Originally published on thebomberjacketcom
A lot had changed for the 13th edition of Primavera Sound, most notably that the festival was no longer “San Miguel Primavera Sound,” but “Heineken Primavera Sound.” The difference is relevant, because a lot of the local Spanish elements of the festival haven’t been as emphasized in more recent years (and the Primavera organization has been called out on it once or twice). Don’t get me wrong, Primavera Sound is an amazing music festival, but as this was my third year in attendance, it was hard not to notice (or realize) some things. Spanish groups rarely got set times later than 6 p.m., and the attendance of those sets reflected the low amount of exposure they were actually getting. Although it’s cool that additional concerts were organized for the entire month beforehand and most intensively during the festival week, it’s debatable whether or not that meant that groups were pushed out of the festival to play at a bar the week before. Primavera has become a veritable booking force in Spain–particularly in Barcelona. It organizes concerts for nationally touring bands and also for local groups, but during the time in Barcelona I had more than one band mention to me how hard it was to book a show without the Primavera stamp of approval.
