Primavera Day 3: A Sunny Day in Barcelona

All good things must come to an end. The party’s officially over and so with a huge sigh of regret and exhaustion this is the last ever Primavera post from 2010…

All good things must come to an end. The party’s officially over and so with a huge sigh of regret and exhaustion this is the last ever Primavera post from 2010…

The super sunny Saturday started earlier than usual in a new location, Parc Joan Miro, where Thee Oh Sees and A Sunny Day In Glasgow performed from 2pm in between palm trees filled with parrots, a sweaty yet intimate affair which degraded into a lazy picnic for a whole heap of tired party people.
Back at the main venue the mood was also pretty relaxed, starting off with sets from Atlas Sound and Real Estate who both played to packed crowds at the Pitchfork stage.

The press area was more drunken than ever with more and more journalists collapsing comatosed on sofas, staring at the same Adidas video clip that had been playing on loop for the last three days.  That’s why they deserve their free passes.
The big acts of the night were undeniably Grizzly Bear, HEALTH and The Almighty Defenders although there was also Orbital, the Pet Shop Boys, Marc Almond and Florence & the Machine, if pop’s more your cup of tea. Grizzly Bear, as always, were pitch perfect and better than you imagine possible.  They have a crazy way of making everybody sing: even at 6am you could still hear people humming arpeggios in the metro, albeit a whole lot less melodic.

The Almighty Defenders were wild and so so trashed.  The stage crew were out in force, backed up the behind the group like prison officers with that ‘don’t you dare’ look plastered on their faces. And it was all going well until the guitarist made himself puke on stage and then they really started to get really pissed off.  A prize goes out to The A.D.’s for best intro of the festival: “This next song’s about the Pope: it’s called ‘He Touched Me”…

HEALTH made crazy frantic music, super experimental and played with teenage passion (they may well be 35yrs old for all I know but, to me, they look like narly garage band kids).  It was an amazing experience, so go see them if ever they tour near you.

So the sun’s ready to coming up and the main stage is already being dismantled, a million plastic cups are lying on the ground… It was time for the organiser, DJ Coco, to take care of the finale party which was truly a sight to be seen. Barcelona does a festival in style- I really don’t have a bad word to say about the whole thing. And I’ve been thinking about it.

Check out the party: Glitter canons, sombreros and vinyl. What more could you ask for?

Sent from my iPhone