Primavera Sound Festival 2010 - Day One

Introduction

2010 marked the 10^th anniversary of the Primavera Sound Festival, which is held each year in Barcelona, Spain. It began 10 years ago as a one-day electronic music festival, and has sprouted out to include many of the best independent bands/artists in the world of indie rock, electronic, post-punk, and experimental genres. Check out past years’ epic lineups on the Wikipedia page.

I went to the Primavera Sound Fest this year and it was without a doubt the greatest music-related experience I’ve ever had—word--that's saying a lot actually. The festival lasts three days, and each night begins roughly at 4PM and runs until 5ish in the morning (yes, I stayed out for all 12/13hours each night). There are 7 stages (including the impressive auditorium directly outside the festival gates), and it takes place at the Parc del Forum, situated beautifully on the beach alongside the ocean (check out that sweet pic above).

There were supposedly around 80,000 folks there for the three days, but (with the exception of Pixies and Wilco sets) it never felt like an over-crowded festival—actually it was incredibly personal. I never felt like a spectator: I always felt like part of the experience—much like at smaller shows. It was also incredibly easy to view each performance as close or as far as one wanted. Knowing that, it was certainly an endurance test for me; especially since my body was already adjusting to the time difference (I'm convinced that I simply don't have an internal clock now after my trip).

I honestly don't want to hit up another music festival after this (unless it’s another Primavera festival)--it was just too good. The organizers’ sole focus is the music—as opposed to money. It’s not too expensive; the site is clean; the sound levels were fantastic for every band; I met some very rad people; and the lineup was fucking spectacular.

Below are videos, photos, and descriptions of my three days there. I really hope this doesn’t come off as pretentious blog-posting.

I’m surely not writing this as a “look at all the music I saw and everyone else didn’t” sort of thing, cause I'm definitely not like that. I’m just super excited to have such a great experience, and wish to share my time with others, as maybe it’ll convince a few friends to save up some cash to maybe attend next year, as I’m sure it'll be a legit lineup next year too.

Alright--here we go---some pics of the Parc del Forum festival site:

San Miguel State (main stage)

Ray Ban Stage

Pitchfork Stage

Auditorium

All Tomorrows Parties Stage

Vice Stage

Day One

The festival was located slighty outside the realms of the city's center, so I made sure to arrive with plenty of time to spare in case I got lost, which I assumed was very likely, but the hostel's instructions were fantastic--no issues! The first day (along with the other two) was beautiful with sunny weather in the 70's the entire time (with the exception of a little refreshing rain later on).

The El Salon de MySpace housed mostly local Spanish bands--the few that I saw were really awesome!

Not sure why these shenanigans were happening...
I ended up having a The Fall sandwich--highly recommended!

Poor guy...

...and now onto the actual bands (in order)

Biscuit

The festival started out on the Pitchfork stage with rock band Biscuit. These were older guys from Barcelona who just rocked out---imagine a spanish Robert Pollard was every member of a band--that's what they reminded me of. Later in the evening I standing next to them while waiting for Superchunk to begin, and after telling the lead singer that he played a "fucking awesome" set, he responded by flicking me off and then smirking---that's how rock 'n roll these guys were!

Bis

I've always dug the quirky dancey pop music of Bis (from Glasgow, Scotland), so it was a delight to see them play the main stage. I brought my dancing shoes.

Monotonix

I ran over to the Vice Stage to catch a bit of the Monotonix set, as I've seen them before, and know they put on a crazy show. Unfortunately a fairly sizable crowd already gathered (the band plays on the ground amongst the people--as opposed to on the stage), so I watched it from the bleachers for about 20 minutes (I left before the audience started lifting the whole drumset in the air).

El Mato a un Policia Motorizado

The Adidas Originales stage was designed for up-and-coming bands around the country to get exposed to a festival crowd. This smaller stage was also situated right alongside the ocean, so I had no problem catching a few bands here play in-between bigger sets. El Mato a un Policia Motorizado were fantastic--their style fell in line with a lot of bands with 90's indie-rock influences. (On a side note, the guitarist had a really nice set of hair--just sayin'.) Check out their Myspace page.

Surfer Blood

After getting a quick bite to eat, I decided to catch Surfer Blood at the Pitchfork stage--which fit, in that they sound like a "Pitchfork band." BAAM! They were great, but their album sounds better than their live shows, in my opinion.

The Wave Pictures

I was talking to someone earlier in the day who highly recommended the Wave Pictures, so made my way to the Ray Ban stage to check them out. I enjoyed the singer's comment that they have now done a lifetime's worth of Ray Ban sunglasses promotion by playing the big stage (it was the second biggest stage at the festival), and their set was decent.

The Fall

Being one of my all-time favorite bands, I was extremely pumped to see the Fall again (I saw them about seven years ago). As Mark E Smith took to the stage, my first impression was that this will probably be the last time I ever see The Fall--the man's not looking so good, and he's not even 55 yet!

Still, they played songs from their last two albums, and held the audience in the palm of their hands.

The first song of the set...the man likes making an entrance.

I love this--it's like Mark E Smith let his wife sing one song, but in turn, he purposesly tried to fuck it up. Also, check out the guys rocking out at :25.

Titus Andronicus

All girl guitarists need to play like this chick. The whole band looked like they were having fun while still keeping things interesting.

They're jamming at the end of one song below:

The XX

Walking out in front of a giant X on stage, the XX began their set...and I started falling asleep. Massive amounts of concertgoers were filling the stage area, so I assumed their live show HAD to be good...ehhhhhhh, I thought they were super boring.

I totally get "mood music," but it just didn't work in this setting--maybe a church or inside a small music hall. It did start to rain during their set, so at least SOMETHING refreshing was happening during the set.

Due to my boredom, I walked up to a hill, pee'd, and made this little video.

I even tried watching them on TV away from the stage, and it wasn't doing anything for me...

The Smith Westerns

I was a fan of the Smith Westerns' album, so I caught most of their set at the Pitchfork stage. Their guitarist has some copycat Peter Buck moves while playing. They announced that hadn't gotten any sleep the past 3 days...not sure if that was any kind of excuse, but they still put on a gran espectaculo! Check the vid!!

Superchunk

They hardly ever play out, so I imagine most of the crowd felt privileged to see them live. Mac McCaughan puts my on-stage bouncing to complete shame, and he seemed super stoked to be there. They have a new album out later this year, so their set had some new and old jams.

They opened their show with "Throwing Things," which is one of my favorite songs of theirs:

Wild Beasts

They're becoming quite a buzzworthy band, and I love their 2nd album that came out recently--a lot. I stayed for over half of their set. The cool vibe they succeeded at is what the XX was trying to do in my opinion.

Tortoise

I left Wild Beast's set a little early in order to catch Tortoise live. They're one of those bands who I've loved for years and years, but haven't been able to catch them live--even when they visited Pittsburgh.

I watched their set from a hill next to the stage--I wish there was more space on the hill, as the thought of sitting in the soggy grass and soaking in Tortoise's sounds was amazingly appealing.

Pavement

I skipped out on Broken Social Scene (ok, I caught one song) and Mission of Burma (saw them live last year) in order to get a good spot for Pavement at the main stage. They're a band that means more to me than most. I learned how to play guitar in middle school/high school by playing along to Pavement albums (along with Pixies albums (who headlined the second night) and old REM albums (they didn't play)).

I mean it when I say that they were one of the best live bands I've ever seen. It didn't feel like a "reunion,"---it felt like it was 1999 again. Malkmus threw his guitar around everywhere during multiple songs (including kicking his Jazzmaster across the stage in order to make it to the mini-drum set to play 'Two States'). They also played BY FAR the most rockin' version of Unfair I've ever heard. "Fight this Generation" was well-over 10 minutes long, and Scott Kannberg finished the set out in the crowd.

They opened with 'Cut Your Hair.' I wasn't expecting the crowd to be so rowdy, but the vid captures the moment pretty well:

If I could count the number of times I've played (air) guitar to this song in my life...

Setlist:

1. Cut Your Hair

2. Trigger Cut

3. Rattled by the Rush

4. In the Mouth a Desert

5. Kennel District

6. Grounded

7. Silence Kit

8. Elevate Me Later

9. Spit on a Stranger

10. Unfair

11. Starlings of the Slipstream

12 Fight This Generation

13. We Dance

14. Conduit for Sale!

15. The Hexx

16. Here

17. Stereo

18. Two States

19. Range Life

Encore

20. Gold Soundz

21. Shady Lane

22. Stop Breathing

Fuck Buttons

Even though Pavement were the headliners of the night (they went on around 1AM), there was still plenty of music yet to happen. Fuck Buttons (from England) were playing the Ray Ban stage immediately afterwards, and though I've read a lot of good things, I just assumed they were a Black Dice rip-off band....how I was wrong.

Their set was the definitely the biggest surprise of the whole festival. Their noisy, yet catchy, yet dancey grooves were nothing like I'd imagine. Both guys were set up in front of a giant, human-size disco ball. The camera in my battery died early on in their set, but no worries---I danced my ass off for at least 45 minutes.

Moderat

It was going on 3:30 AM as I made my way to the Vice stage to witness Moderat from Germany. They're an electronic collaboration between Modeselektor (a personal favorite) and Apparat.

Their start was delayed due to some technical difficulties, but once they started rolling, it was fantastic. Beautiful visuals and A superb way to end the evening for me.

By the time I left, it was almost 5AM, so the subway was about to open again. A bunch of concert goers were hanging out at the subway entrance, waiting for the authorities to open the gates. I ran in to two of the guys who were staying in my hostel room, so we hung out until they let us all take over the subway and race towards our beds, for there was still another two days....

Hipster Subway Station