Primavera Busts Records

Spain’s Primavera Festival has smashed its attendance record by attracting 117,000 people to Barcelona’s Parc del Fòrum over three days, easily beating the 101,000 it pulled for its 10th-anniversary edition in 2010.

The 2010 edition beat the previous record crowd of 76,000 in 2009, which means the Spanish outdoor has strong claims to be Europe’s fastest-growing festival.

This year’s gathering attracted 37,000 on the first day, 42,000 on the second and a further 38,000 on the third day.

Primavera press officer Beatriz Pérez says she’s not sure what made this year’s crowd so big, apart from the festival’s burgeoning reputation and a top-class lineup.

The acts on this year’s bill May 31 to June 2 included Bjork, The xx, Justice, Wilco, Death Cab For Cutie, SBTRKT, Codeine, Guided By Voices, Afghan Whigs, and Buffy Sainte-Marie.

Pérez says the number of people attending the free events in Barcelona that led up to the festival would make this year’s overall crowd close to the 15,000 mark.

The third edition of Primaverapro, the showcase conference that runs in parallel with the festival, also smashed its attendance records by attracting 1,400 delegates, 27 percent more than the 1,100 who attended in 2011.

The countries with the highest number of delegates were Spain, France, the UK and the U.S.