23 November 2023
Newsdesk
This Is Love. The Primavera Sound 2024 lineup is unveiled and festival’s love is spreading out in all directions. Can't you feel it? Love for its own history, reflected in the retro graphic image that accompanies the release, successor to the flyer on which the magic words were first conjured up: Primavera Sound. It was in 1994, seven years before the first official edition of the festival, on the occasion of a series of concerts in the venue KGB in Barcelona. Love for Barcelona itself, where it all began and where it all comes back to, the absolute protagonist of the video with which the lineup is presented. Watching it means starting to get to know the 150 names announced, but also taking a stroll through some of the city's most iconic spots. And of course, above all, love for the Primavera community because this lineup is undeniably a gift for fans of the festival. It is being delivered now, but we still have to wait a little while before we can fully enjoy it. We have six months ahead of us to start imagining everything that will happen from the 29th of May to the 2nd of June at Primavera Sound Barcelona 2024.
The 22nd edition of the festival brings back the format of a weekend based in Barcelona, and even so the music on offer is once again overflowing. Each artist, each band is important, but also the sum of them all. It is therefore just as stimulating to closely scrutinise every detail and particularity of this heterogeneous and inclusive line-up as it is to take a couple of steps back and get a bit of perspective. Zoom in, zoom out. But haven't we agreed that this lineup is a gift? Well, let's unwrap it and discover that, in essence, what this is all about is the love of music.
Girls to the front! The fact that the exceptional has become normal at Primavera Sound doesn't mean that we shouldn't continue to highlight something that on a global level is an anomaly. The lineup for the next edition of Primavera Sound once again puts us before a commitment to equality (42.36% women, 42.36% men and 15.28% mixed projects), a hallmark of the festival since the historic 2019 edition, which for the first time balanced the gender distribution. A precedent that now brings us here: Lana del Rey and SZA will headline Primavera Sound 2024 on their own merits. The former, firmly established as the great chronicler of American music of this century; the latter, a generational talent who has gone beyond the limits of R&B, will offer her first show in Spain. "Girls to the front!", as Kathleen Hanna demanded at the beginning of the 90s in her concerts. Hanna and her band, Bikini Kill, will also be at Primavera Sound 2024 to continue showing us how it is done.
Say Yes to Heaven - are hashtags still used in 2023? Because #bestfestivalever is more relevant than ever. Pulp will return to Jarvis Cocker's favourite festival with their collection of out-of-the-ordinary anthems, VAMPIRE WEEKEND will reunite with the audience they have grown up with sixteen years after their first and only performance at the Parc del Fòrum, The National will open the doors to that discography where we feel totally at home, Mitski will show that she is already much more than a cult singer-songwriter, PJ Harvey will split into all the different PJ Harveys she hides inside, Justice will throw their party with a French touch, FKA twigs will mark out the steps of her new choreographies, Deftones will light their nu metal fuse, Charli XCX will present her new era and Troye Sivan will confirm his pop explosion to turn Barcelona into the world's music capital for a few days. Long-awaited returns, wishes come true, crowd favourites and scores settled: in short, as we've already said, a treat for fans.
You Can Have It All. At Primavera Sound 2024, sounds of all kinds and conditions, from here and there, will coexist as if they were one and the same thing. From the vintage pop of The Lemon Twigs or the extreme black metal of Wiegedood to the expansive jazz of BADBADNOTGOOD or the reggaeton with history by DJ Playero, passing through the untiring post-hardcore of Lisabö, the counter-current hip-hop from Billy Woods and the Jamaican dance by Channel One. A festival that once again this year will be like a matryoshka doll: inside it there are other festivals waiting to be discovered. So, each review of the lineup reveals new impossible contrasts that are only imaginable here. The nostalgia for the future of A. G. Cook and the review of the past by Ángeles, Víctor, Gloria & Javier, the primal instincts of La Zowi and the cerebral precision of Monolake, the conscientious, chirpy fun of F.R.A.C and the solemnity of American Football, the excesses of Arca and the austerity of Jessica Pratt, the uproar of The Armed and the stillness of Nala Sinephro, the shenanigans of YOVNGCHIMI and the distinction of Peggy Gou, the glitter of Hannah Diamond and the shades of Chelsea Wolfe. You're not supposed to have it all in this life, but maybe it is possible after all when you see this lineup.
Do You Remember the First Time? It doesn't matter how many editions of the festival you have been to before or even if you were at the 1994 concerts at KGB, because no matter what, Primavera Sound 2024 will be full of first times for you too. Therein lies the power of a lineup that has unique moments, by definition, hidden in every corner: rarities, comeback projects, things never seen before in Spain. Like Clipse, the much-loved project of the brothers Pusha T and Malice, who for their return have chosen Primavera Sound for their only European show... and to make their legend even bigger. Or the elusive Jai Paul, mythological animal of the blogosphere, who joins the lineup with only ten concerts in his career and many enigmas still to be solved around him. Or the Italian Liberato, another friend of mystery who is hardly ever seen on stage. Or Dogstar, the not-giving-a-fuck rock band of a certain Keanu Reeves (yes you read right, that Keanu Reeves). Or An Intimate Piano Performance by LAMBCHOP, a unique approach to Kurt Wagner's already unique songbook. Or Duster, recently revived as new-old slowcore heroes. Or Stella Maris, the Christian pop superband invented by Los Javis for the series La Mesías, who have made the jump from TV to the festival. More special occasions? Freddie Gibbs & Madlib will commemorate the tenth anniversary of Piñata, Mica Levi will break down her non-negotiable musical language in a DJ set where anything can happen, Beth Gibbons will open the waters for us to cross with her to the other side, Roc Marciano will emerge from the rap underground to declare himself the father of a whole generation of MCs and William Basinski will perform his Disintegration Loops, something like the alphabet of modern ambient. There are plenty of reasons to know that a one-of-a-kind Primavera Sound is just around the corner.
We Are Your Friends. Again, Shellac and 149 more. The immortal trio from Chicago, who don't play at festivals but next year will be back for their exception with Primavera Sound, perfectly epitomise the Primavera DNA. This is also shared by Yo La Tengo and Arab Strap, two bands closely linked to the history of the festival since the 2003 edition, when it was still held in Poble Espanyol. Both will perform at Primavera Sound 2024 almost as hosting bands, although that honour can also be claimed by the metaphysical troubadour Ferran Palau, the local idols Mujeres and El Mató a un Policía Motorizado, who will once again get the whole of Barcelona singing with an Argentinian accent. Fortunately, year after year, festival after festival, the Primavera Sound club of friends expands and regenerates naturally: Shabaka, in his more introspective facet after having previously shown us all the faces of jazz with his other projects, Romy, who we have seen grow since her visits with The xx, the Disclosure brothers, experts in transforming the Parc del Fòrum into a club, and Guillem Gisbert, now solo after having become the soundtrack of our lives leading Manel, will help to safeguard the spirit of a festival they know perfectly well.
how i'm feeling now. The festival line-up is many things at the same time, but above all it is once again a photograph that captures this precise moment in contemporary music. Straight up here and now, embodied in the recent emergence of young talents such as Omar Apollo, Ethel Cain, Milo j, Mushkaa, Dillom, MJ Nebreda, Depresión Sonora and The Last Dinner Party. A present that inevitably also sounds like the songwriting of Julie Byrne, the sharp rock of Water From Your Eyes, the umpteenth pop sublimation of Róisín Murphy, the Celtic folk by Lankum, the more human face of Yeule, the global refrains of Amaarae, the dogma-free hardcore of Militarie Gun, the rambling ballads of Joanna Sternberg and the hip-hop for the club by HiTech. All of them are in the photo because their albums have marked this 2023 that is already coming to an end: Primavera Sound will happen in six months' time, but in a way, it is already happening.
When a Fire Starts to Burn. With the parallel programme of Primavera a la Ciutat soon to be announced, which will once again involve several venues in Barcelona in keeping with the traditional urban character of the festival, the welcome day of Wednesday 29th May is already marked on the calendar as the first contact with the Parc del Fòrum. Another treat for fans, literally: a day of free concerts led by the unfailing Phoenix, the veni, vidi, vici made pop band. The French band, the ideal mix of partying and sophistication for such a day, will be joined by Tropical Fuck Storm, Ratboys, Maria Jaume and Stella Maris (in the first of their two performances at Primavera Sound 2024) to complete an official opening of the festival that is always special. And as all's well that ends well, the Brunch Electronik party will bring Primavera Sound 2024 to a close on Sunday 2nd June with sets by ANOTR, The Blessed Madonna, Chloé Caillet and Mochakk.
Primavera Sound Barcelona 2024 has the support of Estrella Damm, Cupra, Pull&Bear and Santander as fundamental strategic partners: their commitment makes it possible to continue improving the festival we believe in both musically and in everything that surrounds it. They are joined by Aperol, Adidas, Maybelline, Organics by Red Bull and SEAT M&Ocute;. Thank you all for your faith in Primavera Sound.
From the release of the Primavera Sound Barcelona 2024 line-up, and until the 22nd of November at 23:59h CET, a registration form for the fan sale will be available on the Primavera Sound website: the general full festival ticket will cost 265€ (plus booking fee) and the VIP full festival ticket will cost 495€ (plus booking fee) until these tickets sell out.
On 23rd November, registered users will receive an email with instructions on how to access the fan sale, which will be active on DICE from 11:00h CET for 24 hours or until these tickets sell out.
