the photographers on the floor. Outrageous rule. What were they thinking!!
Nice clip.
we get it it YOU TOOK MDMA
MDMA? think you're commenting on the wrong article on the wrong website Maria.
This festival was fantastic.
You should have come to the Black Lips, especially if you were disappointed by the front rows of Los Campesinos! They were absolutely great fun (as would be expected) and the crowd was great. Probably had to do with the fact that it was mainly people who were there to see the Black Lips, and not a million other bands.
And I had an 8 am flight from Girona the next day. Weak excuse.