Holy fuck. Best festival for bands I've ever been too. And I'm saying that after missing Les Savy Fav & Animal Collective last night (early fligh meant early bed). Bands I saw, in order of brilliance:
Shellac
Boris
Holy Fuck
Vampire Weekend
Bon Iver
A Place To Bury Strange
Pissed Jeans
Why
Silver Jews
British Sea Power
HEALTH
Deerhunter
No Age
Voxtrot
Times New Viking
Menomena
Atlas Sound
Rumble Strips
I'm about 90% sure I'm gonna go next year. Fucking fantastic festival. Great weather as well (for the first two days, at least)
So.Fucking.Jealous
i'm definately going next year
no doubt about it.
said that about this year, and really wish i had gone.
^ this
Seriously...
the line up this year was absolutely amazing. I mean, if you look at that list, then look at some of the bands I didn't see (erm, Cat Power, Public Enemy, Devo, The Cribs, Dirty Projectors etc etc).
And I totally forgot I saw Portishead! Haha. They played in the Auditori in doors. It was pretty special. But I left after 50 minutes to watch Why. Apparently there was a stage invasion.
stage invasion at Portishead?
LOLZ
I would've watched Public Enemy , Devo, Dirty Projectors
over any band on that list.
I like the ordering there
Under-the-radar experimental US cult Deerhunter
Under-the-radar experimental US cult No Age
Under-the-radar not-so-experimental US cult Voxtrot
Under-the-radar experimental US cult Times New Viking
Under-the-radar experimental US cult Menomena
Under-the-radar experimental US cult Atlas Sound
The Rumble Strips
well...
Rumble Strips were good. They just weren't as good as the others. If that's the point you're trying to make.
No, no
Just the incogruity on that list.
How were shellac?
amazing? so bloody envious :9
ahem
:(
Shellac?
They were incredible. After watching them I really couldn't have given a shit about missing LSF & Animal Collective.
did they play prayer to God?
*sobs uncontrollably*
DON'T ANSWER
a million diser's spirits will snap in two if you say yes due to us missing out
The answer to that...
is only gonna make you more upset.
best shellac performance ever?
fucking INCREDIBLE SCENES OF PRAYER TO GOD ACTION!
SQUIRREL SONG
END OF RADIO
ETC
Martina Navratalova...
Your voice is so nice to say.
^ this ^
amazing.
great stuff
they played in the auditori at primavera two years ago (albini: "because outdoor gigs suck. and it kind of smells like a toilet out there) and this time was even better.
i think the martina navratilova bit was on the radio one version. still makes me chuckle.
:'(
i went through the heartbreak of not being able to go last year. this is too much.
Robin!!
I still have your trainers! And the Spanish cleaner didn't believe that I wasn't checking out today!
But you speak the truth with regards to the fest, I only saw a couple of LSF songs as they were running late but the crowd was huge and the singer was already in his swimming costume get up.
Animal Collective were pretty ace but I was fucked by that point and no For Reverend Green. But how can one complain after such other delights, Lovely Allen theme of the weekend.
Glorious.
Haha,
good day Ian!
My trainers were fucked by the end of that. My feet and legs feel like they've been run over by a lorry.
Get on with that video...
Safe trip back
I LOVE PRIMAVERA
Some pictures....
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=63690&l=be24b&id=223802098
HOLY FUCK YEAH
best festival i've ever been too, probably. saturday has to be a contender for the best day of my life so far, so much fucking awesome music. my trousers are still soaked from last night/this morning or whenever to fuck it was ....
any of you see model 500?
would like to hear about that.
i can see
myself in your picture of the holy fuck stage invasion :D Im on the very right, to the left of the guy with the moog t-shirt. Good times!
lol
and im in the blue hood in front of you at Atlas Sound :)
holy fuck stage invasion
certainly the highlight of my weekend
You have all forgotten to mention
MAN MAN who were absolutely brilliant. The main man was so excited he ran off stage and jumped into the sea at the end of their set. Incredible scenes. Additionally I'm sitting at my desk at work and I'm wrecked.
the spot the J Mascis Game
he was quiet for the first 2 days, then on saturday he was everywhere !
but what about the Fat Fraud J?
He was EVERYWHERE, always.
This:
The Good
Line-up. There were some tough choices to be made due to many clashes but regardless who’d you go for, you were guaranteed to see something amazing. In particular:
Shipping News
Portishead (Thursday)
Health
Six Organs Of Admittance (with Alex Nielson on drums)
Polvo
Fuck Buttons
Holy Fuck (fun fun fun)
Bon Iver
Atlas Sound
Shellac
Proper sets. Each band were given plenty of time, none of this ’25 mins and you’re off’ kinda thing you find so often at festivals, but instead acts could play a decent length of time and even do the odd encore, so Young Marble Giants could revel in their moment of glory a bit longer and return to the stage for a brilliant versions of Salad Days and Credit In The Straight World.
Space. Is it me or did the whole festival seem undersold in terms of crowd attendance? In can understand that it was quiet on Thursday, but it never got packed on Friday or Saturday either. Thankfully, it did mean that you never had trouble moving from one stage to another, or finding a good spot to stand or sit. And apart from getting into the Auditori (seated indoors venue) I didn’t experience a single queue all weekend.
Weather. Yes I know, there were about 3 drops of rain on Saturday, but both Thursday and Friday saw almost permanent blue skies, and the temperature never dropped below light jumper required. Late starts meant plenty of time for al fresco lunches. Won’t happen in Britain any time soon.
The Bad
The Spanish. Do they even like music? When they are not yapping away on their mobiles or smoking disgusting smelly weed, they tend to stand around in little groups, usually not facing the stage. My comatose granny can muster more enthusiasm than these lot. The entire atmosphere during the shows was courtesy of a large contingent of foreign visitors, with the English taking the lead. Obviously.
Sponsorship. If you find your Glastonbury or Reading festival too commercial, then stay away from this one. Everything, and I mean absolutely everything, is branded in the colours and logo of the main sponsor. It’s in your face all the time. Unless you happen to notice the co-sponsor, a rather vile kind of German alcoholic cough syrup. And their branded stickers. And their branded condoms. And their branded polaroids. Repeat forever.
The Ugly
It is called Parc Del Forum, but it’s not a park as we know it with trees and grass and suchlike, more a brutalist architectural wet dream, all concrete and tarmac as far as the eye can see. My local NCP has more charm than this hellhole, and no attempt had been made to make the site a bit more appealing. Fake plastic trees next time?
So in conclusion, Primavera has a lot going for it, not in the least because of its unrivalled line-up, and being located in a fabulous city helps a lot (can I mention those delicious lunches one more time?) but it is far from perfect, and it does miss the fun factor you get at a certain Minehead/Camber Sands-based event.
i thought the crowd were great
v. friendly and no more chatty than you'd expect at your usual festival. the level of dance action on the last night at ATP stage was great and mostly spanish led. yeah.
Amazing
Highlights:
Bill Callahan
Fuck Buttons
Fanfarlo
Shellac
Awesome Color
The ATP stage ruled. It's hard to explain just how good Shellac were on Saturday night. Absolutely incredible. I nearly combusted during "Copper" and "Prayer To God".
I thought the crowd were great too actually and met loads of lovely Spanish people all weekend.
I ache all over.
yeah...
standing on concrete for 3 days and nights absolutely knackers your body. My feet feel like they've been run over a train a hundred times.
Still rustered up enough energy to get to the front and rock for Shellac. Well worth it.
Can someone remind me why
I didnt go to this please?
Don't get me wrong
the Spanish people I met were all very friendly and helpful and chatty, but they just didn't seem as much into the music on offer as you find at (the better) UK festivals.
And the party during Shellac was more an excpetion than the rule, the ATP area was pretty empty for a lot of the early shows - the Pissed Jeans drummer looked pretty pissed off that he couldn't perform his customary stage dive at the end of their set ...
i couldn't disagree with your more
i thought the crowd were wonderful and attentive
i thought the forum was beautiful (the bridge and settings for atp/vice especially.)
i thought although the vice sponsorship was bad the rest was pretty under control, unlike reading.
^ this ^
It's hardly Hove, where they REALLY keep things under wraps, but I wasn't offended by logos, etc. Most were for Estrella, which I was happily drinking for free, so deemed their banners a necessary evil. If you're more distracted by massive pictures of Jager bottles rather than No Age/Atlas Sound/Holy Fuck/el Guincho then there's something wrong with you.
I agree...
the red adverts were everywhere, but they were a nice shade of red and looked quite nice.
"Estrella, which I was happily drinking for free, so deemed their banners a necessary evil"
or 4 euros for normal people
9 for the big cups.
I still paid for 'em when I needed to.
No need
For boasting. Or name dropping, as was apparent in a couple of the diaries.
re: the venue
yes it's a concrete jungle but were you not impressed when you first walk into the venue, up towards the main stage with the sparkling sea in view? or the water gently flowing next to the vice stage?
First impressions
can only last so long. Given the length of time you spent on site every day (12 hours or more), I just wanted to able every now and then to sit down on the grass, in the shade under a tree, with a beer in my hand. After 3 days I found it really grim and longed for Victoria Park, or Finsbury Park, any proper park really.
fair enough
I thought the crowd were great too
Just in terms of there being so many people wanted to go to that kind of festival.
Even the music channel in our apartment had videos from bonnie prince billy, jens lekman, mgmt etc etc. Get that in britain? I think not. They seem to like music!
And I loved the concrete. Give an oldie like me steps to sit on and I'm happy
Depending on the line up,
I'm there next year. Missed the foreign festival vibe after Benicassim became indie lads on tour in 2006.
Musically
it was second to none. I don't think I saw a band I didn't love.
Maybe Autolux took the festival (for me) and I was VERY pleasantly surprised by animal collective.
same time next year.
I can't believe
I missed this. I saw the advert about a day before it began, so I had no hope.
A chance to catch most of ATP's lineup and goto barcelona? How could that not be awesome!!! :(
I really really wish i'd gone
Shipping News too? FUCK FUCK FUCK
Shipping News
played a fair bit of new stuff (new to me at least) that sounded just as good as the songs from Save Everything and Very Soon, And In Pleasant Company.
am i the only person who thought that shellac were dull as fuck, then?
must be. man man WERE amazing, yeah - i've heard them on record and they sounded awful, but live they were fucking nuts. six organs of admittance were stunning - alex nielson gets about a bit doesn't he? seems like every gig i go too he's there hitting something. one of the best drummers around though, so i ain't complaining. mv/ee were great too, john moloney, j mascis and mick flower! DEVO!
fucking BORIS! the only bands to let me down were animal collective and om. last time i saw om at supersonic i had some sort of red wine/dope/battered ear drum assisted out of body experience. i nearly fell asleep this time.
OM
were playing at 3 AM which may have not been to most suitable slot to appreciate them fully.
dull as fuck?!
sure you were watching the right band?
I enjoyed...
Les Savy Fav
Bon Iver
Why?
Fuck Buttons
Health
Times New Viking
Menomena
Shellac
Boris
Caribou
Pissed Jeans
No Age was the only real disappointment, Vampire Weekend didn't sound too hot either but I didn't watch much as was really tired.
My girlfriend insisted we watched Dr Octagon which was shit. Dirty Projectors are rubbish.
Totally awesome
I think I saw 28 bands including full and memorable sets from Health, Fuck Buttons, Fanfarlo, BSP, Deerhunter, Boris, Why?, Cribs, Devo, Times New Viking, Kinski, Caribou, White Williams, Vampire Weekend, No Age & El Guincho.
ATP stage did rule, but Vice was also good.
I thought the crowds fine, but I was horrified to discover that I was stood next to the same jerk during Animal Collective as I had been for El Guincho, and he was shortly joined by 5 mates who never once stopped talking and texting. So to avoid spoiling my generally very happy memories, I quit whilst I was ahead and went off to my bed in the Vincci.
I came back tired, but with my senses buzzing.
oh and I forgot Devastations
from that list
why is no one mentioning david thomas broughton?
Please someone say they went to see him?
i saw him
you couldn't really hear his set in the park, although it was quite funny when he had to play around the sound of guitars from the other stage. later on i caught the end of a set he was playing in front of toddlers throwing toys around the room.
where the fuck WAS the park?
and why no map anywhere to tell us where it was??
It was miles away....
I walked past it just by chance and it was the far side of Barcelona. Not really worth the trip unless you worshipped the bands playing.
srsly can't believe i missed this
i'm getting more and more upset the more i hear about it.
shipping news, shellac, pissed jeans, why?, silver jews, sebadoh, dinosaur jr, deerhunter, animal collective
:(
is anyone
still in the habit of saying 'hola' and 'gracias' to bus drivers/ shop assitants and all even now back in the UK?
primavera = good times.
^ haha, this.
went out last night and found myself thinking "I wonderif they speak English", despite being in a student bar in Norwich...
Bon Iver
In the Auditori was my highlight. I'd like to add Okkervil River who I thought were really entertaining and no one has mentioned here. Rufus Wainwright doing Hallelujah was pretty special even though you coul barely hear him over the noise from the ATP stage - if they knew he was doing a solo set with no band surely it would have been more sensible to put him in the Auditori?
Biggest regret: Missing Ellen Allien's set and leaving my friends to go and see OM on my own (not that OM weren't good but I just misjudged what I'd feel like doing at 3 in the morning farly pissed - and I never found my friends gain that night).
Biggest disappointment: Why didn't do it for me live the way he does on record. Dunno why really.
Oh, also
did anyone else think it seemed quieter than last year?
i'd agree on the rufus
not being in the auditorium being VERY silly.
Agree with Okkervil too
Great live, much better than ATP last year. Still Man Man though at number 1, awesome stuff.
Man Man
were terrible
i feel so sad today
i really fucking hate it back in the real world
me too
good times
maybe why would've been better for you
if he could have used both hands?!
yeaaah.
HEALTH, fuck buttons and holy fuck FTW!
Only thing I really didn´t like was the hangover after the jager shots..
oh and devo were awesome
apart from, i found myself in crowd of people that frowned upon dancing.
I just flew back in
and finally made it to the absinthe bar last night, so feeling a little worse for wear today haha.
so glad i went to this, best festival i've ever been to!!
my highlights:
bon iver
caribou
kinski
les savy fav
holy fuck
menomena
deerhunter
devo!!
animal collective
explosions
why?
public enemy
fuck buttons
portishead
...sure i'm forgetting some too...
thought times new viking were absolutely terrible and was disappointed with rufus wainwright, though was happy to hear hallelujah.
i did keep an eye out for you mr. deadwhores so i could say hi, but i'm not sure i'd recognise you from your photo anyway - hope you met some lovely people!
my legs are wrecked, walking home with my luggage was tough. think it's time for a bath.
are you blaming the absinthe?