“I’m drunk on your love.” - Arooj Aftab
Amidst the sun-kissed skyline of Barcelona did thousands of fans savour the final moments of what had been a triumphant return to the arena of music festivals, strewn with drunken rejoicing abundantly filled with an adoration for the things prohibited during the Pandemic. After 10 days of seeing the latest, esoteric set of music from around the globe, it seemed as if the world was somewhat at right again, hearing our favourite performers, basking in the sun, alongside thousands of engaged music aficionados. Primavera Sound Festival 2022 emphatically set the tone for this summer of music festivals.
Yet the festival didn’t start this way. It seemed as if no-one could get drunk on much of anything with bar queues traversing through every corner of the festival, similarly for queueing to toilets and water stations. This was Primavera’s welcome to its thousands of attendees after a long-awaited 2 year interim preparing to offer 2 weekends’ worth of entertainment with one of the most ambitious lineups seen. Whilst the masses imminently took their thumbs to social media, sprawling their frustrations into the echo-chambered ether, the festival duly responded thereafter: providing noticeably more of the aforementioned, along with an army of beer-carriers throughout the sweltering crowds of the festival.
With the punters rightfully intoxicated, began an abrasive itinerary of musical proceedings, one minute catching the exasperated noise-rock sounds of Tropical Fuck Storm and Lightning Bolt, the next, revelling in the psychedelic-rock arena of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s latest material, culminating in the effervescent whirlpool initiated by Japanese punk outfit, Otoboke Beaver. These moments often ran into the early hours of each morning, leaving one’s self to gawk at the current state of music, the insatiable appetite for this brand of music and the nature of having one’s eardrums bleed out whilst the rest of Barcelona slept.
As the orifices bled out, the lighter, perhaps more upbeat, musicalities also rang through Primavera, enwrapped in the hyperpop stardom of Charli XCX and Dorian Electra up to the mega-pop-stardom of Dua Lipa. The unruly list continued as Belgian sensation Angèle gave way to indie-adored Lorde, concluding with the recent British dance goddess Jessie Ware. Whilst the former two artists underwhelmed against the hype and appraisal infected by their beloved battalion of fans, it was Ware who vociferously rose to the occasion, welcoming a dance-filled conclusion to Primavera, mixed with a twist of soul, a smattering of dancehall, and an infinite number of disco-inspired bangers.
Even these dancified antics, however, didn’t satisfy a portion of the inebriated crowd. The festival adamantly upheld the generations of old with a smorgasbord of extensive, predominantly 90’s, ‘college rock’ by way of Pavement, Yo La Tengo and Mogwai, to name a few. Reminiscing through swathes of instrumental post-rock from the latter, to heart-achingly introspective lyricism of the former, the grungified repertoire of these acts effectively bridged the generational gap from our latest enclave of acts with the established musical memories of yesteryear.
Needless to say, much would have gone amiss at Primavera if it hadn’t attempted to include potentially the most current genre of late, hip-hop. As we meandered our way through the relevant indie stars, namely Tame Impala, The Strokes, The National, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and Gorillaz, it was Tyler, the Creator and Megan Thee Stallion who closed out the main stages for either weekend of the festival, setting the necessary tone on the current state of affairs amongst this esoteric lineup of music. Whilst the former may have outdone the latter considerably, the statement was made clear: hip-hop and trap have the final say in our current market.
With this, Primavera indisputably pushed the envelope forward for what music festival lineups could, and should, rightly look like. Stretching to all parts of the globe from Spain’s Maria José Llergo, to Japan’s Otoboke Beaver, Puerto Rico’s Jhay Cortez and Pakistan’s Arooj Aftab, the latter’s drunken stupor ultimately symbolised how the crowd became smitten with the triumphant return of this festival. One who places all sorts of music, communities and cultures at the very foundation of their event, which will be done again next year - bridging the historic gap between the Catalonian capital and the nation capital, Madrid, between two weekends. You’ll be sure to find me there again.
Tickets for Primavera Sound Festival 2023 are now on sale and can be found here.
All photographs are courtesy of photographers from Primavera Sound Festival whose work can be found here.